It has been a busy week so far for MWWPR President BRET WERNER, who is on the ground in Atlanta for his 21st Super Bowl. Werner, who has worked with various leagues and entities on sponsorship deals with brands like Under Armour and Dick's Sporting Goods, views the NFL's penultimate event as a "cultural epicenter" in which he can get a pulse on which trends are developing and what stories are resonating. But in such a fast-paced environment, he is also cognizant of the need to let the experience soak in and take a moment to digest everything that is happening. Werner recently spoke with THE DAILY to share his Super Bowl schedule and tips for surviving the hectic week.
6:10am: I always try to maintain the same schedule each day unless I’m really tired or it's Super Bowl week. My workout routine is three days of CrossFit and one day of yoga. If I’m on the road, I’ll use an app called "MindBody" that helps me find a CrossFit gym or a yoga studio nearby.
7:00am: After I finish my workout, make a protein smoothie and get ready for the day, I’ll start to go through the news. That can be marquee newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and N.Y. Times. I’ll also go through a lot of marketing and PR trade publications like Adweek or PRWeek. After that, I’ll go through all the social channels as well.
7:30am: I’m headed out the door to the office around that time. My commute is about an hour door-to-door so that’s when I’ll start checking and responding to emails. I tend to rely on mass transit to get to work, which allows me free time in the morning in case anything needs immediate action.
9:00am: When I’m at the Super Bowl, I’ll schedule a team meeting around this time. We’ll have five clients and up to 10 staffers in Atlanta, so we’ll just meet to quickly go through the day at hand. I’ll also probably rely a little less on print news and more on broadcast news during the Super Bowl because we’ll have clients doing interviews on TV shows or talk radio in the mornings.
9:30-10:00am: I’ll typically do a late breakfast meeting with a client partner or grab a protein bar afterwards.
11:00am: I’ll try to join a client activation after my morning meetings at the Super Bowl, which could be an event we’re hosting or visiting the media center. I’ll go see the work in action -- it’s always good to ensure things are going smoothly.
Werner makes sure each night to block in family time with his wife Kristin and two childrenBRET WERNER
1:00pm: I’ll probably pull off a lunch meeting with a current client or prospective client. Then what I tend to do is a lot of 15-minute lobby meetings at the hotel and catch up with whoever might be in Atlanta. There are a bunch of those quick-hit meetings because everyone’s schedules can be pretty complex at an event like the Super Bowl.
2:30pm: I make sure every day to pause and either look or attend events at the Super Bowl that aren’t necessarily our client partners. I’ve come to realize during this hectic week that you’re sitting in this cultural epicenter and you should in tune with what’s happening, what trends are developing, what type of stories are resonating. You are sort of living in a bubble at the Super Bowl where you’re just consumed by everything going on, but you also should realize you need to take a step back and digest what’s transpiring.
4:00pm: Typically we’ll rent a house to stay at during the Super Bowl, and that’s where a lot of the team members will congregate after they’ve been running around all day.
6:30-7:00pm: We will host dinner at the house we rented, which we do each night for staff, clients and other people we want to sit down with.
8:00pm: We try to go to two events per evening while at the Super Bowl, one at 8:00 and one at 10:00, and stop by for an hour or hour and a half. It’s a great way to catch up with everyone, especially those you might have missed earlier in the day. Each day at the Super Bowl is like working two shifts, and by no later than midnight, I’m looking for the back door. The rookie mistake is to stay out late on a Wednesday or Thursday, so now I employ a more seasoned approach so that I can save my late night for a Friday or Saturday.
10:30pm: When I'm at home I like to read for about 20-30 minutes before I go to bed. It can be long form or a good article I missed during the day. I just finished MICHAEL LEWIS’ new book, “THE FIFTH RISK,” and I thought it was pretty interesting. Generally I’ll try to be asleep by no later than 11:00 during the week.
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