Fox Promos Encourage Super Bowl Viewers to Take Day Off for ‘Super Monday’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Michael Schneider

Fox wants you to stay home the day after the Super Bowl. As part of its marketing strategy for the big game, the network has launched a new on-air campaign touting “Super Monday” — a day that everyone should take off and catch up on TV (and, specifically in this case, Fox TV shows).

The tongue-in-cheek “Super Monday” campaign kicks off with a special promo during the NFC divisional playoff game between Seattle and Green Bay this Sunday. More “Super Monday” spots will appear on Jan. 19, during Fox’s coverage of the NFC championship game, during the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, and throughout its “Super Monday” primetime lineup on Feb. 3.

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The promos star Finesse Mitchell as “The Mayor of Monday” and Paul Lieberstein as an dour employee, pooh-poohing the idea (if it reminds you of a certain character he used to play on a certain show he used to be on — that’s purely coincidence). In the spots, Mitchell’s “mayor” enthusiastically pitches the idea of taking the day after the Super Bowl off, while Lieberstein’s character throws a wet blanket on the idea, explaining why it isn’t company policy.

The campaign will also feature additional content featuring Fox stars such as Will Arnett, Rob Lowe, Jason Biggs, Bellamy Young and Liv Tyler telling fans what they plan to do on “Super Monday.”

According to Fox, the NFL has given its blessing for the spots. The network also stresses that, yes, Super Bowl fans should do this “responsibly.” (In other words, don’t blame a broadcast network for your own delinquency.) The “Super Monday” idea was inspired by research showing that, of the Super Bowl’s nearly 100 million viewers last year, 17 million people missed work the next day.

Part of the message to Fox viewers will be to stay up late after the Super Bowl and watch the Season 3 premiere of “The Masked Singer” without having to worry about work the next day. The spots also serve to spotlight former “SNL” member Mitchell, who stars in Fox’s upcoming comedy “Outmatched.”

Still, it’s unusual for a network to use its NFL playoff and Super Bowl promo time for anything other than spots touting specific shows. Fox Entertainment marketing head/exec VP Darren Schillace said the network sees this as an opportunity to promote the newly independent network’s brand.

“Rather than only airing traditional network promos during the Super Bowl, we thought we would use this valuable time, in addition to highlighting our shows, to showcase our brand and creativity, while building momentum and excitement for the most watched day of the year,” he said.

Fox head of creative advertising Scott Edwards came up with the initiative, while Schillace said he believed conveyed Fox’s “character and spirit of meaningful disruption by doing things differently. And, if we create a new national holiday along the way, I suppose that’s a bonus.”

Watch one of the spots below:

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