The Super Bowl is the biggest day of the year for two things: football and advertising. That’s why Pavone created SpotBowl.com, which I’d like to invite everyone to visit if you’re looking for a worthy distraction before, during or after the big game (kickoff is Sunday at 6:28 p.m.).

Many of you are probably already familiar with our annual ode to the ads. Now in its seventh year, SpotBowl is an advertising poll that lets America sound off about what they really thought of the game’s ads. Last year, as it has in many of the past years, SpotBowl registered more than 100,000 votes from fans in all 50 states and several countries around the world.

At its core, SpotBowl is a public survey – polls open as soon as the game starts and remain open until Monday at 3 p.m. – but it’s grown into much more than that. For instance, this year, Pavone has optimized the site to allow mobile voting for the first time ever (I’m pretty sure it’s the first ad poll of any kind to do so). That means Super Bowl viewers can watch the ads and register their votes from their iPhones, Blackberrys and other web-browsing devices from wherever they may be on Super Bowl Sunday.

We’ve also upped the pre-game draw by adding a section of the site that helps fans plan the ultimate commercial-watching party, complete with recipes provided by some of the best food and beverage brands in the nation.

So I invite you to check it out and let me know what you think. I also invite you to vote as often as you’d like. And don’t be afraid to be blunt in your assessment of the ads that fumbled. For $2.8 million per 30-second airing, they deserve nothing but our brutally honest opinions.

May the best ad win! (And it might just be the one below.)

Every year, we have the traditional Thanksgiving feast. We’ll munch on great food, talk a lot and probably sneak a beer or two. (Just don’t give any beer to Hollywood or the underage interns.) And while it’s cliché, it’s also the time to remember what we’re thankful for. Yup, we’re thankful for our awesome clients. And yes, we’re thankful for the many business partners in the area. We’re thankful for each other. Yada, yada, yada.

But we can also be thankful for these great thinkbank escapades over the past year:

1. The parking lot party (Yeah, we had a party. Why? Because we could.)

2. Ladies of Pavone events (From dinners to a book club, Amy plays hostess.)

3. Forced Fun (This is where chip and putt golf and the scavenger hunt come into play.)

4. Valentine’s goodie bags (Some were funny, others were cute.)

5.  Zombie games (Nice try for those who tried to fool the agency, but I’m not opening your email if it has a Z in the title.)

6. Jeanius contest (We donated over 100 pairs of jeans to make insulation for houses affected by Katrina.)

7. Weight loss challenge (Over 60 pounds lost. I shudder to think how much weight came back on after the challenge was over!)

8. Punking (Office pranks-a-plenty. For example, Paul read Josh’s internship diary to the agency. You really had to be there to know how funny this moment in time was.)

9. Hanging out after work (From the fantasy football draft to hanging out at a local watering hole, there was plenty of time for people to hang out even if it’s not work-related.)

10. Paul dressed up as a hangover and Al was the timesheet monster (OK, it could have been any day at the thinkbank, but this just so happened to be Halloween. Why didn’t we get pictures of this?!)

11. Amy’s birthday cupcakes (Who doesn’t love a treat from the PA Bakery?)

12. The thinkbank kickball team beating a rival agency to win the first ever Central PA Marketing Agency Kickball Cup (We’re working on a different name if there’s a second year.)

13. How to f@#k up a presentation (Paul’s enlightening discussion on what not to do in a presentation. Points #14 and 15 – Show up late and then address the client by the wrong name.)

Well, the tallies are in and we have a winner for the much anticipated 4th Annual Pavone Scavenger Hunt. This year’s contest came down to the wire…literally. A single wire binder clip ended up edging out this year’s runner up team. When asked to produce an item that best represents our beloved Director of First Impressions the winning team found the largest binder clip possible commemorating our lady bulldog’s brush with well, let’s say…a fatal impasse. As we are reminded daily here at the think bank, this is not so uncommon for Bulldogs.

In 2009’s version of the hunt, Pavonites found themselves scouring the SOMA district of Harrisburg gathering items and performing tasks that tie to internal Pavone themes. For instance, the teams were asked to find a perfect stranger to tag along on the hunt, create a mask out of something “upcycled” or throw a newspaper airplane at least 10 feet.

Judges saw all of the usual tactics this year (begging, bribery, strong-arming, gaslighting) and trust me, with 50+ marketers and PR experts in your ear as items are evaluated, reality can start to warp a little. This is my fourth year planning and executing the hunt and it seems with each year the teams hone their persuasion skills to an even finer point. That’s great if you’re one of our clients – when you’re a judge, not so much.

Today is the 77th Annual Thinkbank Scavenger Hunt, an hour-long team competition designed to test everyone’s ability to think, cheat and improvise in search of an elusive big-ticket item or photo op. Back in 1932, we ran around Harrisburg with the police chasing us Keystone Cops-style with the Benny Hill music playing. It was a hoot, or so I’m told. Today, we still run around, but the police pretty much leave us alone.

Having been on both the playing and organizing/judging sides of the festivities, I can honestly say that it’s much easier to play than it is to judge. (By far.) People get pretty pissed when you tell them you can’t give them credit for the photo of the team flipping off our crosstown rivals because not all the fingers were visible. Hey, I don’t make the rules, people. Actually, that year I did.

Stay tuned for an update on Monday.

In May, Pavone conducted an online survey that involved 353 primary shoppers. We found that more than three-quarters of respondents said they would prefer to buy both organic and all-natural products if they were comparably priced to leading national brands.

Wow.

With numbers like these, it’s hard to argue that America’s desire for organic and all natural products is anything less than a mainstream movement.

This research confirms what Pavone already believed: That this recession is not going to be the end of the organic and all natural market as was sometimes predicted last fall. Instead, higher priced organic and all natural products will drop out of the mass marketplace and be replaced by more affordable organic offerings. This has already happened extensively via private label and store brand offerings.

It’s also worth noting again that consumers have expressed a desire for all natural products. Unlike organic, which is a certified and regulated term, all natural is an ambiguous term, with no legislative guidelines. So Pavone was especially curious to hear how consumers defined all natural foods.

Our survey told us:

• 86% strongly or somewhat agreed that all natural has “no artificial ingredients”
• 83% strongly or somewhat agreed that all natural has “no additives”
• 80% strongly or somewhat agreed that all natural has “no preservatives”
• 72% strongly or somewhat agreed that all natural has “no chemicals or pesticides”
• 57% strongly or somewhat agreed that all natural is “made from ‘real’ foods”
• 54% strongly or somewhat agreed that all natural is “pure”

However, when asked if they believed that all products labeled “all natural” fit their definition of what all natural should be, only 21% said yes, 25% didn’t know and 54% disagreed.

That’s a lot of skeptism. We think some of this comes from the efforts of marketers like 7-Up trying to force all-natural onto a place it clearly does not belong. The ingredients in “all natural” 7UP are filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, natural flavors, natural citric acid and natural potassium citrate. Most consumers will argue that high fructose corn syrup is not a natural ingredient. It certainly is not a naturally occurring ingredient. The integrity of the all natural claim really falls apart when 7-Up becomes a fountain drink (and because of carbonation issues, even 7-Up can no longer pretend it’s all-natural) or when other flavors or SKUs are involved.

We congratulate Pepsi for a more honest effort at an all-natural product. Pepsi Natural list ingredients on the front as sparkling water, sugar and kola nut extract. We wish it were that simple. On the more regulated ingredients area on the back, they list Sparkling water, sugar, natural apple extract (color), caramel color, citric acid, caffeine, acacia gum, tartaric acid, lactic acid, natural flavor, kola nut extract. Pepsi Natural was introduced in March in glass bottles only and has met with good critical response, but no sales reports yet.

What do you think? Is high fructose corn syrup all natural? Can any soda really be all natural? We’d like your comments.