The Boston CGM Shadow Persists Leading into Super Bowl Ad Fest

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, the biggest ad bonanza of the year, and the shadow of the Boston marketing "hoax" still persists across the web.   Big marketers have every reason to hope (and pray) the issue goes away, or at least takes a temporary siesta.  After all, who wants divided attention on some other "marketing" issue when you can have full attention.  What's clear from analyzing the buzz patterns is that while the Boston issue has reached its peak, it is still driving more conversation than the pre-buzz around the Super Bowl ads.  Even on the major video sharing sites, the Boston issue is far more dominant than anything related to the Super Bowl ads. On BlogPulse's video rankings, the Boston issue takes two of the top five video slots, including the #1 position. As of midnight this evening, it also ranks #1 on Technorati.  Quite a few variables are keeping the story alive, from debates over whether the campaign's a success (measured by awareness & reach) to the unrepentent antics of the two guys who ran around Boston putting up the devices.  Oh, and then there are all those "new" videos on YouTube offering commentary on the issue.  Even the topic of "hair" is driving some of the conversation.  While there's no question the issue will fade to the background during the Super Bowl, marketers need to think hard about the event's "latency" effect.  Tens of thousands of comments have been posted online about the Boston hoax, most in the context of "marketing" and "advertising."   This guarantees that it the issue will live in perpetuity via search results.