Puppy Bowl emphasis is given to a dog-loving Browns town in Cleveland’s Super Bowl Sunday advertisement.
This Super Bowl Sunday, Cleveland’s renowned Dawg Pound won’t be in the limelight. It will, however, have a dog-friendly atmosphere.
The travel agency Destination Cleveland said on Friday that it would be launching a new national advertising campaign on Sunday. The campaign will run during the Puppy Bowl, the dog-friendly game that takes place on Sunday afternoon before the pigskin event, rather than during Super Bowl LVIII.
The 30-second commercial shows the city from the perspective of a traveler’s closest buddy.
Destination Cleveland’s chief marketing officer, Marie Scalia, stated that the company wished to take a risk on the largest media day of the year. She described it as “just a clever and entertaining way to showcase the destination through a different lens.”
The commercial will appear on Animal Planet at 2 p.m. on Sunday and will run prior to, during, and following the Puppy Bowl. After that, it will air more than 300 more times on Animal Planet, streaming services, and social media between February 12 and March 23.
According to Scalia, 13.2 million people saw the Puppy Bowl last year, which is a model stadium with dozens of shelter dogs playing “football.”
Destination Cleveland’s vice president of public relations and communications, Emily Lauer, estimates that the campaign will set the group back roughly $550,000. “The project cost is very efficient for a campaign that is launching on one of the biggest media days of the year, will run for multiple weeks on a national platform, and reaches our target audience,” the spokesperson stated.
Because the agency announced the new campaign on social media earlier this month, some people believed Destination Cleveland was purchasing an advertisement to run during the Super Bowl. According to Scalia, the organization’s $20 million budget for 2024 would not allow for a $7 million, 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl.
“In a very responsible way, I think this is a fun way to get Cleveland in the media mix on the biggest day of the year,” she remarked.
The ad campaign marks the beginning of what is anticipated to be a busy year for Cleveland tourism, with a number of high-profile events coming up, such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in the fall, the Pan-American Masters Games in July, and the NCAA Women’s Final Four college basketball tournament.
MMGY Global, a Kansas City-based travel and tourist marketing firm, created the advertisement. It is available for viewing on Destination Cleveland’s social media accounts and YouTube channel beginning at six on Sunday morning.