Each year Millions of people around the world tune in to watch the Superbowl.  However there’s a large contingent of viewers that actually don’t quite care about the action on the field but rather the commercials that play between it. For the TV advertising world, The Superbowl is their chance to showcase ad agencies most creative and groundbreaking spots for the upcoming year.  Its like Fashion week for the ad industry.

But this wasn’t always the case.  You’d have to go back to 1979 and Superbowl XIII between two of the NFL’s most storied franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys to find a commercial that some say not only revolutionized the modern day commercial but also launched the Coca-Cola brand into immortality.

I would beg to guess that most of the Nation never actually seen the ad live.  I was still not yet a year old when the ad first aired during the Super Bowl that year.  The ad showed Hall of Fame Steeler lineman, “Mean” Joe Greene limping back to the locker room in apparent defeat when he was approached by a young boy who offered him his Coke. After downing it in one long gulp, Joe tosses his game jersey to the young fan who is in awe.

The ground breaking ad is still heralded as a major turning point for Coke but to date Greene has never received any official recognition for his part.  Now, thirty years after his famous commercial, Mean Joe Greene has been honored with a CLIO award, a annually acknowledgment for excellence in advertising.

To honor Green, a special ceremony was held before his Steelers got beat down by the Bengals this past Sunday.  Tommy Okon, then the 9 year old fan in the commercial, looked on as Greene was given the award.