Samsung 65-Inch Curved Model Is Popular Sale TV in Retail 'Big Game' Ads
As the countdown to the Super Bowl kicks into high gear, retailers are making their final big pitches to push out 2017 TV inventory, while dancing around the moniker to avoid trampling on the NFL’s Super Bowl name trademark and risking a “cease-and-desist” letter from the league.
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A Target email said it had customers “covered for the big game,” and a tab in the email led customers to a landing page with no mention of football but three webpages of Element, LG, Samsung, TCL and Vizio TVs. A Samsung 65-inch 65MU6500 curved 4K Ultra HD TV was cart-priced below the manufacturer’s minimum advertised price at $899, down from $1,499. That price was matched by Samsung itself and beaten by $2 at Walmart, we found Monday. Dell is also hawking the 65-inch Samsung curved TV and throwing in a $150 gift card, it said.
Dell.com promoted in an email blast “Big deals for the big game” at up to $500 savings. The $500 bonus goes to buyers of the LG 86SJ9570 86-inch 4K Ultra HD TV, priced at $4,997, a similar tag to prices at Jet.com, P.C. Richard & Son and B&H Photo/Video but without a gift card. Also at Dell, shoppers can get a $350 gift card with the purchase of a $1,599 Vizio 75-inch E75-E3 4K TV. Gift cards are issued within 20 days of purchase and must be used within 90 days at Dell, said the website.
Best Buy kept a low profile on football marketing, letting visuals do the talking with a generic screenshot of a football game. The TV section, announcing 30 percent off on LG models, had small print beneath the LG copy, telling customers to “go big for the big game with deals on other 4K TVs, HDTVs and more home theater products.”
At Best Buy Monday, an LG 60-inch 60UJ6300 was marked down by $300 to $599 with a one-month free preview of Sling TV included. Prices were considerably higher at Walmart ($894) and Jet.com ($977). A 55-inch LG 4K 55UJ6200 was cart-priced at $469 at Best Buy, down from $699, while Walmart cart-priced the TV at $468.
On the TV commercial side, Verizon is returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in seven years, reported Adweek in its running ad tracker. Google and YouTube aren't returning this year, Adweek said. Last year, some Google Home users tweeted about their smart speakers being set off by Google’s commercial, a scenario that also played out in Alexa homes soon after Echo launched.