Lessons From the Super Bowl
There were lots of valuable employment law, leadership and HR lessons that could be gleaned from last night’s Super Bowl. Here are just a few:
Beware Casual Day
As the CareerBuilder ad last night so aptly (or inaptly, depending on your perspective) pointed out, companies should set clear guidelines for what is — and isn’t — acceptable on casual day. The result if you don’t: anarchy (and, quite possibly, harassment lawsuits).
Don’t Get Fooled By Age
Reviews of The Who’s halftime performance were decidedly mixed, with most of the negative comments focusing on their advanced age. I for one am glad that CBS gave the 60-ish rockers the chance for one last hurrah. There’s a valuable lesson there for employers: engage in age-ism and you might miss out on some great performances.
On the other hand, CBS did catch some flak for the oddly high number of ads that featured older folks (Betty White, Abe Vigoda and even Tim Tebow’s mom) getting viciously tackled by people years their junior. OK, so it was only two ads, but still . . .
Oprah, Dave and Jay
One of the most positively reviewed ads was a spot in which Oprah played peacemaker by inviting bitter late-night rivals David Letterman and Jay Leno to the same Super Bowl party. While there was some sniping by Dave, the fact that the two of them agreed to even sit on the same couch created more buzz than most of the rest of the ads combined.
The lesson? Blessed are the peacemakers.
The Best Team Usually Wins
Peyton Manning is indisputably one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game. But, as last night’s game-turning fourth-quarter interception demonstrated, even the best leaders can falter sometimes. If the rest of the team doesn’t step up in those critical moments, you’re cooked.
Want to win? You need BOTH (1) the best talent and (2) the best team.
Communicate Carefully
According to a survey of those who watched last year’s Super Bowl, 67% recalled their favorite commercial while only 39% remembered who actually won the game. Other studies show that lots of companies who spent millions advertising during the game actually alienated the audience rather than creating positive feelings about their brand.
The lesson? When it comes to workplace communication, people (1) can be easily distracted, (2) may fixate on something other than your primary message, (3) may react negatively to messages that you thought would be 100% positive and/or (4) ignore you completely.
What’s the antidote? Plan your communications carefully — think before you speak (or hit “send”). Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and try to assess potential impacts from all possible angles. Try out important messages on others before you go “live.” And, if you mess things up, be humble enough to apologize and re-communicate (hopefully with a better message).
In case you missed any of the ads, you can view them here. If you come up with any valuable lessons that I missed, please leave a comment below.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:57 am
One lesson I took from commercials last night was stay true to your brand. Elegantly simple yet oddly compelling, the Google ad that showed us the steps in a transatlantic romance was in my view the best ad. You never for a moment forgot the brand as it was front and center at every moment. A day or two from now, who will remember that Betty White was flogging Snickers (I had to look it up.) Google gave a good lesson for us all.
February 8th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Well said, Lisa. Based on the reactions at the SB party I attended last night (and from my co-workers today), the Google ad was the one ad that seemed to be both (1) memorable and (2) effective. Most of the reactions last nite were of the “What the heck was that?” and/or “$2.5 million for that?!” variety.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I agree, one of the more memorable ones. My wife commented later that she never thought she’d get teary eyed over a commercial for a search engine!