ESPN's Kenny Mayne And CafePress Take Modest Dip Into Super Bowl Marketing Pool

The Super Bowl is this Sunday. Perhaps you heard the news. It is of course perhaps the greatest single, one day spectacle in the history of one day spectacles. The game on the field has become secondary for many to the one played off it. The one where the big boys of advertising and marketing flex their creative (hopefully) and monetary muscles.

However, the Super Bowl is not merely for the Richie Rich's of the advertising and marketing world.

On the contrary, marketers without bloated advertising and marketing budgets are finding ways to participate in the endless parade of $7 million TV ads, lavish parties, and even barges that surround the National Football League’s marquise centerpiece.

Online retailer CafePress decided to insert itself into the Super Bowl in a different way, latching onto an argument that’s been brewing beneath the surface for many years – to move the big game from Sunday to Saturday and leverage the celebrity of popular ESPN personality Kenny Mayne.

“We’re not in a position to run a $7 million, 30-second Super Bowl ad on television during the game,” said CafePress PR chief Sarah Segal. “By leveraging Kenny’s popularity and humor, then pairing it with a pretty interesting argument, it gave us a change to lightly inject the brand into a broader discussion about the game and drive consumers to CafePress.com to see the breadth of our products. We’re thrilled.”

Today, CafePress and Mayne launched MoveTheBigGame.com, where you can find a very funny video (below) of Mayne beating the streets of New York to make his argument, along with a point-by-point outline and links back to CafePress merchandise supporting the movement.

The brand has taken a modest dip into a crowded Super Bowl marketing pool , but the campaign’s savvy approach is certain to catch the attention of the rabid sports talk radio and blogosphere audience.

As for the traditionalists who staunchly believe the Super Bowl should remain on Sunday, Mayne says he knows "some of those silly purists might think it’s out of bounds to play the Super Bowl on any day but Sunday,” but adds "it’s hardly unprecedented to alter a sports tradition. Have you seen college badminton? That’s been dramatically altered since 1973.”

I have to admit I have never watched one second of college badminton but I will take Mayne's word on radical transition it apparently has undergone since the early 70s.