January's "Super" Luncheon - 2012 Super Bowl

Despite the snowy roads and chilling winds, over 100 Hoosier PRSA members and guests welcomed Brad Carlson, Vice President of Marketing for the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee to the January luncheon on Wednesday.

Brad presented the committee’s master plan including the bid for 2012, the unique legacy project for the near eastside and incredible media coordination plans. Brad detailed the initiatives Indianapolis has taken to ensure the Super Bowl will have a lasting impact on the Indianapolis community. Evidence that Indianapolis is excited about the event is indicated in the 10,000+ volunteers already registered to help deliver Super Bowl 2012.

One of my favorite projects began in 2008, when the host committee placed their bid for the 2012 Super Bowl. With the ultimate goal of creating future civic leaders, the committee chose 32 Central Indiana eighth grade students to participate in a Student Ambassador program. The 32 students will be graduating high school seniors in 2012 and were chosen based on their academic achievement and citizenship involvement.

The student's first assignment was to hand-deliver the Indianapolis Super Bowl package to NFL team owners across the country, in their perspective team jerseys. 

While our great city has many valuable assets for a Super Bowl, including a climate controlled stadium, pre-planned financial backing and a strong volunteer base, the hope on the faces of those 32 students must have been hard to turn down.

Before Wednesday, I didn’t know $40 million (and counting) was dedicated to creating positive change in the Indianapolis community simply because of this one game. The committee chose to focus the projects around the near eastside, a once bustling area with many opportunities for growth. So far the committee has opened Pogue’s Run Grocer, The Little Green Bean Boutique and an art studio along East 10th street.

The committee is also working on numerous other projects such as planting 2,012 trees before 2012 and Super Scarves, a group of volunteers who are knitting a scarf for every single Super Bowl volunteer.

Georgia Street will see an exciting redesign to accommodate the ten-day, three-block interactive festival of football. Complete with a pedestrian-friendly corridor, the area will create a connection between the expanded Indiana convention Center and Conseco Fieldhouse.

When Brad was asked “What happens if it snows?” he looked around a packed room of dedicated PR professionals and could only come to one conclusion – Indianapolis was ready, snow or shine.

Which is exactly the motivation behind the 2012 tagline: Get your winter on. It’s cool.

The January Hoosier PRSA luncheon was sponsored by TrendyMinds who provided complimentary blankets and lip balm for all luncheon attendees.

What are you most excited about for the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis? It’s only 387 days and counting!