Everyone is doing it…
Well, everyone and their brother is doing the Super Bowl commercial round up and dammit, I’m a sucker for following the herd. The game was actually quite exciting, I should partake in the watching of football contests more often. Who knew men in costumes tossing a ball around could be so thrilling?
OK, so overall, as everyone else has said, it was a pretty boring year commercially. And, like others have also said, I can’t help but think it shows that they understand television is a dying ad medium. Granted they all still spent $2.6M a piece for these spots. Here are my faves in the order they appeared:
Doritos: I really expected 50% of the commercials to be “user-generated” and thank goodness they weren’t. I really liked this one, though, clever use of the brand attributes and great sound effect of her head hitting the door. Oh, and if you’re going the user-generated route it better look like it was made by amateurs, which the cheesy Photoshop posterizing filter and use of Impact do in this case.
Blockbuster mouse: Totally cheesy, totally makes me old and silly, but dammit we laughed hard at this one. I think this just proves that you can do old school, ridiculously cute advertising and have it work.
Garmin map monster: Sort of predictable, sort of overplayed but I thought it was well done. If you’re going to go this route you go all the way and I think they did. Custom cheesy music, custom cheesy costume, custom cheesy set, custom cheesy awesome laser effects.
GM robot: This was really good. Amazing production value, well thought out use of 30 seconds and I really have to hand it to them for having the thing commit suicide. I can just hear execs getting iffy on that last bit “hold on now, the cute little robot commits suicide? no way.” The dream sequence thing is kind of a cheap out, but in this case it really works with the “obsessed with quality” mantra.
Coke rebirth: Fuck you Pepsi. Seriously, Coke makes a lot of marketing mistakes but Pepsi needs to pay attention and learn. This is just smart, and really well done. Congrats to the dude that at some point said “seriously, can you imagine some old dude doing all this crazy shit?! it will be hilarious!”
Emerald nuts: First of all, why the HELL is Emerald Nuts droppping $2.6M? Are they making a crazy killing off their nuts? Do they want more people to want their nuts? Am I completely missing out on the really priceless nut reference here? No matter how you slice it, Robert Goulet making fun of himself is funny as shit.
Nationwide K-fed: I almost didn’t include this since I had seen it before, but seriously, this was funny. Well done all the way from casting K-fed to him singing into the security camera. This is a big risk, deciding whether K-fed was cheap enough to get and big enough to be the punchline was a brilliant call.
Bud Light hitchihiker: This might have gotten chosen only because I love axes and chainsaws. The acting by the wife is probably the reason I loved this so much. Well, that and the fact that I can see me trying to convince my wife of equally stupid shit.
Etrade: I might give this the overall win for just being all around solid. GREAT choice on the voiceover, shot really well, nice treatment, excellent Holland shout out and throwing in the middle finger. Well done.
HONORABLE MENTION
Snickers: This was just amusingly awkward and pretty ballsy for a major sporting event commercial. Dudes everywhere must have been cringing.
I’M CALLING BULLSHIT
Sprint: Connectile dysfunction? Smart concept, way to not take it far enough. Seriously, had a gem in your hand and pussied out probably because some exec got nervous. Welcome to wasting $2.6M.
Bud Light: Mencia? Mencia!? I will admit that perhaps I am skewed by the fact I really don’t like this dude. I will admint that because this commercial is slightly amusing, but the problem here for me is that you’re playing the race card for entertainment’s sake. You are a honky-ass beer that has never played that card, and now is definitely not the time. Also, the fact that I’m looking at the awesome (and I mean that uncynically) YouTube SUPERVOTE and the Mencia commercial is #1 makes me want to hork.
Chevy College Ad Challenge: I really hope this wasn’t actually user-generated. I will give you points for the ridiculously skinny old dude, that guy is funny, but overall this is the worst ad EVAR. The Chevy HHR? The slightly boxier PT Cruiser? This is shit and you know it.
Toyota Tundra ramp: Embedding disabled by request. Yeah, uh, putting small text that says this was a real test doesn’t make it so. BULLSHIT.