Best Super Bowl Commercial Recap

Like everyone else – I greatly look forward to the creativity and thought that goes into the Super Bowl commercials.  Last night’s batch certainly did not disappoint and I wanted to offer my thoughts on the actual impact of these commercials with regards to the brands and their respective fan-bases.  

Over the years – there have essentially been 4 major ways to gain attention …

1. Shock and/or Emotion
2. Facts
3. Humour
4. Animals

Well, there was that whole Monkey-Baby thing from Mountain Dew which was for some, disturbing – but as is pointed out here probably delivered for the target market.

There was also the call from Colgate to save water, and an extended commercial from Pokemon that generated a lot of online buzz …

Winner: Audi and the Astronaut  

This one has everything – Patriotism, music, the emotions of an older man who feels all of his best days are in the past, a loving son who clearly understands and appreciates his dad, and awe-inspiring cuts and scenery that tug at all of our desires for adventure, speed and nostalgia.

Extensive bonus points given here for the musical tribute and nod to the late David Bowie – bringing more nostalgia and ultimately making this (in my opinion) the best ad of the category.  While I was amazed to see Bowie left out of the halftime-show remembrance scenes (Whitney Houston, James Brown and Clarence Clemmons got hat tips) – it was a perfect use of his song and music here to deliver the response that Audi I am sure was after.  

Sometimes – just straightforward facts can get the job done, so in keeping with that theme I’m just going to announce the winner.

Winner:  T-Mobile and the “#Ballogize”

Great stuff from T-Mobile featuring an apologizing Steve Harvey who used his own public mistake and turned it into a paying gig (now that’s smart!).

Make sure to watch the extended version – although I think they should have run this one during the Super Bowl as it really stings Verizon … and has a couple of great lines from Steve Harvey.

p.s. runner up to PayPal and their “New Money“

Humour during a commercial is tough… you’ve only got about 30 seconds to deliver the whole thing including the setup and the punchline ALL while trying to pitch a brand.  Some companies delivered on that last night in a big way including …

• Kevin Hart in the Hyundai commercial “First Date” 
• The Marmot commercial which peaked when the giant squirrel jumped into the lake… 
• and a baby that is so excited to be born because his dad loves Doritos
• and another T-Mobile ad that you really have to see, especially if you work in online advertising and have every tried to clear an ad “through legal”. 
•  The Bud Light Party – “America has seen the light, and there’s a Bud in front of it!”

Winner:  Baldwin and Marino for Amazon’s Alexa

Baldwin: “Alexa, how many championships has Dan Marino won.

ALEXA:  Dan Marino has won 0 championships.

Marino: “Alexa, how many Oscars has Alec Baldwin won?”

ALEXA: Alec Baldwin has won…..

Baldwin “Alexa STOP, well played Marino.”

Awesome job #BaldwinBowl

A commercial, to be a winner, has to have staying power (lines to remember) and be relevant to the brand (showing 100 million people that you can basically Google (although Alexa prefers Bing) out loud if you want).  

Not surprisingly – there were quite a few spots focused on the use of adorable puppies, kittens, grizzly bears, sheep, and even some mixed animal-baby things from Mountain Dew that we talked about earlier.

Subaru’s ongoing “Dog Tested, Dog Approved” campaign that has been running for quite a long time had another winner with the golden retriever puppy in this spot  …

Doritos had a pretty good spot with some adorable puppies trying to make their way into a grocery store…

And even some vegan grizzly bears got in the act – which was a really funny I laughed out loud at the line “It’s my cheat day” when a part-time vegan bear attempts to eat some passengers in a Hyundai Elantra.

Winner:  Heinz and #MeetTheKetchups

Not only did Heinz mix miniature hot dogs with costumes (always a winner) but the commercial was on brand, led the audience to a fun hashtag, and in an important new development had very “giphy-able” moments allowing the commercial to live on and prosper on the internet.  

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