Were This Year's Super Bowl Spots the Worst Ever?

For a cost of $4 million (give or take) for a 30-second spot, the objectives of Super Bowl ads probably need to be different than in the ordinary course of commerce. So the standards applied to these ads probably should be different than just asking whether they motivate product purchase or not.

It's much more about brand image (in the case of Budweiser, which doesn't have an awareness problem), brand awareness (in the case of a brand like Kia stepping up to a very visible profile) or "buzz" (in the case of GoDaddy, which blows most of its budget on the Super Bowl every year).

By these standards, I enjoyed the Kia and VW ads for their entertainment value and "attitude"...perhaps more than the Jeep and Ram ads that tried too hard to tie the brands to the flagpole. But I agree that the winner was the Clydesdale ad—manipulative, yes, but in a way that builds the brand heritage in an effective way.

Dick Seesel, Principal, Retailing In Focus LLC

Farmers from Ram struck a chord. My grandparents farmed and evidenced positive character traits and things we all might like to claim as Americans. Small farmers are largely squeezed out now and my grandparents never had such a beautiful new truck. Still, appreciate Ram bringing this to us.

Families Waiting from Jeep was a good reminder. Audi's prom ad was fun. P&G's playful Montana stain ad worked for me too—and tied more closely to product—but, rats, I wanted the 49'ers to win and didn't want her to wash that shirt!

Diana McHenry, Director, Retail Product Marketing, SAS Institute Inc.

For striking a meaningful chord with the intended target audience, it was Ram—Farmers (Paul Harvey) hands down.

Ben Ball, Senior Vice President, Dechert-Hampe

Let me just digress a second and ask if the Super Bowl is really the greatest venue for advertisers at all? We saw the players fighting pretty early on, a referee get pushed and the player who did it not get ejected, coaches and players swearing profusely throughout the game (especially John Harbaugh of the Ravens who used the f word at least half a dozen times with the camera zeroed in on him berating an official during the power outage), a venue that couldn't keep the power on, a star player with an extremely checkered past getting lots of attention, and the MVP again using the f word on-camera to describe his feelings about the victory.

Meanwhile, a friend commented to me that as the cameras focused on the Mercedes logo on the roof while the power was out, all he could think about was the Mercedes he had that had constant electrical problems.

Al McClain, CEO, Founder, RetailWire.com

This year's spots, overall, did not measure up to Super Bowls past. Most were not memorable, and few will have people talking this morning. It seems as if a lot of money was spend on very ordinary advertising.

Max Goldberg, Founding Partner, The Radical Clarity Group

The Super Bowl ads seem less spectacular these days for two reasons.

a) Ads are now over-the-top all year long. Super Bowl ads no longer appear to be anything more sensational than what see all year long.

b) In a weird and erroneous way, ad agencies are out-thinking themselves and have lost the ability to "sell" products. I have noticed this in many aspects within the CPG industry today.

I have set my expectations for the Super Bowl ads much lower so I probably was not surprised or disappointed this time. Congratulations to P&G for getting outside their own comfort zone and doing a nice job with "Tide."

David Biernbaum, Senior Marketing and Business Development Consultant, David Biernbaum Associates

Being an overly creative kinda guy, my ratings were close to George's.

The stain was great. It exhibited the real value one can gain from getting dirty and why guys are not slobs.

The Farmer was super with a few mid-ad "flashes" of the RAM. Paul Harvey's overlay will stick in some minds.

And the retirement home gone wild piece was great...but found that my family was so focused on the older retailers that were partying that they forgot who sponsored the ad. Richard Mader was in the ad...I think.

Great day for marketing fun.

Tom

Tom Redd, Vice President, Strategic Communications, SAP Global Retail Business Unit

Of course the Clydesdale ad was great—tapping into the tradition and emotion of the Clydesdale tradition. Other than that, the only ad that really caught and kept my attention was the VW ad.

Camille P. Schuster, Ph.D., President, Global Collaborations, Inc.

Every improvement in technology and communication seems to create commercials that are empty and boring. And for the $3.5 million to run one 30-second Super Bowl spot, I'd rather have a little house by the sea in a tax-free state.

We have created awards for nearly everything except for stadium lighting. Today there are the never-ending, self-serving entertainment, sports and creative accolades. As for the Super Bowl commercials, none knocked my socks off, but the Anheuser-Busch/Clydesdale story tugged at my hardened heartstrings.

Gene Hoffman, President/CEO, Corporate Strategies International

Opinions are a matter of individual taste. Seems that only the Budweiser ad with the owner and Clydesdale reunited made the list at the party I attended. Our group preferred that, plus the Senior Citizens' after-hours party by Taco Bell and "Where do babies come from" by Kia.

Ed Rosenbaum, CEO, The Customer Service Rainmaker, Rainmaker Solutions

Chrysler Group, LLC has dominated Super Bowl advertising now three years running. They did it twice this year. Both ads were as strong as ever at reaching the consumer with both a message and a connection held deeply with them.

They have done just exactly what their previous two years have done. They have created a connection with their consumers at a deeply emotional level. Most importantly, they connect their brand with the emotion. Without even putting their name out in front until the very end, there was an instant connection as to who owned the ad.

If you haven't checked their sales and profits lately, you just might want to take a look.

What is incredibly interesting about what they have done as an Italian company is connect at a very emotional level with consumers at a deeply held, American level.

It is also worth noting that there does not seem to be the lingering animus towards the brand as there is with GM. Remarkable.

They are unquestionably the most effective Super Bowl advertiser as a brand now, three years running!

'Scanner'

The Dodge Ram ad was spectacular. The ad at the other end of the spectrum was the truly unsettling GoDaddy spot; glad I didn't have small children in the room during that one.

Cathy Hotka, Principal, Cathy Hotka & Associates

Anheuser Busch Clydesdale and Trainer had the attention grabbing power while reinforcing its heritage and brand equity. I would rate it the best because of its effectiveness (does anyone care about that these days?). Ram (Farmers) had to be at the bottom of the list. I thought it was a political, maybe religious, maybe social values pitch...but I did not expect a Ram...because I don't think of myself as a farmer, perhaps.

Joan Treistman, President, The Treistman Group LLC

Actually my favorite favorite was a Taco Bell spot that for some reason, didn't make this list.

The GoDaddy commercial was so gross (the first one) that I actually contemplated moving all our accounts off it and on to another provider. That task is such a royal pain in the neck the commercial must have been really, really offensive.

What the heck were they thinking? Overall, yes, a colossal waste of time and money.

Paula Rosenblum, Managing Partner, RSR Research

After being grossed out by the GoDaddy spot with the nerd and the model, I think I formed an immediate negative bias to the rest of the field. However, in the midst of all the shock, awe, and pazazz, I think the "Jeep" spot featuring our fighting heroes and families was the class of the field.

Overall, this was certainly not a distinctive collection of spots. Perhaps we are running out of creativity and ideation necessary to keep these efforts pithy and memorable. If so, maybe next year GE will can enter the fray with a spot about their new technology that can keep the lights on for the full game.

Mark Heckman, Principal, Mark Heckman Consulting

Overall, the ads this year were disappointing. Not all that memorable or captivating.

The one I liked best was the Clydesdale, but it is not that different from their holiday ads. The Ram - Farmer ad was the best in that it showed a true understanding and appreciation of their target audience.

Kurt Seemar, President, Analytic Marketing Innovations

The Jeep commmercial with the troops was awesome, and the Taco Bell with the Old Gang was funny. The Clydesdale horse was super, and the Samsung ad was great.

Most of the others were ho-hum to me, but I still enjoy seeing them. The halftime show was very good this year as well.

Tony Orlando, Owner, Tony O's Supermarket & Catering

By and large, it was a pretty bland year. And the advertisers significantly took away from their impact with heavy online pre-game rolllouts.

These "big idea" ads lose all their punch when a 15 year old sitting next to you says (in the first 5 seconds of most of them)—"Oh, god. This one's horrible. I've been tortured by it as a pre-roll ad all week and hate it."

The advertisers have fallen prey to the theory that they should waste their big splash ads on a measly online rollout. But take a lesson from Steve Jobs...you only get to surprise people once. Done right, it multiplies the power of your idea. Wasted on a YouTube pre-roll pre-release, all thunder gets lost.

Doug Garnett, Founder & CEO, Atomic Direct

I agree with Mr Ball; "it was Ram Farmers (Paul Harvey) hands down"

Go Daddy was the worst; both my kids: "Ewwww, GROSS!"

Robert DiPietro, GVP Product Strategy & Business Development, Affinion Group

"Best" or "Worst" ads? In what way? Whether the viewer felt good or bad after watching the ad, the lasting impact, and resulting awareness of the advertisement's pitch is key. Even if the viewer hated the ad, I'd bet that person is telling everyone how much they hated it. And, therefore, the ad made an impression, and the product or service is in the mind of the targeted market.

What else would an advertiser want to achieve in 30 seconds?

Ralph Jacobson, Global Consumer Products Industry Marketing Executive, IBM

I think the Mercedes devil commercial was really good. Take farmer off the list—association with the brand would be really low, I'll bet.

Joel Rubinson, President, Rubinson Partners, Inc.

The investments made by brands in this year's Super Bowl were largely wasteful. Between the media cost of the spot ($4MM), the production ($1MM+), promotion and client resources required, it's a staggering "investment" that is still largely measured in impressions rather than sales or customer acquisition.

All that said, there are two ads that stood out:

1. Ram solidly positioned itself and made strides toward reinforcing its proposition to existing customers
   
   
2. Best Buy used humor, proven effective, to deliver real reasons why customers should shop the retailer again

More than anything, it is annually confounding that more Super Bowl advertisers don't include a post-game focus to engage viewers and take them through a path to being, and remaining, customers of the brand.

Phil Rubin, CEO, rDialogue

The most memorable ad was...ummm...I can't really remember any of them (which I guess answers the question well). But when you think about it, even in the (supposed) glory days of this medium, there were really only a dozen or so memorable spots out of the score—hundreds?—that run; so it's always been a low-rewards effort.

'notcom'

I think part of the issue is that the Super Bowl advertising became an event unto itself, and previewing of the ads at Super Bowl on YouTube and social media really reduced the impact. It is one thing to put up teasers, but a lot of people got burnt out on the ads in advance with all the "leaks." The Clydesdale and the Tide ads were memorable (though as a 49er fan, there was a lot of groaning on the Tide ad) and worked for the broad demographic, while the Chrysler ads resonated with their buyer demographics. Otherwise, I don't see ads that would be considered ground-breaking.

Kenneth Leung, Global marketing strategy and planning manager, Cisco Systems Inc.

I vote for Ram (Farmers,) with Paul Harvey. The reason is that I consider this an outstanding example of what I call "moral marketing." I don't call it "moral" because of some high and holy purpose, but because the RAM part was only at the end, a final thought.

The vast majority of advertising is bent on only one thing—meeting the need of the advertiser. This is why the vast majority of advertising is essentially noise, that may move a minuscule share of those reached, while "SPAMMING" the vast majority of the market. I consider this, loosely, immoral marketing. Moral Marketing, by contrast, has nearly as much value to the non-target as to the target.

Entertainment is one way to achieve this. But the RAM ad was essentially a tribute to farmers, the small farmers who laid a major portion of the foundation of our country. Of course, not everyone will appreciate this, but the entire ad was relatively self-less for the advertiser, up until in the final seconds a RAM truck was pictured, not touted, to bask in the shadow of the tribute.

I don't know if this will work well for Dodge, but it IS a high example of what I call moral marketing. And this is not a new concept for me. As I used to sit at my desk, creating a mailer to send to my target mailing list, I always thought, most of these are going to be seen, possibly for a fraction of a second, as they go from someone's pile of mail, into their trash basket. How can I be helpful to that person in that flash, and associate that helpfulness to my brand? I could say a lot more about this, but the growth of our company at a 30% annualized rate from 1989 - 2009 suggests that that thinking didn't hurt. ;-)

Herb Sorensen, Ph.D., Scientific Advisor TNS Global Retail & Shopper, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute