The Super Bowl: The Brand Within A Brand
Published on March 6, 2025, at 1:53 p.m.
By Olivia Pickens.
The National Football League has been reserved for only the greatest over the past 105 years. It’s a place where the best meet and compete against the best. For almost 60 of those 105 years, the Super Bowl has been the ultimate game to decide which of the best truly deserve that title.
The Super Bowl is one of the most powerful defining events of American culture. When thinking of America, one might often think “Super Bowl.” With such a big brand and such a large game, all eyes are on the NFL to put the advertisements, partnerships, branding and host city environment to the test. Due to the high stakes and extreme amount of work invested in one game, the Super Bowl is a brand within a brand, one that the NFL trademarked in 1969 and “strictly protects.”
Throughout the regular football season, the NFL will post graphics and content that align with individual teams’ branding. However, the Super Bowl doesn’t follow the branding of the teams playing in the game but instead uses branding of its own.
Social Media Associate Producer for the NFL Aleah Acquafredda said the NFL’s social media typography, font usage and overall personality are switched to the Super Bowl’s theme in January or around the time of the playoffs. However, the work begins much earlier. The coloring and design of Super Bowl content are created months in advance. A single graphic may go through days or weeks of editing before it is approved to post.
“I can’t describe it as anything else other than our traditional NFL look, and then we transition to the Super Bowl; it’s like a party look in the sense of where it has fun and captures the true New Orleans culture,” Acquafredda said in reference to the NFL’s branding.
For the recent Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Acquafredda said the NFL wanted to depict the “trueness of the city” throughout all content. The Super Bowl’s branding highlighted New Orleans’ history and character. According to Fox Sports, the league even had local New Orleans artist Tahj Williams help design the logo for the game. The logo’s coloring and design were inspired by the architecture of the historic New Orleans French Quarter.
Paying homage to the host city doesn’t stop with the visuals. “One thing about the Super Bowl is they always try to adapt to the city that they’re in,” Creative Producer Intern at NFL Films Jaylon Brooks said. The NFL partners with local stores and businesses to become deeply involved with the host city. This year it used New Orleans’ easily identifiable music style during events throughout the week and at the game.
Part of what makes the Super Bowl the Super Bowl is the environment of the host city in the weeks leading up to the game. Three 18-hole golf courses, two bowling alleys, at least 110 apartments, 20 billboards and 35,000 parking spots are just some of the NFL’s requirements for the host city to provide in order to set the vibe for Super Bowl week.
Acquafredda said scouting for venues and events in the host city during Super Bowl week can start a year in advance. Additionally, the league sends people to visit the city throughout the year to test how smoothly the week will run and to plan security measures.
The depth of coverage for the Super Bowl far outreaches that of regular season games. Brooks said “It’s all hands on deck,” when mentioning the number of cameras sent to the Super Bowl. Cameras are set up to capture every angle.
The Super Bowl’s personality also strays from regular season games with its iconic advertisements. A commercial for the Super Bowl is the holy grail for many brands. Brooks said a single 30-second commercial may cost somewhere in the millions. In fact, CBS predicted the average price tag on a 30-second advertisement for Super Bowl LIX to be $8 million. In addition, over $600 million in revenue was made from advertisements alone during Super Bowl LVIII, not including the millions brought in from companies paying to use the Super Bowl logo and trademark.
According to Acquafredda, the NFL is cautious of competitors when showing a sponsor’s logo during events in the week leading up to the Super Bowl and throughout segments of a show. It sells as much ad space as possible but remains strategic to ensure two competitors aren’t sponsoring the same content or product.
Even with the incredible revenue brought in by commercials and sponsorships, the NFL has recently started to use influencers and WAGs (the players’ wives and girlfriends) to further increase engagement. Which influencers it chooses to promote the game is an important factor. A newer, more youthful audience is more likely to engage with the Super Bowl when the influencers they follow are at the event.
“We don’t need to just target the football audience because the football audience is already there,” Acquafredda said.
From Acquafredda’s work researching and pulling photos of Joe Burrow’s excellent sense of fashion to Brooks’ work editing and going through video footage for “NFL Turning Point” with Louis Riddick, the NFL places a focus on content the viewer doesn’t see simply by watching games. This focus is amplified during the Super Bowl. Brooks said a typical episode of “NFL Turning Point” lasts seven minutes during the regular season and moves to roughly 40 minutes for the Super Bowl, highlighting the size of the event.
Brooks said the emotion behind the Super Bowl is also what makes its branding unique. “Play with the elements they give you,” Brooks said. “Capture those moments … emotion helps build a story.”
There are very few brands as large as the NFL, and there are very few events as large as the Super Bowl. The NFL has made the Super Bowl into a brand within its brand, and it’s recognized and watched worldwide. Therefore, only the best is expected from the Super Bowl, both on and off the field. It’s an event that can be shared with everyone, and the NFL’s branding of the Super Bowl makes sure everyone can find something to relate to.
“We love to be real,” Acquafredda said. “Nothing’s buttoned up anymore. We’ve decided perfection is boring.”
