SuperBowl XLV Commercial Roundup

As seen through the marketing eyes of Travis:

Every year I look forward to the SuperBowl and especially if my team is not playing, I can’t wait to see the commercials. For as long as I can remember the commercials have been what everyone talks about the day after the SuperBowl. Our office was no different, we barely talked about any of the great plays, but rather how companies portrayed their brands and what our favorite ones were. Shockingly, I was surprised we all were of the same opinion; we were let down this year.

Maybe it was due to the economy; actually I am hoping it was. I hope with all the bailouts of big business the last few years, all the layoffs and unemployment, many companies refused to advertise and pay the outrageous prices. It seemed to me that this was the Doritos, PepsiMaxx and Budweiser advertising campaigns in-between the football game. So I pose a few riveting thought-provoking insights, my takes on the advertisements and whether they succeeded in my mind.

So the overall consensus was that Volkswagen was a unanimous winner for “The Force” commercial. While yes it went viral and it was so talked about and everyone loved the little “Darth Vader”, I polled several people who actually had no clue what that commercial Brand was. I had responses from, “The car would be too obvious, I’m not sure who it was” to a flat-out I have no idea but I loved it! So was this spot really an epic fail if no one remembers the brand?

The other commercial that had failure of epic proportions was Best Buy. Everyone watching at our SuperBowl Party was clueless on who we were being marketed by. Our conversation ranged from “how old is Ozzy nowadays” (Yes we even googled it) to “what kind of meds is he on? We can actually understand him!” to everyone wanting to punch Bieber in the face. Best Buy was totally lost on us and in the end we were also asking what is 6G network?

Okay now for my “I can’t believe you did that commercial” at first I was in love with the Doritos “Pug Attack” commercial, then I thought about it. Really the intention on the spot was for the pug to crash full speed into a plate-glass door. That is kind of cruel don’t you think? As cute as the Pug was running, I just sat speechless afterwards thinking about how cruel that really was. Do any of my dog loving readers agree?

Also, what is up with HomeAway with the smashed baby in the “Test Baby” ad? Did they really think that was a good idea? I had to look up who ran the ad, again a Brand that was lost on me once the baby smashed against the window. I see that they have since pulled the spots, I wonder why?
Here are some of my honorable mention, bad commercials:

Groupon – the dark humor was not missed, but I thought 2 of the 3 were offensive.
GoDaddy.com – I’m just tired of the same theme…go online to see what you missed and when you do, there I nothing there. How about a new concept? And also, Danica seemed to be #2 on the importance factor, and I thought she was the face of GoDaddy.com…hmmm
Sketchers – Even Kim Kardashian couldn’t save this one. I mean really, even after several Dr’s and trainers have come forward talking about how bad these shoes are for your posture and how they actually don’t help your booty.

After it was all said and done, I think it was safe to say we all lost interest in the commercials right around the end of the third quarter and nothing really caught my attention. PepsiMaxx was too busy throwing cans at people in just about every ad; Bud Light to me was not very memorable probably because they had so many ads. So my top three favorite commercials ended up being probably the least talked about.

So here they are:

Telaflora – Come on it was Faith Hill! Besides with Valentines Day just around the corner, it really hit home, we all want to say that on a card, from the heart!
Chrysler – Eminem’s Detroit, being from Michigan it kind of hit home knowing how bad off that whole state is. “Imported from Detroit” I loved it!
Volkswagen – Mini Vader, although no one remembers who it was for, I loved it for the reason I should, it played with my heartstrings for the generation I am in, I’m a Star Wars Junkie so of course I loved it! (okay this one was talked about A-LOT)

A Couple Honorable Mentions:

Volkswagen – Black Beetle was actually a great spot. Watching a beetle race around like a car, we were guessing VW even before the commercial ended.
Budweiser – Wild West, who doesn’t like singing cowboys? Especially when they flex their golden pipes to Elton John!
Movie Trailers – Pretty much all of them! Since the majority of them were for some up and coming action flicks, most of which I would see, I was down for watching them, some were better than the dribble that was out there.

I didn’t intend this to be a likes versus dislikes post, but when all is said and done, remembering your Brand and increasing visibility for said brand should be the most important thing when you are spending over 2-million dollars. Here is an idea, how about a salary cap for commercials? Every spot costs the same and we lower the price tag in these economic times so that more people don’t get disgusted about being laid off then see your old company run a SuperBowl commercial. We know how tough it can be being one of 300 people laid off before Christmas due to economic difficulties only to see a commercial air. After all we are not just a bunch of monkeys going to work everyday.

Disagree with me? Check out these guys:
Andrew Billmann
Advertising Age
Mashable
The Lint Screen