3 seconds

Just because they are doing it doesn't make it right.

There are so many ways I could help these companies see a measurable R.O.I. for the cash they are going to spend.

What am I talking about?

This story from the Wall Street Journal:

By STEPHANIE KANG and SUZANNE VRANICA

Is it a sound marketing strategy or just a clever publicity stunt?

As the Super Bowl nears, Weatherproof Garment Co. is hoping to use the big game's hefty advertising price tag -- about $3 million for 30 seconds -- along with the recession, to draw attention to itself. Weatherproof is proposing to divvy up a single 30-second spot with nine other corporate marketers, with each company paying $300,000 for three seconds of TV time.

The small apparel company shelled out about $3,000 to run an ad in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal looking for potential partners after it sent its offer to 100 companies without finding a taker. "Attention deficit growing ... Say It Short -- Say It Fast!" the ad urges, above a picture of a football.

Of course, offbeat efforts to grab a piece of the enormous media attention surrounding the National Football League championship are a time-honored part of its tradition. "People and companies are getting themselves into bizarre situations as a way to latch on to the Super Bowl buzz," says Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners, a marketing-strategy firm in Old Greenwich, Conn. "It's public relations gone crazy."

This isn't the first time Weatherproof has dreamed up an unusual means of attracting the spotlight. Early this year, it issued a press release announcing it was going to air a two-second ad during the Super Bowl, then retracted the statement, saying it was unable to secure the spot.

In another foray, Weatherproof attempted to put one of its jackets on the Naked Cowboy, a well-known, scantily clad New York street performer. The company also publicized taking out a $10 million policy hedging against warm weather.

But Freddie Stollmack, Weatherproof's president, says the 10-way Super Bowl ad split is more than a publicity stunt, but he adds, "To ignore the possible publicity piece of this would be naive. Everything we do is for the purpose of elevating our brand."

GoDaddy.com

Web site registration company GoDaddy has a succession of SuperBowl attention grabbers, including ads with race driver Danica Patrick.

Weatherproof isn't alone. One of the most avid Super Bowl publicity hounds is GoDaddy.com, which helps consumers register domain names on the Web. GoDaddy, which has advertised in the past four games, has worked overtime to generate buzz ahead of every game by chronicling its attempts to create a risqué ad that would pass muster with the network televising the game.

Bob Parsons, GoDaddy's founder and chief executive, has used his blog to record the drama. In 2006, Mr. Parsons blogged that Walt Disney's ABC had rejected about 10 different versions of the ad that GoDaddy hoped to run during the game. The final game-day spot featured a buxom model's halter straps breaking as a fictional congressman lectured her on naughty Super Bowl ads.

The spot was an attempt to riff on pop singer Janet Jackson's notorious "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show. GoDaddy aired a similarly themed spot in 2005.

This year is no different. Last week, the company sent out a press release saying, "Go Daddy will advertise in the Super Bowl -- that is 'if' NBC approves an edgy commercial."

"It's not contrived to get PR," Mr. Parsons says. "We don't go in trying to get rejected." He says it's about making the best out of a bad situation. "When we are served lemons, we try to make lemonade," he adds.

The spot the company is hoping to air during the Feb. 1 Super Bowl involves race-car driver Danica Patrick -- in the shower. Mr. Parsons says the spot is "very GoDaddy-esque, meaning it's fun, edgy and slightly inappropriate."

Companies aren't the only ones looking for their 15 minutes of big-game fame. Average Joes have hopped on the publicity bandwagon, too. In September 2006, a man started raising money for a Super Bowl commercial so he could propose to his longtime girlfriend. While the ad never aired during the game, the project got the attention of local TV stations, as well as networks like MSNBC.

Earlier this fall, comedian Amy Borkowsky launched what she said was a quest to raise money for her own $3 million spot during the game to advertise for a husband. "Dating is basically a numbers game, and I figured getting myself in front of a captive audience of 60 million men would increase my odds of meeting Mr. Right," says Ms. Borkowsky on her Web site.

She has a long way to go. As of Tuesday afternoon, she had raised $5,140.

Write to Stephanie Kang at stephanie.kang@wsj.com and Suzanne Vranica at suzanne.vranica@wsj.com

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