According to Nielson, 48% of households viewed our nation's quintessential gladiator event, the highest rating yet for a Super
Bowl. We gathered to
watch football, eat wonderfully spicy foods, and fixate on the much-hyped commercials. We lit up the Twitter-sphere with about 24.1
million tweets. We carried on Facebook discussions with loved ones hundreds of miles
away. As a nation, we were engaged.
We recognize that humor
and taste are very subjective, and we know that our readers won’t necessarily agree
with us about which commercials were good or bad. We've been back and forth, adding and deleting,
and finally decided on our four favorites:
- Dodge – So God made a farmer. This ad grabbed us and silenced us in spite of ourselves. The imagery, the rugged individualism, the sense of community and sacrifice, and even the font choice – the combination is a beautiful montage of American values. We thought we were too sophisticated for this simple approach, but in reality, we were humbled.
- Tide’s holy stain. Iconoclastic with a great punch line. We all knew where the ad was headed, but the Ravens t-shirt at the end was a fun twist and befitting of the evening’s results.
- M&Ms – what won’t we do for love? Love tests our limits, and this ad “exposes” the extraordinary dilemma faced by M&Ms who date.
- William Defoe’s Faustian deal for Mercedes Benz. Well-executed, self-deprecating humor for a luxury brand. Defoe almost seals the deal, but our hero can have the car AND his soul. Sweet!
Regarding the worst ads, three topped our list because they missed
the mark or left us feeling like we needed a shower:
- Budweiser’s “cool” party. Did we just enter one of Dante’s rings of hell? People dressed in black at a party are trendy and hip? Have these advertisers ever been to cocktail party in DC on a week night?
- Gildan Apparel’s creepy sleep-stripping. This commercial is wrong on so many levels, and our bet is that this ad will be a one-night stand.
- GoDaddy. Sexist, insulting, stereo-typical, and repulsive – need we say more? The Taco Bell ad with octogenarians petting was far superior and in comparison, endearing. Maybe it’s time for GoDaddy to grow-up…
At $3.8 - $4.0 million for a 30-second segment, are any of these
ads a good investment? Do you remember the advertisers behind the various ads? Are you be moved to action? Did you learn something
that you didn't know before? Are you more engaged with a brand, because of
these commercials?
Despite the potential failure of these ads to convert you, they
do provide excellent fodder for discussions around the office or in the
car-pool. Thank you, advertisers, for
dropping the big bucks on the ads. You
kept us entertained during power outages, engaged during a lop-sided first half,
and too busy discussing the ads to worry about the calories in those great Super Bowl nachos, wings, and
adult beverages.
