Thanks to the creativity of a few agencies the advertising that runs during the Superbowl has become as famous as the climactic close to each football season. Who can forget the Budweiser frogs, Apple’s 1984, Jordan and Birds “Nothin’ but Net” and my personal favorite, Terry Tate office line backer (”Hey Janice” gets me every time).
But, for whatever the reason, we have seen a steady decline in the creativity of these immensely expensive ads. The media costs alone justify these spots being the best any agency has to offer. For 30-60 seconds you have a captive audience of millions. So we ask, is this the best they can do?
Take this year for example. While we loved the E*TRADE baby the first time we saw him, enough… we get it, you’re a baby, you buy stock… your CGI face is creepy. Move on. And GoDaddy.com? Wow, those spots lacked any creativity and focused completely on the hormone raging male audience (not a bad one to go after during a sporting event, but c’mon). In fact, a great deal of the ads were geared toward this audience. Megan Fox in a bathtub, gratuitous flatulence jokes, men without pants singing about having no pants, you get the picture.
However, there were a few bright spots in the bunch:
Vizio had a great spot about their new Internet apps program. There was no gratuitous nudity, farting or drinking. In featured Beyoncé and a cast of Internet video favorites like the baritone voiced singer of Chocolate Rain, the Numa Numa Guy and David after the dentist.
Maybe I’m just showing my age, but HomeAway’s “Hotel Hell Vacation” trailer was awesome. Anything that involves Clark Griswald has my attention.
Bud Light, who was every where had a bunch of ho hum spots, but there was one that we definitely liked. The “Lost” spot where the survivors of a crash would rather drink Bud Light and party than get off the island they have been marooned on. Pretty funny stuff… especially the jet engine hot tub.
Dorito’s spots were also hit or miss, but the spot that had us laughing was the one with the little boy who slaps the guy about to take his mom out on a date saying “Keep your hands off my Mama and my Doritos.”
Hyundai’s Ten Year ad showing a 50 year old Brett Favre was also pretty good. Maybe because we feel for the old man of football, but the spot got our attention.
We have to tell the truth and say any commercial that has Betty White in it has our vote. The geriatric marvel lent her superior acting skills to a Snicker’s spot in which she gets tackled repeatedly.
And Google… the giant that never advertises. The spot was so simple and so to the point. It completely demonstrated what Google does and the breadth of services. Pure Genius…
These are of course just our personal opinions and we have yet to have the opportunity to create a Superbowl ad (please read this as we would LOVE to create a Superbowl ad for people to pick apart) so it’s sort of unfair for us to judge… but hey, that’s what social media and the blogosphere is about! So, dear readers, tell us what you thought. Was there a gem in there in that we missed? Or disagree with our opinion? We want to know.
For those of you living under a rock, you can view all of the spots at Hulu.com
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