The NFL Achieves The Impossible With Super Bowl LVIII
#ForTheWin: Super Bowl LVIII Edition
Although the ‘best ad’ would be the obvious communications call-out, we wanted to celebrate something else about Super Bowl LVIII: the whole thing.
The communications and marketing team at the National Football League (NFL) managed to achieve the impossible on Sunday night, enabling America to come together, forget about our differences, and focus on an evening of great entertainment.
Coming into the final, so many other narratives aside from the sport were taking media attention. Brands were busy running their campaigns, Las Vegas airport had no more space for private jets, and a certain singer was either bringing a whole new fan base to the sport or was about to change the course of the 2024 US Presidential Elections and quite possibly both. In the end, it was a nail-biting game and one that cements the NFL’s place as the world’s most valuable sports league and the Super Bowl as an event that increasingly seems as significant as Thanksgiving for bringing people together. Over the years, the NFL has gotten smarter and better at the integration of sports and entertainment. This year, they had to contend with a gatecrasher at the party: politics. Against the backdrop of our fervent political atmosphere, it would have been easy for the significance of the game to have been hijacked by any number of conspiracy theories and partisan talking points. However, the NFL stuck to what was important for the fans: delivering a truly world-class entertainment experience.
Kudos to the communications team at the NFL; you're delivered a welcome night off.
(Disclaimer: NFL is not a Perceptual Advisors LLC client)
Simon is Senior Managing Director/Head of Corporate Communications Practice with Perceptual Advisors.
He has over 30 years of communication and marketing experience, principally in the global automotive industry. Highlights of Simon’s career include serving in executive marketing and communication positions for Fisker Inc. in California, where he was Senior Vice President Communications, Fiat Chrysler Automotive in Michigan, where he was Chief Communications Officer, Aston Martin Lagonda in the UK, where he was Chief Marketing Officer, Tesla Motors, where he was Vice President of Communications, and Nissan Motor Company based primarily at Nissan's global HQ in Japan, where he was Corporate Vice President for Global Communications.
Simon’s first position was with Ford Motor Company in the UK. In 1998, he relocated to Ford’s global operations in Michigan followed in 2000, as VP communications for Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover North America. In 2003 Simon joined Nissan North America as VP communications and a year later was moved to Japan to assume the global leadership role.
Born in Hampshire, England and residing in Southern California, he holds a degree in Geography from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.