Welcome to Last Week’s Wins #20! Congrats to Super Bowl LV Champions, the Tom Brady Buccaneers!
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Winning Quote
“Let us walk with these warriors, Charge on with these champions, And carry forth the call of our captains! We celebrate them by acting with courage and compassion, By doing what is right and just. For while we honor them today, It is they who every day honor us.” - Amanda Gorman, Chorus of the Captain
Women at the Super Bowl
Besides Tom Brady cementing his GOAT legacy, another big takeaway from Super Bowl LV was the leading women.
In the past year, the sports & entertainment industry has made incredible strides towards the rightful inclusion of women in positions of influence.
2020 sports gave us Kim Ng taking charge of the Miami Marlins, Sarah Fuller making history in collegiate football, and Becky Hammon coaching in the NBA.
We also witnessed women’s professional sports leagues like the WNBA leading the way in supporting social justice and the NWSL leading “return-to-play” efforts.
Last night, we all got to watch the glass ceiling break as Sarah Thomas officiated and Lori Locust/Maral Javadifar became the first women coaches to win a Super Bowl.
These inspiring women were not just selected to check off diversity boxes. These women have immense experience and prove that “playing like a girl” is as useless of a saying as “shut up and dribble”.
Women in Super Bowl LV:
Sarah Thomas - Super Bowl 55 Line Judge
Lori Locust - Buccaneers Assistant Defensive Line Coach
Former Semi-Pro D-Line (Central Penn Vipers)
Maral Javadifar - Buccaneers Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
Top Quotes:
“I never set out to be the first in any of this. But knowing the impact that I'm having on not just my daughter but young girls everywhere, women everywhere. When I get on that field and I take it all in, I know that I'm probably going to get a little teary-eyed." - Super Bowl Official Sarah Thomas
“I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity, and I know that Coach Lo and, I'm sure, Sarah, feel the same way. I do look forward to the day when it’s no longer newsworthy to be a woman working in the pros, or making the Super Bowl for that matter." - Maral Javadifar
Atlanta Teams’ Owner Arthur Blank Donates $17M to Atlanta Civil Rights Museum
Arthur Blank is the co-founder of Home Depot and owner of Atlanta United and the Atlanta Falcons. Blank and his Family Foundation have a strong history of supporting Atlanta-based civil rights organizations.
In 2014 he donated $1.5 million to help open the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Downtown Atlanta.
Blank is using his most engaging platform, his sport franchises, to amplify opportunities and experiences at the center.
This investment is one that sports team owners should be making all the time. A partnership between Atlanta United/Falcons and The Civil Rights Center can open doors for various experiential learning opportunities in sport camps and schools.
The downtown ATL community will benefit greatly from this partnership, where stakeholders like sports teams and civil rights organizations collaborate to support and enhance life in Atlanta.
Renovation investment details include:
Total 20,000 square-foot expansion
Community engagement lobby
New community cafe
Anti-lynching artwork gallery
Top-level MLK Papers Exhibit
Top Quotes:
"The most effective way to make progress together as a community is to shine a light on the issues that exist and to then do something about them so that everyone can feel a sense of understanding and support." - Arthur Blank
“Arthur Blank invested in the idea of an Atlanta-based National Center for Civil and Human Rights more than a decade ago, before we had a building, and has been a champion ever since.” - Jill Savitt, The Center CEO
The Winning Super Bowl Ads
We love to dive into awesome partnerships that drive authentic engagement in this Win-Win-Win community.
There is almost no bigger stage than the 30+ second slots open on Super Bowl Sunday.
For brands that can afford it, there is enormous potential for impact post-Super Bowl. These leading brands can use their platform to spread powerful messages.
For those that can’t afford it - I recommend taking a look at what Reddit did with their 5 seconds of air-time.
There was a common theme of unity throughout Super Bowl LV ads and NFL programming.
Odd that all of this unity talk was during a potential super-spreader event - But that is a conversation for another day.
It is so important to hold brands accountable and make sure they “walk the walk” and don’t just show face on Super Bowl Sunday.
A good example is Root Insurance. The company went beyond just making a commercial with NASCAR star Bubba Wallace, they also launched an initiative to drive meaningful change and create solutions for the insurance industry.
What would a Super Bowl commercial conversation be without a top five list? Check mine out below!
Cheetos: “It Wasn’t Me”
Rocket Mortgage: “Pretty Sure”
Oatly: “WOW”
State Farm: “Drake from State Farm”
Fiverr: “Four Season Total Landscaping”
Top Quotes:
“This year, with everybody’s nerves on edge and polarization of society and people looking for insults that may or may not be intentional, the stakes are really high.” - Jim Nail, Principal Analyst at Forrester
“You have an environment with the pandemic, you have a change in presidency, you have social justice movements. What that means is there are a lot of hot button or trigger issues. You don’t want, as a brand, to say the wrong thing. It’s a little bit more of a challenge this year.” - Derek Rucker, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Professor
Meet the Author: Eric Dorsey