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Microsoft Paid NFL $400 Million To Use Surface, But Announcers Call Them iPads
mpicpp sends this news from Business Insider:
Prior to the season, Microsoft and the NFL struck a 5-year, $400 million deal with one of the major components being that the Microsoft Surface would become "the official tablet of the NFL," with coaches and players using the Surface on the sidelines during games. But Microsoft and the league ran into a problem during week one of the season when at least two television announcers mistakenly referred to the tablets as iPads, giving a huge rival some unexpected exposure. The biggest blunder for the league came during the nationally televised Monday Night Football game when ESPN's Trent Dilfer joked about how long it took Cardinals assistant head coach Tom Moore to "learn how to use the iPad to scroll through the pictures." In a separate incident, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints was spotted by Fox commentator John Lynch using a Surface on the sideline. Lynch remarked that Brees was "not watching movies on his iPad.
That's rich.
...Steve
and a lot of the Announcers are former players
That's nothing, I keep posting about the iPhone 6 on Facebook and people continually refer to it as the Nexus 5! Joke's on them.
To be fair, have you listened to some of what NFL announcers say these days? Most of it is pretty damn stupid, even when they're keeping their remarks to football. I consider it lucky if they can tell the difference between a run play and a pass play...telling the difference between 2 gadgets? Nope.
Am I the only person here who thinks MS are nuts for having paid so much for a product placement. Surely $400,000,000 could have been better spent through other advertising methods. $400m seems like at least 10x too much.
They expected that product placement would lead to millions of extra sales of an expensive item!!!
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Do they wipe the screens of their ipads with kleenexes and q-tips, which they keep with the band-aids and aspirin next to a refrigerator full of cokes, in the room where they make xeroxes, next to the escalator?
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
The last thing Apple wants is for any tablet to be identified as and referred to as an iPad. For their laptops, you get the huge light up apple logo to make sure everyone looking at you knows just what you're using.
The last thing Apple's marketing office will want is for anyone who sees a tablet to refer to it as an iPad. I don't see the name become generic at any point soon, but it's a big fear of many companies. With Apple so reliant on branding and recognition I'd expect them to be more concerned than most.
Take a moment to think about that.
If you think all that is bad, then consider that the NFL is a non-profit organization. Should the NFL continue to enjoy non-profit status?
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I saw him struggling with it...I suspect he will go back to a clipboard and paper soon and to heck with the NFL and the MS contract...
The NFL is an american, tax-exempt organization that gathers for religious events every Sunday. Except for the summer which they take off. The events are held in temples larger than the Egyptian pyramids, and they are built and paid for by local governments using public money. In return for their service they are showered with large sums of money by nearly every segment of society, and their members are given special privileges that make them immune to some of the normal laws of society. The downside for the members, though, is that their activities are medically dangerous, and they usually are only allowed to take part in them for one to two years before their health degrades and are tossed to the side. In short, it is like any other large american corporation.
iPad has reached that point that Kleenex (facial tissue) or Scotch tape (clear adhesive tape). People can say "I want an iPad but not one of those expensive Apple ones" and mean they want a tablet type device.
I'd say this is nowhere near. The generic name is "tablet" and not "iPad". And the generic name for a music player is "MP3 player", not iPod, even when a so-called MP3 player might be used to play mostly AAC or other non-MP3 formats.
Most commenters here and elsewhere assume these references to a competing product were accidental. I believe they were likely intentional. The $400m paid to the NFL did not include any money paid to the broadcast corporations. They're sitting there wondering why they should help the NFL promote something while at the same time having to pay the NFL similarly-sized piles of cash.
I think these carefully-executed comments were an intentional message to Microsoft that their promotional budget is better spent with them on commercials rather than trying to embed them in the content without paying the broadcasters.
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Someone called something that wasn't an iPad, an iPad! In other news, one announcer was overheard to say that the trainer was placing a Band-aid on an injured player, when in fact the bandage was a Curad! Shocking!
Proverbs 21:19
It is not just for "product placement", though.
From Microsofts press release on the deal:
The agreement provides Microsoft with the rights to create exclusive interactive experiences through products such as Xbox One and Surface, transforming the way fans will experience the NFL in the years to come. The NFL on Xbox will provide fans with an all-new viewing experience through innovations around Skype and Xbox SmartGlass; an all-new, innovative fantasy football solution allowing fans to view players and live competition side by side on a single TV screen; and a personalized NFL destination featuring information about the players, teams and games fans care about most. Xbox also retains the exclusive rights to extend these interactive experiences to tablets, enabling fans to use Xbox SmartGlass technology to enhance game day.
So MS has also licensed the rights to use the NFL brand, clips etc. (could be 3D instant replay on the xbox, streaming over Skype?).
And exclusive rights for tablets. Could be a driver for Surface uptake.
And also this:
As part of the partnership, Surface by Microsoft branding will appear on NFL sidelines in unique ways, including on the hoods of the official on-field NFL instant replay stations. As part of the relationship, Microsoft will be granted the following designations:
The instant review stations are in view during some of the most tense situations of a game, with a lot of attention. Surely, that is worth money.
400.000.000 is a lot of money. I have no idea if it is too expensive or not. But it does cover more than the right to equip the sidelines with tablets.
Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
Just to have the NFL officially use your brand of tablet.
What gave you that idea? Did you just pull it out of thin air?
It covers more than that. Read the MS press release on the deal:
So, basically also the license to use NFL content on XBox and tablets (I see no mention of live content - but it could be buried in the "xbox experience")
No advertising seconds, no "official phone", "official supplier" or anything, just "official tablet".
Wrong. From the press release (see above):
Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
I'd be wanting to work at 110% of my ability 24/7, if I was forced to learn/use a device foreign to me I'd be pissed. I don't care if it's a surface, iPad, or chalkboard, let me work in a way that's most productive for me.
Granted, my organization may look like a household, but that's just a clever marketing tactic.
We will need three tablets at first to equip our executive staff (myself and my girlfriend) and our lead associate (her daughter), though our affiliates (extended family) may require them in the future.
For this upcoming Super Bowl, the big halftime event is going to be a heavily choreographed number with all of the participating players dancing around, clicking their Surface keyboards onto and off of the devices.
#DeleteChrome
no no, they're talking about the PADD.
All the phone manufacturers with the exception of Apple spent millions on Super Bowl Ads and at the end of the game all the players took out their iPhone and took pictures of each other with the trophy.
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NFL: One of the few industries where smooth talking idiots can rake in millions spewing bullshit.
You didn't forget about religion, politics, finance, auto sales, TV news, real estate, and insurance did you?
The NFL is small potatoes in the making money through BS industry.
I'd say this is nowhere near. The generic name is "tablet" and not "iPad".
Maybe to you but that's not the way the real world works. People absolutely do call all tablets "iPads" regardless of actual make. They refer to any MP3 player as an "iPod" whether it actually is or isn't. People don't search, they "Google".
No it isn't accurate but it is what happens. If you correct them they will ignore you. Most people really, seriously DO NOT CARE that it isn't actually accurate. All adhesive bandages are Band-Aids. All nasal tissue is Kleenex. All transparent tape is Scotch tape. All photocopies are Xeroxes. It happens. Get over it.
Unterminated quotations are by-definition terminated at the end of the paragraph. At least they are regularly and consistently in all of the novels that I read.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
> Is this something like a 1 year or 10 year contract?
The first words of the summary are:
Prior to the season, Microsoft and the NFL struck a 5-year, $400 million deal
I think the biggest issue is that Microsoft doesn't really have a simple symbolic logo for itself as a corporation. There's a perhaps widely-recognized Windows logo, and that's about it. The people at the marketing helm at MS are really asleep, and have been for ages. They can't even keep from fucking with their Windows logo. Say what you will about Apple, but they essentially had only two logo designs, and both are instantly recognizable. They had the foresight to design them for the long run. MS seems to think quarter-to-quarter.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Preferably from the orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
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