By Charlie Laughtland
BDA blog editor

Events don't come bigger than the Super Bowl.

Unless it's a Texas-sized Super Bowl pitting two of the most storied franchises in the NFL's newest venue.

For this Sunday's monumental game, the NFL, its partners and sponsors once again called on BDA to provide merchandise and comprehensive on-site solutions. Before the Packers and Steelers arrived in town, BDA was on-site in Dallas, overseeing the kitting of client gifts, setting up traveling stores and fulfilling in-stadium promotions.

Here's a recap of BDA's projects leading up to Super Bowl XLV:

Client Gift Bags – BDA coordinates a client gifting program for NFL buyers and partners. More than 5,800 client gift bags were sold, kitted with a unique combination of merchandise from the Super Bowl Catalog and distributed to owners, players, sponsors and network affiliates. Two BDA account managers were in Dallas for two weeks leading up to the game, helping schedule deliveries to local hotels and NFL facilities. For the first time, orders could be placed online, with the option of shipping directly to the end client or to Dallas. BDA placed an aggregate order for each product, resulting in a significant cost savings for the NFL. More than 300 NFL buyers previewed the merchandise during a product showcase BDA hosted in October.

League Store – For the second consecutive year, BDA operated the official on-site NFL League Store. A team of BDA associates transformed a warehouse space near the NFL hotel into a showroom, stocked with a mix of Super Bowl XLV and NFL Shield products. Best sellers included hats, jackets, T-shirts, lanyards and gym bags—to carry all the purchases. The League Store was open exclusively to league employees and family members, NFL officials, NFL alumni and sponsors.

Alumni Store – Old Red Museum in downtown Dallas was home to the NFL Alumni Store, a new retail outlet managed by BDA for the league. The shop offered four pieces of co-branded apparel for all 32 teams—two hats, a polo and a T-shirt.

Staff Uniforms – BDA provided branded workwear for approximately 5,000 gameday associates, including all concessionaires, security, medical, transportation and PR staff. More than 10,000 hats; 3,800 vests, shirts and polos; and 2,600 jackets were produced.

In-Stadium Setup – Halftime show sponsor Bridgestone wanted a giveaway for every ticket-holder, so BDA designed and delivered 100,000 seat cushions stuffed with four inserts. BDA managed an 80-person crew on-site at Cowboys Stadium in charge of hand-placing the cushions on all 93,000 seats over four days.

BDA co-founder and CEO Jay Deutsch, who was at the Super Bowl, shared a story with the Puget Sound Business Journal about watching rapper Snoop Dogg grab a pair of BDA's commemorative seat cushions on his way out of the stadium.

"Snoop Dogg can buy just about anything he wants," Deutsch told the PSBJ, "and he had to have two of the Super Bowl seat cushions."