Time Warner Cable’s Wisconsin operations have close ties with the local National Football League franchise, the Green Bay Packers. Wide receiver Donald Driver has done ads for the system, and defensive back Charles Woodson has participated in local events, reading to kids, according to local communications director Stacy Zaja.
Comcast in Pittsburgh, meanwhile, loves the hometown Steelers, the team playing the Packers Sunday in the Super Bowl.
Before the NFC championship game won by the Packers, TWC gave away green and gold yard signs saying “G Force: Show Your Colors!” with the operator’s logo at the bottom.
The company had 15,000 made up, and demand was so strong it added a second order of 10,000.
Last week, Zaja and company gave out thousands of signs saying “Go Pack Go!” (25,000 were ordered this time.)
The cabler also hung 12-by-20-foot banners of both signs (see at right) on a garage by its Milwaukee offices, hung by facilities and network techs using two bucket trucks during snow and wind, Zaja said. (For a nice local TV piece on the effort, from WFRV-TV (Channel 5), please click here.
Pressed for a prediction, Zaja went with the Pack, 20-17. “I think there’s going to be a lot of defense,” she said.
In Pittsburgh, “Comcast is an avid supporter of its local teams and we were a presenting sponsor for the Steelers’ pep rally at Heinz Field last week,” Bob Grove, director of public relations and community affairs for Comcast’s Keystone Region, said.
Crucially, he said the system was prepared to manage major TV events like the Super Bowl, and will have extra staff on hand to help with last-minute installation and other needs, and will have extra engineers monitoring the network.
“We feel confident most Pittsburgh fans are already well-equipped for the big game — especially since we’ve been to the Super Bowl three times in the past six years,” he said.
My call: I’d like to see the Packers win, but my instinct, were betting legal near me, would be to take the Steelers.
Now as for the over-under on 110 million viewers…
