The very first Super Bowl winners were the Green Bay Packers who came out victorious in Super Bowl I on
January 15th, 1967. Since then, there have been three different versions of the coveted prize. Each year a new trophy is presented to the winning team after the game for them to keep forever.
What would traditionally be Super Bowl L using roman numerals has been changed this year so that the logo will display the number 50 to emphasize the NFL's "golden anniversary." The winners of Super Bowl 50 will also be the recipients of an 18-karat gold-plated "50" Trophy!
With the big game just around the corner, we thought it would be interesting to break down the coverage around the two teams and their superstar quarterbacks using iQ media's platform. We'll show you a breakdown of mentions across different mediums leading up to Super Bowl 50 and determine our winner based on who has the most coverage in the following categories: the quarterbacks (Cam Netwon vs Peyton Manning), the quarterbacks' endorsements (Cam Newton - Dannon Oikos Triple Zero Yogurt vs Peyton Manning - Papa John's Pizza) and the two Super Bowl teams (Carolina Panthers vs Denver Broncos).
Cam Newton vs Peyton Manning
It's no secret that both of these teams deserve to be in the Super Bowl and that both the Panthers and the Broncos have astounding defenses. However, the major key to success always falls on the shoulders of one of the most important fixtures of a team: the quarterback.
Bucky Brooks, a media analyst for the NFL, ranked the importance of every position leading up to the 2015 season and went on to say that "there's no disputing the importance of the position in 2015. The quarterback is not only the team's biggest decision maker, but his ability to make timely plays and efficiently manage the game routinely determines which team lands in the winner's circle at the end of the season."
Peyton Manning has without a doubt had a first ballot hall of fame career and is notorious for his play-calling at the line of scrimmage, tantalizing defenses with audibles since '98. Using iQ media's platform, we were able to determine that he was mentioned 246,666 times in the media over the course of the entire season which started on September 10th, 2015 and ended January 3rd, 2016.
Cam Newton on the other hand has been revered as a shoe-in for the league's MVP this season, thrashing defenses with not only his arm but also his legs. Cam was mentioned fewer times than Peyton throughout the season though, with 160,660 mentions. This number might seem low considering all of the success Cam and the Panthers had this season, but the data don't lie! Peyon and Cam are both capable of leading their respective teams to victory, and we'll have to see how that plays out on Super Bowl Sunday.
VS 
Dannon Oikos Papa John's
Triple Zero Greek Pizza
Yogurt
Above is a screen shot inside our platform of our Discovery module, giving you visual breakdown on mentions based on the search terms "Oikos Triple Zero" and "Papa John's." There were a total of 74,745 mentions of the two brand endorsements for quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Cam Newton from the start of the playoffs on January 9th, 2016 through January 27th, 2016.
Clearly you can see that Cam Newton's endorsement with Dannon Oikos Triple Zero Greek yogurt dominated Peyton Manning and Papa John's within this time period. With a fully actionable user-friendly graph, iQ media's platform allows you to click on specific days to drill down into the data. Let's take a look at what was being said about the quarterbacks on January 24th, 2016, Championship Sunday:
Of the 191 unique mentions on Championship Sunday, it looks like SportsCenter was a little surprised at Peyton Manning's resurgence on the field, resulting in a win that would lead the Broncos to Super Bowl 50. As you can see, our platform has the ability to pick up the mention of "Papa John's" on live Television.
We also looked at the mentions of "Oikos Triple Zero" on Championship Sunday. This brand was mentioned 1,091 unique times across a wide range of networks. We're showing you the specific mention and the network in this example, but iQ media also allows you access to the exact clip as seen on television.
If you were to click on the TV "play" button, it would bring you into iQ media's Timeshift module to the exact clip seen close-captioned above. In the screenshot below, you can see Cam Newton's commercial promoting Oikos Triple Zero. You'd have the ability to clip, edit, and save this ad to a report or to your Library if needed.
Panthers vs Broncos
So here we are at Super Bowl 50, but how did these two teams get to the big dance? Here's a quick breakdown of their road to the game:
Carolina Panthers
15-1 regular season record, having the best season in franchise history and one of the best seasons in NFL history!
Earned a first round bye and home-field advantage in the Playoffs
Defeated the Seattle Seahawks 31-24 in the Divisional Round; running Back Jonathan Stewart carried the ball 19 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns
Dismantled the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship 49-15; Cam Newtown threw two touchdowns and rushed for two touchdowns
Denver Broncos
12-4 regular season record; despite losing Peyton Manning to a foot injury, they still finished the season strong
Earned a first round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs led by Wade Phillips' number 1 overall defense
Defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-16; Peyton Manning rescued the Broncos with a late touchdown drive
Defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots by a score of 20-18 in what was an absolute chess match between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning
With the data provided by our platform, it looks like the Carolina Panthers just narrowly edged out the Denver Broncos with 220,438 mentions over the Broncos' 216,647 mentions.
So who won the first ever iQ media Bowl?
Based on their share of media coverage on the road to Super Bowl 50, we'd like extend a big congratulations to Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers, the winners of iQ media Bowl I!
image via Flickr User
Based on the total number of mentions comparing the quarterbacks head to head (Cam Netwon vs Peyton Manning), the quarterback's endorsements (Cam Netwon - Dannon Oikos Triple Zero Yogurt vs Peyton Manning - Papa John's Pizza) followed by both Super Bowl teams (Carolina Panthers vs Denver Broncos), the Carolina Panthers win!
Curious as to how you can be a champion at your job? Check out our guide to the 5 Key Features of a Media Intelligence platform and learn what to look for in a provider to make you a real MVP.