The Art of the Brand

Episode: The Super Bowl Branding Mistakes Nobody Talks About
Date: February 12, 2026
Hosts: Camille Moore & Philip Millar

Episode Overview

In this episode, Camille Moore and Philip Millar broadcast from San Francisco during Super Bowl weekend to dissect branding missteps and missed opportunities that brands regularly make before, during, and after major events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics. They focus heavily on the importance of in-person activations, the strategic use of digital platforms (especially Instagram), the pitfalls of short-term thinking in corporate brand management, and recent case studies from brands like Abercrombie and Lululemon. Expect candid takes, sharp industry insights, and plenty of memorable moments.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Pitfalls of Real-Life Brand Activations

• World Building: The Missing Link

  • Camille argues that brands fail to extract full value from big event activations because they're not thinking in terms of "world building"—creating experiences that tie the digital, pre-event teasing, live activation, and measurement together.
  • "Really doing the world building is what's missing with this activation-based marketing."
    — Camille (00:00, 07:00)

• Measurement Challenges

  • Philip counters that the true impact of such activations can’t be easily measured: "There's no KPI to creating a buzz about experience. It's just something that will pay off if you double down on it." (00:29, 08:12)

• Short-Termism & The CMO Turnover Problem

  • With most corporate CMOs rotating every two years, branding is often steered towards short-term, measurable KPIs instead of long-term, harder-to-measure initiatives like brand experience and loyalty.
  • "How do you actually build a brand if the person...is changing every two years?"
    — Philip (05:39)

2. Missed Opportunities in Branding and Experience

• Absence Noticed at the Super Bowl & Airports

  • Both hosts note the surprising lack of immersive brand activations around the Super Bowl, especially in airports—a high-traffic, high-emotion space before big events.
  • "Why is nobody investing in airport experiences?...how much money I would spend if they had a blowout area and like an IV area and a quick 30 minute facial area?"
    — Camille (15:31)

• Duty-Free & Airport Retail Stagnation

  • Philip suggests lack of creativity and corporate conglomeration have made airport retail spaces boring and samey (16:16).

3. Instagram: Still the Branding Crown Jewel

• The Center of Digital Culture

  • Despite industry hype about finding “underpriced attention” on TikTok and Snapchat, the hosts insist Instagram remains the unrivaled centerpiece for both connection and discovery.
  • "Instagram is really the center point of the world right now...even though it's not as monetizable."
    — Camille (10:26)

• DMs as a Differentiator

  • Philip: "Instagram has...the healthiest and most user friendly DM mechanism to communicate with people. So you're experiencing this digital world, but you can actually have a lot more intimate connection." (00:43, 12:32)

• Shareability = Relevancy

  • Camille:
    "If your content is an ad and an ad isn't interesting to anyone else...you're losing. You want to create content that's highly shareable." (12:57)

• Platform Archetypes

  • The hosts amusingly compare people's primary social platforms to car choices, suggesting Instagram is now "for everyone," while YouTube is for deep-divers, and LinkedIn for "the dorks" (tongue-in-cheek) (14:17, 35:25).

4. Case Studies & Notable Brand Strategies

Abercrombie’s Comeback

• Camille details Abercrombie’s fall and modern resurgence through smart NFL partnerships, the reimagining of what makes the brand aspirational, and a pivot to Gen Z tastes.
• "They made clothes with the team as opposed to Lululemon that just slapped a logo on pre-designed product...they went back into the archives...and made it a fashion show."
  — Camille (38:53)

Lululemon’s Canadian Olympic Uniform Disaster

• Both hosts roast Lululemon’s Olympic uniforms for Canada—“looked like children dressed up as Spider Man” (Philip, 21:00).
• "If you just wanted to show everybody that you were dead as a brand...you just did it by humiliating Canada's best athletes."
  — Philip (21:04)
• Compare favorably to Ralph Lauren’s elegant American looks and Mongolia’s standout partnership with Goyol cashmere.

Olympic Ceremonies: Style vs. Substance

• Commentary on the over-virtue-signaling at the Winter Olympics opening and the impact of excessive pacing—ceremony as a metaphor for brand presentation.
• "The art of the presentation is also knowing when to end."
  — Camille (19:47)

Brand Rivalries & The Return of “War” Marketing

• More brands are reviving “war” marketing tactics, making their competitor’s flaws the core of their messaging.
• "War sells more cola. Attacking your opponent because they suck will sell...you can’t be vanilla anymore in this world of digital attention."
  — Philip (43:24)

5. The Overlooked Power of In-Person Experience

• Human Connection Triumphs

  • The energy at Gary Vee's (VaynerMedia) Super Bowl brunch and performances underlines how live, personal interaction drives emotional resonance and, ultimately, loyalty.
  • "It's actually crazy to say how underrated human interaction is. Like music in real life...This is a groundbreaking insight...in branding, like, in person branding."
    — Camille (25:14)

• Bridging In-Person and Digital

  • Camille describes missed opportunities where brands activate in-person but fail to create digital conversion moments (e.g., no QR code at the LA Russell performance).
  • "You need to think in-person to digital. If the new funnel is...you're meeting, you're touching, you're making them feel...and then amplify that into a digital space."
    — Camille (28:05)

6. Instagram’s Influence on Event Fashion and Virality

• The ‘Show Up Everywhere’ Strategy

  • Brands and celebrities now design tactics and looks solely to maximize Instagram feed presence and DM shares—causing fashion at the Grammys and Olympics to become “all about the screenshot.”
  • "The way to win is to show up on more feeds and to get more sends...That's what you need to be thinking of as a brand owner."
    — Camille (29:54)

• Short-Term Relevance vs. Long-Term Branding

  • Philip cautions that this pursuit of fleeting attention (e.g., Heidi Klum’s “out there” Halloween looks) may compromise depth for short-term virality.
    "For one day doesn’t build...a brand is also...a 12 month or a 5 year plan." (31:06)

7. Philosophical and Practical Branding Takeaways

• Brands Need Consistency and Courage
  • The long-term health of a brand depends on vision and willingness to be different—even at the risk of alienating some segments.
  • "In order to explain how you're different, you have to set a standard in which is norm. And that's what people miss...it's articulating how you're different."
    — Camille (44:45)
  • "Well said." — Philip (45:35)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Super Bowl Activation Strategy:
  "Plan for and plan for heavily is to activate in real life...really doing the world building is what's missing."
  — Camille (00:00, repeated at 07:00)

• On CMOs and Brand Building:
  "If the average corporate CMO is changing every two years...how do you actually build a brand?"
  — Philip (05:39)

• On Instagram’s Unmatched Reach:
  "Instagram is really the center point of the world right now..." — Camille (10:26)
  "Instagram has...the healthiest and most user friendly DM mechanism..." — Philip (12:32)

• Missed In-Person to Digital Opportunity:
  "If there was a QR code just on the speaker beside, and everybody would have taken their phones and go, boom, click, buy."
  — Philip (27:47)

• On Olympic Uniform Fails:
  "It looked like children dressed up as Spider Man...Lululemon, if you just wanted to show everybody you were dead as a brand, you just did it."
  — Philip (21:00–21:04)

• On War Marketing:
  "War sells more cola. Attacking your opponent because they suck will sell...You can’t be vanilla anymore."
  — Philip (43:24)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00 — In-person activation and the world-building dilemma
• 03:15 — Biggest experiential takeaway from Super Bowl week
• 05:39 — CMO turnover & branding’s long-term challenge
• 10:26 — Why Instagram remains the home for culture & brands
• 15:31 — Missed activations in airports and event cities
• 19:47 — Olympic ceremonies as brand theater
• 21:00 — Canada’s Olympic uniform criticism
• 25:14 — The transformative impact of in-person brand experiences
• 28:05 — Digital + In-person funnel miss: The QR code anecdote
• 29:54 — Grammys, viral fashion, and the Instagramization of events
• 38:53 — Abercrombie’s comeback through NFL partnerships
• 43:24 — “War” ads and the return of rivalry marketing
• 44:45 — Positioning through differentiation

Conclusion & Takeaways

• Brands are still consistently missing out on the compounding power of in-person activations—especially at high-impact moments like the Super Bowl—by failing to bridge those experiences into ongoing digital engagement.
• Leadership instability (especially short-term CMOs) and over-reliance on measurable digital metrics are starving brands of the patience and creativity required for long-term growth.
• Instagram remains the “center of the world” for brand storytelling and social interaction, but only if content is designed for shareability and resonance, not just for “likes.”
• Successful modern branding is about being memorable, experiential, and strategically different—even if that means picking a fight or making bold creative choices.
• The most powerful moments, and lasting impressions, still come from genuine human connection, attention to detail in experiences, and a willingness to do what others aren’t.

This episode is a masterclass in practical, contemporary brand building—geared for business owners and marketers who want to win not just the Super Bowl, but the long game.