Super Bowl Ad Winners are Real Dogs

Having spent some time in an award-winning agency 20 years ago, watching the majority of the spots during last night’s Super Bowl was painful. While there were a handful of exceptions (more on those in a moment), most of the spots were trying so hard to be funny or entertaining that the message was lost.

While the advertisers participating clearly have the means to burn $3+ million on the spot and production, it’s hard to imagine it not being incredibly easy to drive more business by investing the $3+ million elsewhere (i.e., invested in customer marketing).

Two spots stood out and both were in the automotive category. In terms of engaging the viewer, the Chrysler/Detroit spot featuring Eminem, including the best audio track of the night, was incredibly strong. The other was the spot for VW Passat.

The biggest disappointment was Best Buy, who promoted the spot ad nauseam via PR and via email to customers. What a waste of confusion given what is a very strong proposition.

With the exception of the Chrysler spot, the more memorable commercials featured comedy. The Budweiser spots were the biggest let-down, especially after all the spots they ran in the weeks leading up to the game.

“Ozzy vs Bieber” was probably the best overall because of how the “names” were used and because this message touched on so many nerves (in a productive way.) Overall, I didn’t think the commericals were up to par this year and most were pretty forgettable.

On the whole, the commercials were awful. The only three worth mentioning in my mind were the animated Eminem for Brisk iced tea (like the Rolling Stones before him, he has gone from most dangerous performer in the world to harmless pitchman), the House MD ad spoofing the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial from the 70s, and Ozzy/Bieber. Fortunately the second half of the game became interesting or the whole broadcast would’ve been a snooze.

Most of the ads were either mean spirited, over-the-top fantasy, or sexually offensive. I actually didn’t even get a couple of them: Ozzie and GoDaddy.com

My favorites were the Motorola ad–Better World, and the Chrysler – Eminem collaboration that celebrated Detroit. They were both great ads that challenged the prevailing social attitudes about their subjects. Only Korea, Japan and Germany can produce an automobile. And only Apple can produce a brilliant, world changing device.

The NFL ad brilliantly and successfully positioned the league as a dominant theme in Americana.

I also liked the talking kid eTrade ad, and Snickers–Roseanne ad, Cars.com talking cars, and the border crossing Coke ad. But each of these, it seemed to me, carried a message that was condescending to any thinking person.

Many of the ads were frankly sexually offensive, among them Godaddy.com, and Teleflora, and Pepsi’s First Date.

It was also revealing how few retailers elected to advertise to the Superbowl eyeballs: Only Carmax, Wendy’s and Verizon. And among online retailers, Cars.com and Teleflora. Does this indicate that many retailers have redirected their advertising dollars away from mass marketing?

“Imported From Detroit.” Says it all for me.

As to the worst–Dorritos. Somehow finger sucking and pant sniffing don’t really want me to run out and buy a product….

The Eminem Detroit commercial was the most interesting, not as an ad but in what it says about America right now. To me, it is a sad commentary on how Americans identify themselves: once-great, beat-up, but possibly resurgent. It’ll take a lot more than one ad, though, for Chrysler to tap into that national vibe. Plus, even if Chrysler succeeds, as the economy rebounds will they really want to be associated with that vibe?

Just a ditto on the House commercial. Yeah, I’m an older guy and welcomed the nod to nostalgia. Even though the commercial mocked the poignancy of its forbear it was one of the only spots that seemed written by a human being rather than “concepted” during a game of beer pong.

I have to say the VW Darth spot stood out because of its deep connection with the core customer for that car–families with young kids. That is, families–Dads–who grew up on Star Wars. The father-son connection, the fun of it and the role the car plays in it all synced up.

I also give a nod to VW’s other spot for the New New Beetle. It too connected to the fun and energy of that car and its targets. Full disclosure: I own a 2002 Turbo Beetle that I love, so I’m biased.

On the flip side, Groupon was simply baffling. Colleagues running real-time panel discussions with GenXers and Millennials reported both groups were offended by the spots, generating the opposite effect the sponsor intended (I hope).

As for the Chrysler (or was it for Detroit?) spot, it was a beautiful piece of storytelling but I have to say, the tag still positions them against the imports and doesn’t transcend ala Cadillac.

Wouldn’t the best ad be the one that brought the most positive results in terms of brand and image building and/or return on investment? If that is the case than it is not about which one we like the best but which one has company executives saying in six months ‘that was well worth the investment.”

Yes, the Chrysler ad was well done, interesting and entertaining but the money it cost might have helped to sell more cars if were part of a larger integrated marketing campaign that more directly addressed that reasons why target customers are buying cars at local dealers.

What burns [me up] is the fact that Chrysler spent millions of our (the taxpayer) dollars to produce and air a commercial during the Super Bowl. I can think of better places for that money to be spent.

I thought most all of them were trying to be too clever by half. The one that stood out distinct from all the rest was the “Imported from Detroit” spot. I thought that was memorable, and helped all three domestic automakers, not just Chrysler. Best in show, by far.

Full disclosure–I have little, verging on no sense of humour, I do not like football and it’s been more years than I’m willing to admit since I’ve been in the US for Superbowl Sunday.

Being here this year has been interesting, informative and infuriating but in no way entertaining. I saw some of the ads–admittedly not all–and did not think much of any of them. The Detroit one was well made and, probably, well intentioned, but not appropriate to the occasion. Most of the others I found pathetic and sad. It was humiliating to think that so many viewers were expected to increase their interest in products based on the ads. What on earth goes through the minds of the copywriters and producers? Overall, in my view, a depressing experience.

There wasn’t a lot of breadth of companies in the Super Bowl–mostly consumer packaged goods. Maybe this is because the Super Bowl has seemingly emerged as one of the last ways to truly broadcast a message to the masses. As an instrument of pure brand awareness, I have to agree with the comments on the Chrysler advertisement. On the other hand, I was really lost on the exact message Best Buy advertisement–but I have to say it was entertaining.