Monster signs NFL deal, plans Super Bowl ad

Monster.com, the job-search and career-management website with much of its operations in Maynard, said it plans to advertise during the Super Bowl for the first time in five years.

Monster.com was one of the first Internet companies to advertise during the big game, with a memorable spot titled "When I Grow Up," which aired during the 1999 Super Bowl; that spot was created by Mullen, a Wenham-based advertising agency.

The disclosure that Monster.com plans to advertise during the 2009 Super Bowl should be seen in the context of a larger announcement today that noted that the company has entered into a multi-year marketing and sponsorship alliance with the National Football League, a spokesman for Monster.com said.

"We're looking at the Super Bowl as a launching point for a larger promotion that will last throughout the year," said Steve Sylven, who added that the promotion is geared to spotlighting a massive upgrade to the Monster.com website that is scheduled to be unveiled in January.

A press release from Monster included a statement from Ted Gilvar, executive vice president and chief global marketing officer of Monster.

Referencing Monster's plan to return to the upcoming Super Bowl, Gilvar said, "We are looking forward to leveraging the year's largest advertising stage to launch this promotion that will bring year-long attention to our brand as well as showcase the 'new' Monster."

Monster.com, which is now the flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc. of New York, ran ads in six straight Super Bowls, from 1999 through 2004.

The "When I Grow Up" ad, shot in black and white, featured about a dozen children saying things like, "When I grow up ... I want to be a yes-man," "When I grow up, I want to claw my way up to middle management," and "When I grow up, I want to have a brown nose." The ad concluded: "Monster.dom. There's a better job out there."

An Internet company advertising on the Super Bowl was a novelty in 1999, but initial ads during the game were so successful that the following year roughly half the advertisers were dot-com companies that few people had ever heard of.

One reason for paying high Super Bowl ad rates is to raise awareness for a new brand. By 2005, the Monster brand name was so well known that Super Bowl advertising was no longer the most efficient way to spend marketing dollars.

In 2005, Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor told the Globe why the company had decided to take a pass on that year's Super Bowl.

"It was great," Taylor said of Super Bowl advertising. "It really defined our brand. But it started to seem normal for us to be in the Super Bowl. Monster has never been normal. We've always been break-out."

In recent years, Monster has forged agreements with media companies representing more than 200 news publications. In early 2007, Monster disclosed such a relationship with The New York Times Co., whose properties include The Boston Globe and Boston.com. With Monster.com, the Globe and Boston.com later unveiled a co-branded website for Boston-area employers and job seekers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)