Are You Ready for the Super Bowl?

On Monday nights during football season, the network screams "are you ready for some football." Well tens of millions of people around the world are getting ready for the Super Bowl and I am no exception. I spent the majority of my life in Indianapolis and my Colts are in the Super Bowl! They probably are not the sentimental favorite to win (because of Katrina) but Las Vegas doesn't base the odds on sentiment and they have the Colts as 5 1/2 point favorites.

Millions of people will watch the Super Bowl even though they may not have watched another game all year long.

Can you guess why that happens?

You got it! It's for the commercials. The cost of a 30 second or 60 second spot for the Super Bowl commands more money that any other single event in the world. Major brands spend months working with their agencies to create one or two very special advertisements for the Super Bowl. Many probably dedicate 30% or more of their annual advertising budget on this one special day. Some ads are clearly winners and some are clearly losers. Agency relationships are generally lost when the ad is deemed a loser.

As community bankers and credit unions, we don't have the financial resources to buy a spot on the Super Bowl. So let's just sit back and enjoy the game and vote for our favorite commercials!

When Super Bowl Monday comes, we know how to compete with the regional and national banks in our markets. We can't out spend them but we can spend our budgets wisely and pull deposit and loan share by just "staying true to who we are." Neighbors who care about our communities and about our friends and relatives. We have the right products, the right people and the intangibles that make us a force in our communities.

So if you see Chase, Citi, BofA (or even the E-Trade babies) during the Super Bowl, don't let it spoil your day! Enjoy the game, enjoy the commercials, spend time with friends, have some popcorn and on Monday come out and continue to play to your institutions strengths.

Don't bet any money on this, but for what it's worth, my prediction is Colts 27 Saints 17.

Have a great week/weekend!

Mike

PS - I know I'm a week early but the Super Bowl is already on my mind!