Superbowl No Chicken Dance for the Patriots

It's nice to have a Superbowl where the game is SO much better than the ads. How many times have you spent the Monday after the game discussing the ads and not the game with your colleagues at work? Not this year. What a game!

I'm not a big football fan, nor did I have a preference for either New England or Giants going into the game. But, I couldn't help cheering for the underdog Giants as they came from behind in the 4th quarter. Now that's good football.

On to the Chicken Dance. As you may have read, KFC challenged any scoring player or Tom Petty to do the Chicken Dance during the game. If they completed a 3 second dance, KFC would donate $260,000 to charity. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy called it a case of "ambush marketing 101" and warned that any players participating could face stiff fines.

Chicken Dance winners and losers?

NFL is a big loser for even commenting on KFC's "ambush marketing". Why dignify the challenge with a response? Comment board traffic was overwhelmingly negative towards the NFL with one poster renaming it the "No Fun League".

KFC was a slight winner. They managed to jump on the Superbowl marketing machine without spending more than the cost of a press release distribution. They'd be a big winner if they had figured out a way not to seem so crass and opportunistic.

The players and Tom Petty were winners. Of course, neither the players nor Tom Petty Chicken Danced during the game. With the quality of the performances all around, they focused on winning the game rather than KFC or any of the other Superbowl hype. True professionals.

What a game! (Did I say that already?)