Raise your glass!

It’s that time of of the year when everyone just wants to party, thanks to Christmas and New Year's Eve! It’s the holiday season with festivity, good food, lots of shopping, big gifts, bigger parties and even more alcohol. It has come to my realization that in this month itself, I have been to more parties than the whole year combined! And now, the Transport for London (TfL) has provided the proverbial "icing on the cake" by allowing free transport on the morning of January 1st, to end the party season. During my past New Year Celebrations in London, I wondered, how much money would TfL stand to lose by allowing free transport for the period when most of London is out and about.

Today while rushing to get some last-minute shopping done, a poster caught my eyes. It was not just about the free transport provided on New Year's Eve, but that the sponsorship for the whole scheme by the British alcohol company 'Diageo'. Diageo is the largest producer of spirits in the UK with annual revenues of over £14.5 billion. I really liked the fact that TfL along with Diageo was asking people to drink responsibly. As advertising of alcohol and tobacco is highly regulated, they rely heavily on sponsorship advertising to promote their brand.

Campaigns to "drink responsibly" in most parts of the world are actually carried out or funded by the alcohol companies. The "Drink Aware" campaign in the UK and 'The Century Council' in the US are funded by the alcohol companies to promote responsible drinking. But when it comes to promotion for the brand, most of the alcohol and tobacco companies rely on sponsorships. Some popular alcohol brands sponsoring are 'Heineken' for the Heineken Cup for Rugby and 'Anheuser-Busch' and 'Budweiser' for NASCAR. Tobacco companies have been severely hit after many countries banned the endorsement of tobacco brands in different events, most prominently Formula 1.

We will not see any advertising of the Marlboro Man anymore, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It’s the holiday season, so let us all have fun and be responsible as well. Merry Christmas!

Super Bowl??

One fine morning couple of weeks back during my morning routine, I logged on to Facebook and was confused to see ‘Super Bowl’ on most of my US friend’s status. I know what ‘Super Bowl’ is, but never had an idea about its popularity. What caught my interest is not the sport (I have a repelling effect towards sports, in general) but the advertising. In fact, the research company Nielsen found in 2010 that 51% of the 'Super Bowl' viewers prefer the commercials to the game itself.

Really funny ad featuring Ozzy Osbourne & Justin Bieber!

The ‘Super Bowl’ is often been the most watched broadcast in USA. The day of the ‘Super Bowl’ is a de facto holiday in America. The average cost to advertise for a 30 second spot for the 2013 broadcast was $4 million. The ‘Super Bowl’ commercials had been telecasted since 1970s, but gained popularity since 1984 with the Apple’s Macintosh commercial ‘1984’ directed by Ridley Scott. Budweiser has been advertising the most on the ‘Super Bowl’, more than 25 times since 1998!

The 'USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter' is a live survey done by 'USA Today' and for the year of 2013, it was won by Budweiser. The Budweiser commercial showed a cute Clydesdale having a reunion with his master after 3 years, which goes to show how the audience is attached towards commercials which are emotional.

If someone wants to reach an audience of more than 160 million and have a big money to spend, then the ‘Super Bowl’ is definitely the right place to start!