Mid-week musings

- It didn't take long for Pepsi to decide that it needed to be back on the Super Bowl telecast. After a one-year break, the beverage company is back, announcing that it will air three spots on the 2011 Super Bowl for its Pepsi Max product.

- Everyone seems a bit giddy now that the NFL is back in action and television ratings from weekend one were quite good. We all had better enjoy it as an NFL work stoppage is on the horizon and threatening the 2011 season. And, the ones who will be hurt most by a labor situation are sponsors, advertisers and, of course, fans. The TV contracts for the NFL are guaranteed meaning that the league and its teams would make an approximate $6 billion. If the league locks out its players, it does not need to pay them but the players union has a strike fund. That leaves the networks, all of whom are believed to have purchased work-stoppage insurance. Who's left? The aforementioned audiences--sponsors who will receive little to no value for their investments, advertisers who cannot make up the audience provided by the NFL, and a devoted fan base who will suddenly have Sunday afternoons and evenings, and Monday nights, with viewing decisions to make. It's been a long time since an NFL lock-out and during that time the league has experienced unprecedented growth and popularity. Let's hope that prosperity ultimately helps sanity prevail such that we don't face a 2011 fall and winter with no NFL games to attend and watch.

- I attended an advertising conference where Chuck Porter, a principal at Crispin Porter & Bogusky and head strategist for MDC Partners, spoke. He used the term "electronic word-of-mouth" when talking about the social media phenomenon of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. I really like that term...

- Speaking of social media, did you know that there are a million blog posts daily? A million! That's a lot of people writing.

- In the category of "what you do in high school can indeed come back to bite you," we give you one Katy Perry. Perry made a surprise performance at her old high school in Santa Barbara, CA, and used the forum to call out some guy who ignored her prior to her "I Kissed a Girl" fame. This culprit--apparently the most popular kid in school when Perry was there--didn't want to date Perry, according to the singer, so she yelled at him after spotting him in the crowd. Perry screamed "what's up now!?" and then dedicated her next song, "You're So Gay," to the young man. Ouch.

- It's official--J-Lo has joined the judging panel of American Idol. It's a much needed boost for the show, which has had a tumultuous "off season."

- Only four days until HBO's Boardwalk Empire premieres at 8:00 p.m. CT Sunday on HBO.

- The new, improved Arrowhead lived up to its billing on Monday night. Not only did the improvements look terrific but the play on the field was reminiscent of those wonderful years in the early to mid 1990s when the stadium earned its moniker as the "loudest stadium in the National Football League." Even when the rains set in on Monday, the crowd endured and helped the Chiefs to a very important opening weekend win in front of a national television audience on ESPN. Good stuff!