Couldn’t resist a quick piece on the logistics and marketing angles of Super Bowl 2013.  With brothers coaching opposing teams (wow!); the Ravens in the game (I’m D.C./Baltimore-based); Beyonce singing live after the Inauguration Star Spangled Banner question (btw – who really cares as long as it sounds good?!); and a 34-minute blackout, the night was clearly memorable.  As PR professionals, we’re always writing the Plan B, the “what if,” the contingency plans so events go off without a hitch.  A blackout at the Super Bowl was just…well, I’m just blanking out on how to evaluate this “mishap.”  The wildly retweeted, “If you liked it you should’ve put a backup generator on it,” says it all.

Speaking of touchdowns in the Twitter world that night, thanks to PRConsultants Group member Felicia Knight of Knight Vision International for letting me know about Oreo’s “slam dunk” tweet.  Talk about quick thinking, “free vs. $4 million,” and really punny…BuzzFeed reported, “Within minutes of the Super Bowl blackout, Oreo tweeted a perfectly zeitgeistly “You can still dunk in the dark” ad.  Basically, they had execs and creatives in the same room, ready to pounce, and that they did! According to Forbes, “it’s been retweeted more than 14,260 times, which not only shows the power of real-time engagement, but also the sheer importance of understanding the overall media ecosystem.”

One of my earliest lessons in advertising:  Good ideas should make you nervous.  Making an instantaneous business decision that typically takes weeks or even month in our business is brave – kudos to Oreo!  They clearly make more than just a great milkshake – we can hardly keep them “in stock” in my house!

Of the commercials, here’s one that I thought was absolutely ADORABLE from Taco Bell, and looks like 2 million+ more people have checked it out on YouTube as well –  “Live Mas”:

Go Daddy also made some waves, having the “computer nerd/Supermodel” kiss in “When Sexy Meets Smart.”  I loved Matt Lauer’s line on The Today Show to the character actor in the ad, “I have one word for you…sequel!”

The most touching moment of the night, though, was undoubtedly Jennifer Hudson singing “America the Beautiful”, with 26 (symbolic number of) kids from the Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I’ll close on that note, because this was a beautiful way to honor those sweet kids…

**amy note – find a new sandy hook video to insert here – the one i had expired

Author Bio:  Amy Kossoff Smith is president/founder of Write Ideas, Inc., a Maryland-based PR firm; publisher of The MomTini Lounge, an online parenting magazine; a national wire columnist; and founder/editor of PRCG Powerlines.  And for the purposes of this post, she is one of those who DOES break open her Oreos before eating them.  You can connect with her on Twitter at @WriteIdeasPR and @MomTiniLounge.