Opinionated Marketers Super Bowl Ad Review IV

For the fourth year in a row, I’m stepping out of my B2B technoid world and blogging about the Super Bowl ads. If nothing else, it gives me a reason to watch the Super Bowl. (Only kidding. I’m an American. Of course, I watch the SB. Which actually wasn’t true until the Patriots starting turning up in it. But now I’m kind of hooked. Enough so that I’ll pick a favorite: Geaux Saints - despite the presence of Jeremy Shockey in the line-up.)

Now, I may have missed something, because I refused to turn it on much before the kick-off. So, here’s what I saw (and how I reacted):

 

First Half:

Bud Light - House made of bud cans. Moderately amusing.

Snickers - Some guy playing football “like Betty White” until he has his Snickers. Meh.

Focus on the Family - Part one of the famous Tim Tebow-was-not-aborted ad. Or is this it? Sweet enough mom and son thang, and nicely done. A plug for the full story, but will anyone actually click through to see it? Given all the run-up, probably yes. So, this was a clever way of getting their message out, without doing a turn-off issue-ad. Stay tuned - I have no idea whether there’ll be more to this one or not.

Survivor - Yawn.

Hyundai Sonata - Does one really buy a car for its paint job? I mean, you would not buy a car if it was known to have crappy paint job, but the comparison here is to a Mercedes’ paint job. Huh?

BoostMobile - Pro football player shuffle. I was too busy trying to figure out who was in the motorized “scooter chair” to concentrate on what the ad was for. They pushed for a click through. But I’m guessing fewer people will. And do I detect a pattern here: teaser ad, hoping to drive viewers on line.

Doritos - Dog with a no bark collar gets back at the guy withholding those chips. Funny, in a disturbing kind of way.

Robin Hood - Starring Russell Crowe-Cate Blanchett. Give me Errol Flynn and Olivia deHaviland, thank you. This version looks like too much production and not enough corny dialogue. Plus it doesn’t come out until May. Premature build-up, anyone?

Doritos - Keep your hands off my mama? Cute kid, but a bit too precocious.

Bud Light - Asteroid is heading to earth. The end is near. Party time for the astrophysicists. Pretty funny.

NCIS - Head slap as greeting. Some kind of inside joke for those who watch the show.

Coke - The Simpsons cast of characters populate this episode in an ad. Very clever and amusing, but have The Simpsons sold out?

Go Daddy - Masseuse hoping to be a Go Daddy girl? Now here’s an ad that I can imagine quite a few guys clicking through on….

Undercover Boss - A show that I actually might watch. Just not tonight.

One quarter down? I’m channeling Peggy Lee singing “Is that all there is?” Has the magic gone out of Super Bowl ads, or does it always happen later in the game? Meanwhile, Peyton Manning is quite amazing. It’s so much easier watching these games if you don’t have a heart-stopping interest in it.

Doritos - Jumbo casket full of Doritos. These Doritos ads aren’t improving as we move along.

Bud Light - Warped voices, setting up the par-tay. Give me the astrophysicists, any day.

Monster. com - Fiddle playing Beavers. I don’t quite get it, but I did like it.

The Wolfman - Movie trailer. Yawn.

The Who - Coming at halftime. Yawn.

Bridgestone -  Save the whale from bachelor parties. Nothing much here.

Skechers - Okay. (Hey, if they come in narrow width, I’ll consider buying a pair - the first item advertised so far that I can actually say this about.)

Cars.com - Timothy Richmond, boy genius becomes man genius who can’t pick a car without help. This is either a new version of a prior, very clever ad they did along this theme; or they’ve ripped the idea off from someone else. In either case, it’s not quite as effective as the original.

CBS - It’s all about us. Network of the decade? If you say so.

Bud - The bridge is out! Townspeople rally to get the Bud truck across. Pretty funny.

Shutter Island - Couldn’t get into the book, but I like Boston-related movies. And Leo DiCaprio does a pretty good Boston accent.

CBS Cares - Mark Sanchez on heart attack prevention. I might believe that Mark Sanchez - a real cutie - cares. But do I really believe that CBS does?

Letterman Show - Dave, Oprah, Jay. (Jay?) Yep, not a very good Super Bowl party.

The Amazing Race - Are these unamazing ads because CBS couldn’t sell out the space, or is this just such an irresistible opportunity to push their shows? In either case, enough! (I am now officially not mentioning CBS ads for their own shows.)

Career Builders - Casual Fridays with the guys in underwear. We gotta get out of this place. Very funny.

Dockers - Then there’s the No Pants singers. Since this followed on the heels of an ad for Career Builders that featured no pants, I was initially confused. Bad timing, me thinks. Or was it inspired?

Hyundai Sonata - Brett Favre in 2020. Clever way of getting across Hyundai’s guarantee.

Bud Light -  Lost-take-off. Pretty funny.

Dove for Men - Peppy and clever - they definitely caught my attention with the sperm… But are men going to use Dove? (I’m thinking Talbot’s for Men here.)

NFL Draft - Blech.

Dodge Charger - Men resolving to be work and relationship gems, in exchange for driving the car of their dreams.

Teleflora - Seems like a re-run of last year’s ad - fresh flowers vs. flowers in a box. I know first hand that flowers in a box can come fallen, cold and dead. But repeating a successful ad by changing the content a bit seems a bit cheesy. (See cars.com.)

Papa John’s - Official pizza sponsor. Go online for an offer. Only if I wanted some Papa John’s pizza.

Alice in Wonderland - Special effects look great, and probably a lot closer to what was going in Lewis B. Carroll’s head than the prissy and sanitized Disney cartoon version.

Dr. Pepper - With KISS. Yuck - both the product and the ad. Yuck.

Harry Potter’s World - Universal Studios - Not much of anything.

FloTV Personal TV - Asking men to man up and stop being so darn whipped. This appears to be another Super Bowl ad theme (Dodge Charger, anyone). But in the case of a Charger, I see that the car’s particular appeal is to a male audience. FloTV seems kind of universal a product.

Intel - Okay, core processors aren’t as cute and exciting as robots, but this made me think that core processors just aren’t very much of anything.

My first half winners: Career Builders, Bud Light with the astrophysicists, Bud bridge builder, Coke with the Simpsons. If I had to pick one, I’d go with Career Builders. Having seen some truly terrible violations of casual dress in the workplace, I could definitely identify with this one. (I’m channeling the techie who wore what appeared to be a pj top with holes in it, and what appeared to be blood on it.)

HALF TIME

FloTV - Talkin’ bout my generation. Now this is more like it. An ad with universal appeal, and a nod to us oldsters.

Toyota - Move along citizens, nothing to see here.

Metro PCS - Cell phone ads with the Indian (India-India) version of the Festrunk Brothers. I’ve seen this before - it’s mildly amusing. And it’s also either a tad racist and/or a sure sign that Indians have become such an engrained part of the techie culture, that we all get it.

Acura ZDX - YACA: Yet another car ad….

Pays to be curious.com - Maybe, but I’m not curious enough to see what this one’s about. Is it part of the Acura ad? Who cares?

 

And speaking about Who cares? The Who? Say what? Was it just me, or did they really sound old and terrible…Talk about geezer wasteland. This may well be the death knell for Boomer-era musical acts on Super Bowl. Bring on Lady Gaga.

 

Second Half:

Wow! An on-side kick. Talk about no guts, no glory. Geaux Saints, all right. That was better than any ad we’re going to see tonight.

Prince of Persia - Another movie that won’t be out until May.

Motorola smartphone - Danica Patrick (I think) in a tub, thinking about sending out a provocative ad. Very funny. Fresh and sexy. Pretty much what a Super Bowl ad is supposed to be.

Volkswagen - Very funny variation on a punch-buggy theme. I really liked the Amish guys, and Stevie Wonder.

Denny’s - Free Grand Slam Day. Second prize, two Grand Slams…

Michelob - So Lance Armstrong drinks Michelob. Yawn.

HomeAway.com - Chevy Chase in a come-on ad to come to the site and find out why it’s better to rent an apartment than a hotel room. Don’t need to convince me about that.

Bridgestone - I was distracted and couldn’t really follow this one. Something about making a movie. Matters not. I don’t need no stinking tires.

KGB - Shirt police, shirt police. Who wants to look at that pale scrawny flesh. And are people really willing to pay someone else to go to The Google for them?

Coke - Man sleepwalking in the veldt to the tune of Bolero. all for a Coke. Nicely done.

eTrade - Sorry. These kids are definitely cuties, but the voice of the original eTrade jaded smart-ass is going to be hard to beat. I do like the introduction of some girl-baby eTrader characgters, however.

US Census - Snapshot of America. Gosh, I hope they didn’t pay full price to make or place this ad. Hope there was a government discount on both ends…

Google - Do these guys have to advertise? Are they really competing with KGB? Are they aiming this at the 2 viewers (John McCain and one other) who don’t know how a Google search works?

Sorento from KIA - I’m a sucker for anything with a sock monkey. But would it make look at a particular brand of car?

RoundUp - Nothing like a good weedkiller ad to get the blood racing. (It did make me think of spring, however. I can’t wait to see my first weed.)

Bud Select 55 - Straightforward message about the lowest calorie beer in the world. Other than that, bor-ing.

NFL - Tribute to their fans. Gee, thanks for that.

ZDX - “The four door coupe concept from Acura.” Actually, it’s a real car, not a concept. I’m such a quibbler.

Southwest Airlines - Come on, you usually have pretty good ads, why this re-run. Oh, just realized these are the local, big-nothing ads. I think I’ll skip the next couple.

Vizio Internet apps - Too much techno. Confusing. Was that the Monster.com beaver I saw flash by?

Pop Secret and Emerald Nuts - Cheesy but engaging. At lest it wasn’t the E+N Emerald Nuts lame-o ad.

Dante’s Inferno - Dante (and Beatrice) are rolling over in their graves.

Bud  - They did do a Clydesdale ad. Awwwww….. How cute was that little cross-species number?

Honda - YACA. Boring.

Denny’s - Yet another ad for the Free Grand Slam. This one was at least funny. But does Denny’s contributing to the obesity epidemic really make Free Grand Slam Day a great day to be am American? Gag.

Audi’s Green Car of the Year - The Green Police. Pretty funny and, if we don’t get a grip soon, probably the deserved wave of the future.

Taco Bell - Well, it’s better than the Grand Slam from Denny’s. Still….

Doritos - Nahhhh….

Bud Light - The softball teams nerds. Couldn’t really follow it, as my husband wanted to talk about what a fun game it is. (That is, if you’re not a Colts fan. At least that’s the way it looks at this point. The Saints are definitely marching in at this point.)

Hyundai Sonata - YACA.

eTrade - More of the new kids on the block. Still, no one can top Mr. Original.

Skechers - Okay, okay.

Go Daddy - ANother see-more-now.

Denny’s - Death but not a Free Grand Slam, please. Just kill me now.

Forget the ads, what a fun game….Unless, of course, you’re a Colts fan. But it did some right down to the last minute or so.

eTrade - Okay. This final one, with the kids on the flight is nearly as good as the original ads.

Chevy - YACA.

Campbell’s - The real SB ads must be over….In any case, I’ve seen quite enough.

 

In general:

Lots of ads pushing a visit to the web site. It will be interesting to see how this works out. To me, there has to be a pay-off if you do so. To me, the ones that will draw are the Focus on the Family (curiosity), GoDaddy (the obvious), and Papa John’s (free pizza).

I don’t have any obvious favorite. I liked the Coke ads - nice production values, fun, held your attention until the pay-off (i.e., finding out it’s a Coke ad). Some of the Bud ads were pretty good, too. (I may be the only one, but I liked the astrophysicists…)

There seemed to be a bit too much repetition of previously used ideas (Cars.com, Teleflora, eTrade).

Bottom line: The best part of the game was the on-side kick. And there’s something to be said for the best part of the game being played on the field, and not in an ad agency, isn’t there.

 

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Here’s last year’s edition.

And here’s a link to an interesting and provocative article by Dan Neil of the LA Times on some of the banned SB ads.

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