Double Advertising

The Super Bowl is the ultimate corporate event and since every television network is owned by a multimedia juggernaut, its really become a showcase for the home empire. NBC Universal had a lot of ads for its theme parks, movies, TV shows, and its parent company: GE. But I think what surprised me the most was how NBC’s talent and properties showed up in other sponsors ads.

First up, Conan O’Brien in one of the funniest ads of the year. It brings up a good point though, Conan never does ads. So why would he do one this year? Could it be because NBC wants him to get some more exposure before he takes over The Tonight Show this fall?

Next up is Monsters vs. Aliens appearing in the Sobe commercial. This one makes a little more sense, since Sobe sponsored the 3D trailer event for Monsters vs. Aliens just seconds before. All in all though, the characters seemed a bit out of place in an already weird commercial.

Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock introduces the American public to Hulu. Hulu is part owned by NBC, so this could be considered a house ad. But it isn’t a subsidiary, so it stands to reason they produced their own commercial. And who better to play a television executive then a man who already plays a television executive on TV. At one point he’s actually watching his own show.

Finally MacGruber is an SNL skit turned Pepsi commercial. This one seemed most curious, since Pepsi already had a series of commercials that were stylistically different geared towards their brand “refresh”. Watching this (hilarious) commercial almost makes me wonder in NBC threw in the SNL guys for an extra ad sale.

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