Why Every Brand Should Lean Into the Super Bowl | Bathroom Break #92

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Marketing Millennials – "Why Every Brand Should Lean Into the Super Bowl"

Bathroom Break #92 | Released: January 26, 2026
Hosts: Daniel Murray & Jay Schwedelson

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode of the "Bathroom Break" series, Daniel Murray (The Marketing Millennials) and Jay Schwedelson (Do This, Not That Podcast & subjectline.com) break down why every brand—yes, even the “boring” B2B brands—should take advantage of the Super Bowl as an essential marketing moment. Through banter and actionable insights, they share methods to leverage this massive cultural event for relevancy and engagement, no matter your industry or target audience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Banter: Lunch Rituals and Personalities

• 00:40–03:27 – The hosts open with a playful conversation about their daily lunch routines, poking fun at each other’s choices and reminiscing about Daniel’s days as a college football player.
  • Jay: Cycles through “not good” salads with salmon, which makes him feel nauseous but rationalizes eating unhealthy at night by being healthy during the day.
  • Daniel: Has a “bro” lunch of yogurt, protein powder, and blueberries, rooted in his football background.
  • Memorable Quote:
    • Jay: “Eating salmon in the middle of the day when you have, like, a lot of stress and anxiety and you’re mixing it with coffee is so disgusting. And by the afternoon, I want to throw up on my computer.” (01:31)

2. The Case for Super Bowl Marketing

• 03:27–07:04 – Jay initiates the marketing discussion by declaring the Super Bowl “the biggest event in the country” and challenges the notion that some brands have “no business” in Super Bowl content.
  • Jay:
    • Emphasizes relevancy—regardless of your brand’s typical appeal or direct relevance to football, every brand can gain engagement by participating in Super Bowl discourse.
    • Describes the Super Bowl as “disgusting” due to the amount of food and bathroom visits, but insists brands should be unashamed in leveraging the event.
      • Quote: “For marketers, boring business to business brands, consumer marketers, nonprofits. If you lean into the Super Bowl... you will see significant increase in your engagement. I don’t care how boring your brand is. I don’t care if you hate football, it doesn’t matter.” (03:44)
  • Daniel:
    • Stresses “relevancy” as the #1 goal in content marketing during real-time events.
    • Uses meme templates, trending moments, and live-tweeted content to ride social waves.
      • Quote: “If you want to be relevant, you need to know what’s happening. So be in the feed knowing and add those things. Sprinkle it to your content. Sprinkle into your social, social game.” (04:57)
    • Recommends monitoring X (formerly Twitter) for up-to-the-minute trends during the Super Bowl week.

3. Actionable Email and Messaging Tactics for All Brands

• 05:34–07:57 – Jay provides specific email marketing angle:
  • Use Super Bowl-themed words in subject lines for a quick engagement lift (even for B2B):
    • “MVP,” “QB,” football or trophy emojis.
    • Craft parallels to your offering, e.g., “Who’s the MVP of your HR solutions?”
  • Share wild Super Bowl stats as conversation starters in campaigns.
    • “Did you know 8 billion chicken wings get eaten at halftime?” then segue into your value prop.
      • Quote: "Lean into this cultural moment and this is how you win. I don't care if you don't like football. It doesn't matter. Everybody's involved with this thing." (06:40)

4. Personalization & Localized Offers

• 07:04–07:57 – Daniel suggests hyper-personalizing offers and content targeted at regions with Super Bowl team interest.

  • Target customers in the markets of participating teams with custom offers (“Book a demo, get food for your Super Bowl party”) or by celebrating fan pride.
    • Quote: “People like to know that you’re part of that group or they’re in a group and they’re very proud of being in a group.” (07:40)
  • Even simple recognition emails (“Congrats!”) to fans in winner cities can drive up engagement.

• Jay:

  • Cites high regional viewership; recommends geo-targeted subject lines, landing pages, and social posts for maximum impact.

5. Personal Reflections: Super Bowl Viewing Traditions

• 07:57–09:49 – The hosts discuss their own Super Bowl viewing habits, wrapping with humor and self-deprecation.
  • Daniel prefers being a guest rather than hosting Super Bowl parties.
  • Jay humorously admits to lying about being double-booked to avoid parties, even as he always ends up watching.
  • Quick debate: Halftime show or the game?
    • Jay: Likes the music—“the noise”—regardless of knowing the words.
    • Quote: “Am I the biggest boomer of all time? I just—I like the noise. Like, the noise. That’s so lame.” (09:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Relevancy and Real-Time Marketing:
  • Daniel: “If you want to be relevant, you need to know what’s happening. So be in the feed knowing and add those things... Sprinkle into your social game.” (04:57)
• Email Tactics for All Brands:
  • Jay: “There are certain words... if you put in the first word of the subject line of your emails, you will see an engagement lift.” (05:43)
• Localized Marketing Ideas:
  • Daniel: “Carve out your ICP that are in the areas of where those teams are playing and do certain targeted messaging to those type of things or offers...” (07:04)
• On Marketing FOMO:
  • Jay: “Lean into this cultural moment and this is how you win. I don’t care if you don’t like football. It doesn’t matter. Everybody’s involved with this thing.” (06:40)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:40–03:27 – Lunch banter, Daniel’s football days
• 03:27–04:57 – Intro to Super Bowl as a marketing moment; relevancy discussion
• 05:34–07:04 – Email subject line hacks; using Super Bowl phrases
• 07:04–07:57 – Localized offers and targeting Super Bowl fans
• 07:57–09:49 – Super Bowl party habits and personal traditions

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Takeaways for Marketers

• The Super Bowl is an unmissable opportunity for EVERY brand to increase engagement—even (especially!) for B2B.
• Use real-time cultural moments for relevancy in both social and email marketing.
• Incorporate Super Bowl lingo and emojis in subject lines for higher email open rates.
• Hyper-target content and offers to regions with an invested fan base for meaningful boosts.
• Join the online conversation (especially on X/Twitter) for quick topical ideas.
• You don’t have to “love” football; you just need to be present in the moment.

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Hosts' Call to Action:
Join in the conversation on LinkedIn, share what marketing topics you want to hear next, and always look for ways to make your brand relevant during big cultural moments—even if it’s just a "bathroom break" of time.

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes, you either have to listen to marketing tips or use the bathroom.

[B]

Or both.

[A]

But I don't recommend both. But that's your choice.

[B]

This collab is going to be super fun. We have Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials and me, Jay Schwetelson from the do this, not that podcast and subjectline.com each episode in the series, we are going to go over quick tips about different marketing top. And if you want to be in the bathroom, fine. Just don't tell us about it. Thanks for checking it out.

[A]

We are back with another episode of the Bathroom Break. I am here with the Jay Schwedelson of Do this, not that podcast and Mr. Acquired. And one thing I've been thinking about a lot is you get very basic lunches sent to your place. And right now, he just ordered truffle foods. And I feel like everybody, True Foods is just like a natural chain. And what. What is your order? Like, what is your, like, daily lunch order that you order?

[B]

Yeah, so I have a rotation of different salad places, and they're all some version of not good. And the reason I get a horrible salad at lunch, usually with salmon on it, first of all, it makes me nauseous every time I eat it. But then the other thing is my theory is if I eat really healthy during the day, then I could eat a little bit unhealthier at night. But eating salmon in the middle of the day when you have, like, a lot of stress and anxiety and you're mixing it with coffee is so disgusting. And by the afternoon, I want to throw up on my computer. So it's not a good plan. I wouldn't copy it. What about you? What do you do for lunch?

[A]

I'm in kind of the bloat of small lunch, big dinner. So I normally Ari hates that I do this, but I like, literally get, like, yogurt and, like, this is so bro. And I. I'm gonna say, go, bro. My yogurt. Protein powder, blueberries. Mix it in. And that's my lunch.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Protein powder. Get that protein. Way to be. You're so millennial.

[A]

So, yeah, I'm just like the pro. I think I was. I'm so football player. That's like such a football player. Like, adding protein to everything to. So you get that. That.

[B]

Can I ask you a question to. When you. For everyone that doesn't know that Daniel played football at the University of Cincinnati, D1. He was a big dude. What did you have to eat on a daily basis to like maintain weight and stuff, everything.

[A]

But we had like unlimited swipes at our cafeteria. So I would go like three, four, five times a day. And then they have this in like D1 schools. They have a fridge and we had a fridge and like a snack room and they couldn't. I think at the time the like NCAA laws is like, you couldn't supply like lunch types. They would have like bagels but no peanut butter. Because I would consider a lunch and they would have the. But I would just down chocolate milk like after.

[B]

Were you trying to keep your weight? Were you trying to get bigger?

[A]

Yeah, I kept losing. I, I mean I. I had to be like 295 and I kept getting down to like 280. That's a lot of weight. It's disgusting. I don't even want to think about that. We. But I gotta eat a lot.

[B]

Speaking of disgusting, there is the biggest event in the country coming up, the super bowl. And everyone's about to tune out what I'm about to say. But you shouldn't. And the reason I say disgusting, I'll tell you in a second. For marketers, boring business to business brands, consumer marketers, nonprofits. If you lean into the super bowl and we're going to share with you how to do that, you will see significant increase in your engagement. I don't care how boring your brand is. I don't care if you hate football, it doesn't matter. And I say it's disgusting, but because the amount of chicken wings and pizza and times your toilet is flushed while you're watching the super bowl, we should all be embarrassed, mortified. It's gross. But putting that aside, Daniel, how do you feel about leaning into something like the super bowl even though there's nothing like it from a marketing perspective?

[A]

I think the number one thing in marketing when you're doing content is relevancy. And that's what's more relevant than the super bowl when it goes on. So what I at least what I think about and I'm going to send it from like a social content point of view. You could, you have more data back things. But I like to be heavily involved so I can take trending meme templates, trending things that are happening, to use it in my content, to make my content more relevant. So if this team's in the super bowl or this performer did something funny and it could be clippable, or a fan did something, I'm always trying to figure out what's going on. And the best place to look during a Super bowl is like on X, because X, like everything is like live tweeted there. So if you want a trending thing that's happening from the next, the week leading up to the super bowl and the super bowl and po, maybe the day after, things will be trending. So that's something I think about is like if you want to be relevant, you need to know what's happening. So be in the feed knowing and add those things. Sprinkle it to your content. Sprinkle into your social, social game.

[B]

Yeah. And so what I would be thinking about is the week leading into the super bowl and then 24 hours after that is that is the period of time, let's say you are a boring B2B brand because consumer brands, they get it. At least you should get it. But for any kind of brand, there are certain words, for example, that if you put in the first word of the subject line of your emails, you will see an engagement lift. Example, if you use the phrase mvp, like most valuable player mvp, colon, who's the MVP of your HR solutions, right. If you use qb, like quarterback, who's the QB about sales process, right. If you have a football emoji in your subject line, if you have the champion emoji of the trophy emoji in your subject line, believe it or not, and you lean into it in the body copy, it doesn't matter how boring your brand and or how cool your brand is, you will see a significant lift in your open rates, your click through rates, because this is what's on the mind of people. And then if you really want to get into it, which is I recommend, so that way you could kind of lean in, use a little bit of wild stats that are out there as part of whatever you're doing, you just look them up and it'll say, did you know 8 billion chicken wings get eaten at halftime? And also this. Then you open it up, you say something about your brand or whatever. Lean into this cultural moment and this is how you win. I don't care if you don't like football. It doesn't matter. Everybody's involved with this thing.

[A]

And I think another thing you do, like carve out your ICP that are in the areas of where those teams are playing and do certain targeted messaging to those type of things or offers like, hey, the LA Rams are in the super bowl, like here, like book a demo and get we'll send you food for your super bowl party or something like that's pretty lame. Offer, but I'm thinking of the spot. But like an offer that is around like giving something for the super bowl and hyping up that they are fans and like people like to know that you're part of that group or they're in a group and they're very proud of being in a group. So or like send them a hat or say congrats or things like that and be hyper personalized with your content during that time.

[B]

I think that's a really, really good tip. Even if you're not giving an offer. Right. If you isolate out. Let's say it is the Rams that make the Super Bowl. We actually should know that by the time this is airing. We don't know it yet. We'll know it by the time this airs. But let's say it is the Rams. Right? And now you have the LA area. There's always data that shows that the, the watch rate, the penetration in the local market for the super bowl is like 80% or something. Of all people watching TV or something ridiculous. So you really want to lean in within those GEOs, put in their subject line, put in the lead on your landing pages, put on your social posts as best as you could, direct it within those markets. I think that's a super. I'm gonna steal that idea. I'm gonna do the idea because it's going, it's gonna work. So I love. So Daniel, before we wrap up here, as it relates to the super bowl, do you, do you like to go to somebody else's house or do you watch it in your own or do you not care? Like, what is your vibe?

[A]

I used to like going to people's houses. It depends if I really want to watch the game or not. So like. But I don't like being the one hosting. I. I'm not gonna barbecue or order a thousand pizzas or something like that. I feel like I'm more of a attendance super bowl party, but I don't think I'll get invited to any of these years this year. So it's all good.

[B]

Yeah, that's a you problem. Yeah, I, I get invited, but I just lie and say I'm going to another one. Say, oh my God, I would totally come, but I have to go to this other one and meanwhile I'm not going to another one.

[A]

You're probably not watching the super bowl, to be honest.

[B]

Oh no, I'm watching. I'll watch the Super Bowl. I. You gotta watch Super Bowl. Why not?

[A]

Could you watch it for the halftime show or do you watch it for the game.

[B]

I listen. I. I like Bad Bunny. I think I like Bad Bunny. I don't know. Anything he's saying you're from South Florida.

[A]

You have to, like.

[B]

No, no, but, like, like, I. I like the. The noise. Whatever. I don't know what he's saying. The noise.

[A]

You mean the.

[B]

Like, the music? Am I the biggest boomer of all time? I just. I like the noise. Like, the noise. That's so lame. Whatever. I have no idea. All right, follow everybody. See you. The next one. Daniel. Come on, man. I gotta get back to work. Get out of there. All right, while he's still in there. This is Jay. Check out my podcast, do this, not that, for marketers. Each week we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try. Oh, here's Daniel. He's finally out.

[A]

Back from my bathroom break. This is Daniel. Go follow the market. Millennial podcast. But also tune into this series. It's once a week, the Bathroom Break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out. And it could be anything from email, subject line to any marketing tips in the world. We'll talk about it. Just give us a shout on LinkedIn and tell us what you want to hear.

[B]

Peace out. Later.