Trevose, PA  (Profitable.com)  No matter which team scores the Super Bowl trophy, T-shirt printers will be big winners, printing tens of thousands of logoed shirts overnight for devoted football fans to snap up Monday morning.

The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) said hundreds of promotional products companies will work into the wee hours Sunday into Monday to get Super Bowl items to sports fans waiting for commemorative T-shirts, jackets and other logoed items.

“The ad specialty industry works overtime whenever there’s a big national event to make sure everyone who wants a  special keepsake gets one,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI, the largest member organization representing the $18.5 billion promotional products industry. “ASI research shows logoed T-shirts generate huge sales among Super Bowl fans and that companies continue to order them all year long to give away to promote their brands or thank their clients.”

Jay Meyer, president of ASI member Blue Dolphin Screen Print & Embroidery of New Hampshire, heads one of hundreds of companies working tons of OT this weekend to keep sports fans happy.

If the New England Patriots win in the big game against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, Blue Dolphin expects to print at least 25,000 shirts overnight in the initial order.

“The big sports stores start showing up around 3 a.m. because they want to have the apparel ready in the morning when they open,” said Meyer. “If it’s really doing well, they’ll reorder, probably another 5,000. Last week after the AFC championship, we printed 7,000 shirts.”

Over 40 employees will work on the initial order, starting by the game’s third quarter. Printing starts as soon as the game finishes. And even if the hometown team fails to take home the title, Meyer said Blue Dolphin still expects to print at least 9,000 Giants shirts.

About ASI

The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the promotional products industry, with a network of over 27,000 distributors and suppliers throughout North America.

IRVINE, Calif.  (Profitable.com)  Following the gridiron battle in Dallas, Kia Motors America’s (KMA) interactive Super Bowl advertising campaign has engaged and entertained more than 106 million people with TV, digital, print and social media activities.  The latest components in Kia’s launch of the all-new Optima midsize sedan – the largest effort in company history – included the popular “One Epic Contest,” which saw more than 165,000 visitors to www.oneepiccontest.com and more than 30,000 registered entrants vying for a chance to win a brand new 2011 Optima.  The campaign continues with ongoing online, TV, and social media activations as well as the successful in-dealership promotion that has generated more than 20,000 visits to the Optima test drive incentive on Kia.com.  According to Edmunds.com Super Bowl real-time reporting data, Kia Optima consideration increased by 255-percent and Kia brand consideration increased by 49-percent during the second quarter.  With the online debut of “One Epic Ride” on February 4, Kia search activity increased 700 percent(1) and remained strong through the weekend.  Kia’s Super Bowl commercial can be viewed now at www.kia.com/optima and www.youtube.com/kia.

In addition to “One Epic Contest,” KMA partnered with SocialVibe to introduce the all-new Optima to more than 200 million monthly social gamers as the exclusive automotive sponsor of Zynga’s “Big Game Tournament” for players across FarmVille, PetVille, Mafia Wars, and Cafe World.  Kia’s virtual football game featuring Zynga characters yielded SocialVibe’s highest ever average time-spent per user, with gamers spending 170 seconds interacting with the content.  The Kia mobile branded engagement garnered an unprecedented 67-percent click-through-rate on smartphones.  Kia’s “Big Game” also set a new SocialVibe engagement record.

Users across Zynga can continue to earn free game currency by participating in the virtual football game sponsored by the 2011 Optima through March 3, 2011. To interact with the engagement via SocialVibe visit ”The Big Game Tournament.”

“With ‘One Epic Contest’ we challenged consumers to use their wits to locate clues and solve a series of puzzles before, during and after the Super Bowl for the chance to win one of five new Optimas and people responded in a big way,” said Michael Sprague, vice president, marketing & communications, KMA.  ”Engaging enthusiastic consumers was a cornerstone of our Super Bowl marketing strategy and it’s clear with more than 30,000 gamers registered for ‘One Epic Contest’ and more than 450,000 views of the ad on YouTube, that this approach exceeded our expectations.”

Test Drive the 2011 Optima and Receive a $25 Visa® Pre-paid Card

Consumers didn’t have to play an online game to receive a benefit from Kia’s Super Bowl efforts. Consumers are still able to download a $25 Visa® pre-paid card test drive voucher at www.Kia.com that is redeemable after eligible consumers visit a Kia dealership and complete a test drive of the 2011 Optima.  To date, more than 20,000 consumers have visited Kia.com to learn more.

Optima Super Bowl Spot

In “One Epic Ride,” people across space and time – from a police officer and an international villain to aliens and an ancient chief – will go to great lengths to snatch the all-new Optima from the clutches of others and put themselves behind the wheel.  The eye-catching Optima becomes an object of desire, and even Poseidon, the king of the sea, does his best to get his hands on the car.

Created by David&Goliath, “One Epic Ride” demonstrates the extreme measures people will go to get their hands on a midsize sedan that defies the conventions of the segment with a combination of striking design, exhilarating performance and outstanding value not found anywhere else in the category.

The all-new 2011 Optima advances Kia Motors’ design-led transformation with completely new and stunning design characteristics and its three new powertrains – including the brand’s first-ever turbo and hybrid engines (available later this year) in the U.S. – deliver a class leading combination of power(2) and fuel economy(3) while the sedan’s spacious cabin is outfitted with the latest technology features and luxury amenities.

About Kia Motors America

Kia Motors America (KMA) is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 730 dealers throughout the United States and serves as the “Official Automotive Partner of the NBA.”  In 2010, KMA recorded its best-ever U.S. sales and 16th consecutive year of increased U.S. market share. Kia is poised to continue its momentum and will continue to build the brand through design innovation, quality, value, safety features and new technologies.

Information about Kia Motors America and its full vehicle line-up is available at its Web site – www.kia.com.  For media information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com.

(1) Data collected by Reprise Media

(2) Class claim based on comparison of 2010 and available 2011 midsize sedans with standard 4-cylinder engine as of December 2010.  Max HP for non-turbo 2.4L GDI engine is 200 hp @ 6,300 rpm; max HP for Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) 2.4L GDI engine — the only non-turbo engine available in CA, CT, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NM, NY, OR, PA, RI, VT and WA — is 192 hp @ 6,300 rpm. Max HP for 2.0L Turbo GDI engine is 274 hp @ 6,000 rpm. Turbo engine available only on EX Turbo and SX.

(3) With LX manual transmission. MPG class claim based on comparison as of December 2010 of 2010 and available 2011 EPA city/hwy mpg estimates for midsize sedans with I4, nonhybrid engines. EPA estimates for 2011 Kia Optima LX 2.4L GDI engine w/MT are 24 mpg/city and 35 mpg/hwy; for LX 2.4L GDI engine with A/T, 24 mpg/city and 34 mpg/hwy; for 2.0L Turbo GDI engine 22 mpg/city and 34 mpg/hwy. Actual mileage may vary.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis.  (Profitable.com)  If the companies that spend millions to advertise in the Super Bowl want viewers to like their ads, the ads should feature a cute kid instead of a pop star, say University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire marketing professors Dr. Chuck Tomkovick and Dr. Rama Yelkur, who have done multiple studies on Super Bowl advertising.

“In the past, including a celebrity in your ad was a no-brainer,” said Tomkovick. “For years the use of celebrities was among the top predictors of popular Super Bowl ads. But our most recent research shows that’s no longer true. Celebrities have lost their influence when it comes to popular Super Bowl ads.”

With most Super Bowl ads are now running 30 seconds, ad length also is no longer a predictor of likeability, Tomkovick said.

Instead, including children has become a top predicator of Super Bowl ad likeability, as has the amount of information shared about a product, Yelkur said.

“Humor, animals and product category have endured for 20 years as high predictors of popularity,” Tomkovick said, noting that categories like beverages and chips continue to be popular. “New to the list are children and limiting the amount of information shared about a product.”

Super Bowl ads are more powerful than ever because they are available in so many formats, often long before and after the football game, Yelkur said.

“The ads are seen by millions of people who don’t see the football game, and they can be viewed multiple times in a variety of formats,” Tomkovick said. “Running a 30-second Super Bowl ad is no longer a one-time thing.”

Yelkur and Tomkovick’s research involved studying all 538 Super Bowl ads that aired from 2000-09. The research replicated and extended research that they’d completed in the 1990s.

Additional research by Tomkovick and Yelkur found that the aggregate stock prices of publicly traded firms that ran in-game Super Bowl ads outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 by more than 1 percent during a two-week period of time (Monday before the Super Bowl through the Friday after the game).

“One percent doesn’t sound like much until you realize that it translates into tens of billions of dollars,” Yelkur said. “The stock price performance wasn’t related to ad popularity or any industry category. Our research suggests that advertising in the Super Bowl is a tradable event independent of ad content or other predictors.”

Researchers studied data from 1996-2010 and found that the Super Bowl advertising firms outperformed the S&P’s 500 during the two-week timeframe in the vast majority of those years, Yelkur said.

For details, contact Dr. Chuck Tomkovick at 715-836-2529 or tomkovcl@uwec.edu, or Dr. Rama Yelkur at 715-836-4674 or yelkurr@uwec.edu.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.  (Profitable.com)  Hyundai Motor America sets the stage for its Super Bowl advertising with an integrated marketing campaign kicking off at the AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 23. All-new spots airing in-game will run as an unbranded, viral campaign breaks online, with print, digital and direct marketing elements rounding out the 360-degree program which builds over two weeks and culminates on Super Bowl Sunday. Two of Hyundai’s four 30-second in-game spots will highlight the all-new 2011 Hyundai Elantra with the theme: “Snap Out of It.” Two additional spots will feature the hot-selling 2011 Sonata. Hyundai Motor America’s agency of record, Innocean Worldwide Americas, developed the new campaign.

Hyundai’s “Snap Out of It” campaign addresses years of consumer complacency towards the compact car segment.  Through a series of shorts that parody the history of compact car advertising, Hyundai tells the story of the hypnotized consumer mindset, conditioned to purchase compact cars for practicality and reliability, regardless of their uninspired design and limited innovation. Enter the all-new 2011 Elantra, a no-compromise alternative that finally screams “Snap Out of It” in an effort to deprogram those in the compact car trance.

Hyundai’s 2011 Super Bowl advertising blitz goes beyond television to include an unbranded, viral campaign through the integration of 10 online spots that reinforce the “Snap Out of It” theme. The online short films discuss the “conspiracy” behind compact car hypnosis and invoke consumer curiosity, generating buzz-building momentum leading up to the Super Bowl. Each of the viral shorts, filmed to look like consumer-generated content or documentary style, direct viewers to a different, unbranded microsite discussing the compact car conspiracy. These short films nor the microsites will not be branded or identified until Super Bowl Sunday, and Hyundai will reserve at least two “Snap Out of It” ads to premier in the Big Game.  

“Over the years the Super Bowl has provided a great avenue for us to reach a significant audience, and this year we are expanding that reach by jumpstarting the campaign two weeks early during the AFC Championship game,” said John Krafcik, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor America.  ”Having a fully integrated campaign leading up to the Big Game next month will allow us to build a story that makes a dramatic statement befitting a break-through car like the all-new Elantra, which gives consumers license to expect more from the compact segment.”

This year marks Hyundai’s fourth consecutive as a Super Bowl advertiser, with three in-game ads planned for Super Bowl Sunday, though this is the first time Hyundai has tied its “Big Game” strategy to a program beginning during the divisional championships. To view Hyundai’s AFC ads, please visit, www.hyundainews.com/Media_Kits/Video_Clips/.

The 2011 Elantra sets the bar in the compact sedan category offering modern design, outstanding fuel economy, loads of comfort and convenience features at a low starting price of $14,830. Powered by an all-new 1.8-liter “Nu” engine, the fifth generation Elantra boasts best-in-class standard fuel economy of 40 mpg highway. Elantra also continues to lead the industry in standard advanced safety technologies including a new Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) system to optimally manage Electronic Stability Control (ESC). Even with game-changing performance and safety features, the Elantra does not scrimp on design. It offers a “class-above” mid-size car interior volume and mirrors the fluidic sculpture design of its award winning sibling, the all-new Sonata.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 800 dealerships nationwide. All Hyundai vehicles sold in the U.S. are covered by the Hyundai Assurance program, which includes the 5-year/60,000-mile fully transferable new vehicle warranty, Hyundai’s 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty and 5-years of complimentary Roadside Assistance.

Journalists are invited to visit our news media web site: www.hyundainews.com