The 2012 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots was a thriller with a last minute touchdown from the Giants quarterback Eli Manning ending the game 21-17 to the Giants.

The star studded event had half time performances from Madonna with less than the usual controversy often caused by pop stars during the event which attracts over 100 million strong TV audiences.

With such a huge audience, TV networks are able to cash in on the opportunity and were charging $3.5m for a 30 second TV advert this year.  A huge amount of money for a 30 second ad break which makes you wonder how brands can ever get a return from their investment.

But Super Bowl is more than just a game of American football, it is the association with the event and the reason leading global brands pay through the nose for their ad spots.  With the rise of digital media and hype around the game, advertises are now pre-realising their adverts to cash in on the PR and pre match buzz of who is going to be advertising this year.  Adverts tend to be quirky memorable ads that will capture the attention of the massive audience.

Here is a collection of those ads put together by Mashable for 2012.

Independent digital media agency Locker Room has been appointed by London listings specialist Time Out to run a digital marketing campaign across the UK, Europe and the USA aimed at driving awareness and sales of Time Out’s range of products and services.

Locker Room which is based in London, impressed Time Out with the breadth and creativity of its ideas as well as demonstrating sound return on investment for the project.

Peter Hanford, Commercial Director of Locker Room said of the win:  “This is a really exciting piece of business running a broad campaign across a range of audiences creating relevant and motivating content which will engage and inspire as well as drive sales.   We are delighted to welcome Time Out to our list of clients.”

Locker Room’s ability to show an understanding of the importance of evaluating the return on investment was important as Lauren Macnab, Digital Acquisitions Manager of Time Out explains:  “We have a diverse range of products and services to offer a wide range of consumers and our focus is to develop the transactional side of our business through theatre ticket sales, deals, magazine subscriptions and restaurant bookings.  We were looking for a marketing agency to show creativity in developing a digital marketing campaign which would drive awareness and adoption of these products and services amongst a new, relevant and engaged audience whilst generating a positive ROI for the business.”

Locker Room will be managing a range of paid for media channels to make the best use of multiple customer acquisition opportunities, products and business models.  The range of services which Locker Room will provide will include PPC, display and creative for the UK, Europe and USA markets.

Furthermore Locker Room will use a range of tools and technologies to build dynamic landing pages based on the individual consumer’s product queries which will enhance conversion rates.

As the year comes to a close it is time for reflection on 2011 as well as a look ahead to what might happen in 2012.  For some reason last year we decided to blog about our predictions for 2011 which means we now need to look back and see what came true!

You can see from the post here that we didn’t do too well predicting only 17% of our 29!  And here they are;

• Online gambling starts to be legalised in the US – state by state
• Channel 5 to do deal with Endemol to show Big Brother - and it flops again
• Colin Firth to win best actor in the Oscars
• Christine Bleakley & Frank Lampard to get engaged
• Mobile media to “REALLY” take off – AGAIN

Looking ahead to 2012 we’re hoping we can do better…..

• Ricky Lambert picked for the England team
• England Lose final group game at Euros going out, Rooney is sent off
• Lewis Hamilton wins the F1
• Locker Room Senior Account Managers Dan and Fraser come out as a couple
• Tiger Woods to shack up with Kim Kardashian
• The economy to implode
• Locker Room to move and have 30 staff by Xmas 2012
• Jessica Ennis to win SPOTY – FAIL
• Holland to thrash Scotland at Sports Direct Arena@ St James’s Park in November
• No Mo’s at Locker room for the month of November
• England to win the 6 nations
• England to win 22 gold medals and 55 medals in total in the Olympics
• EU to collapse and France and Germany to set up independent partnership (maybe without an invasion this time)
• Manchester City to win Premier League & Europa League
• Andy Murray to win a grand slam
• Usain Bolt to break 100m record in Olympic final
• Wayne & Coleen Rooney to split
• Katie Price & Peter Andre to get back together and fall pregnant by Xmas
• Another famous 27 year old musician to die

Some of the team put forward some deaths for 2012;

• The Queen
• Forsyth and Lehman
• Collymore and Barbara Windsor
• Thatcher
• Sir Bobby Charlton
• Cliff Richard
• Michael Barrymore
• Harry Redknapp

Leading marketing publication The Drum has today released the results of a major survey of the Top 100 digital marketing firms in the UK with Locker Room ranked in three categories.

The Drum surveyed 300 of the biggest and best agencies to audit the leading digital shops within marketing, technical and design and build.  Ranking agencies based on UK fee income Locker Room are ranked 73^rd in the UK’s Top 100 Digital Agencies, 49^th in the Top Marketing Agency category and 4^th in the Most Efficient Agency category.

Read the full results here

Cyber Monday is an eCommerce classification that has come out of the US market and some claim is a PR spin devised to encourage consumers to shop online the Monday after Thanks Giving.  Supposedly the peak in annual online sales for retail businesses, as consumers flock online following their final pay day before Christmas.

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In the last twelve to eighteen months Lockerroom have been producing more and more video content for our clients.  From creating video content as part of a viral campaign, social media campaign or TV adverts the studio has stepped up and delivered some creative and effective video content, with some great results.

Some of the clients featured include Millets, Bodog, La Senza and Alibaba.

Check out our showreel for some of this work below and let us know what you think.

Never have the boys at Locker Room been so pleased to get through November, or rather Movember.  Now it’s all over we want to say a big thank you to everyone that has donated and supported our Mo growth over the last thirty days and put up with our blogging, tweeting and facebook updates about facial hair.

We raised a combined £1,907 across two worthy charities and we’re delighted by all the support we have had.  That’ll be it for updates on facial hair from Locker Room, at least until next year!

We’ll leave you with an image of Dan Ball who has kept his Mo, despite the campaign coming to an end.

Many thanks from the boys at Locker Room Media…..

So here we are twenty eight days in and the Mo’s are all still intact and frankly looking pretty good.  Iain even went as far as a mid month style check changing from a traditional looking moustache to a handlebar.  Sam Behar has been told his attempt is the most pathetic attempt ever seen by a Brighton waitress and Sam Ladlow took it to the next level, whilst holidaying in New York, by having his photo taken with a mo bro police officer.

Donations continue to trickle in, but a final push is required before midnight Wednesday when the razor comes out to tackle the top lip.  We are up to a combined £1,262 at the time of writing and want to push this to a target of £1,500.

Please spread the good word….

The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust aims to raise awareness of depression, reduce the stigma attached to seeking help and to ensure help was available when needed. Please donate  here

TOE IN THE WATER aims to inspire the men and women who have sustained often traumatic injuries, including the loss of limbs, to move beyond their disability and to become re-inspired by life.

Competitive sailing is a physically and mentally challenging adventurous sport and provides a unique opportunity for injured men and women to sail and race on equal terms with their able bodied contemporaries. Please donate here

Here is our Monday morning Movember update and 21 days in, the team are holding out well.  Some of the guys are even enjoying their new look and considering keeping their Mo, post November 30^th.

We have all had various jibes from our peers, friends and family.  Sam apparently looks like an extra from Emerdale, or Goose from Top Gun, Adam is a ginger Charles Bronson, Paul the “Gay Dutch Policeman” from Harry Enfield and Iain is rocking the Mickey Pearce look.

On Friday night one of the lads was approached by a girl in a pub who said “Aww so you’re doing Movember?” to which he replied “Sorry no, what’s that?”……

Onto more important matters with a fantastic effort in fundraising so far, with over £1,000 for our two nominated charities.  Many thanks for all your support to date, please keep the donations coming in over the next nine days.

Team mug shots and links to donate are below……

The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust aims to raise awareness of depression, reduce the stigma attached to seeking help and to ensure help was available when needed. Please donate here

TOE IN THE WATER aims to inspire the men and women who have sustained often traumatic injuries, including the loss of limbs, to move beyond their disability and to become re-inspired by life.

Competitive sailing is a physically and mentally challenging adventurous sport and provides a unique opportunity for injured men and women to sail and race on equal terms with their able bodied contemporaries. Please donate here

Here is a quick behind the scenes look from yesterday where some of the team were out filming a new TV advert for one of our finance clients.

Part of a major product launch and direct response campaign the guys have been working for several weeks on the planning and set up for the shoot.  An astonishing amount of work goes into the production, with two full days building the set alone, all for what will be a 60 second advert.

We look forward to seeing the finished advert going on air soon.