>Commercial Bowl XLV – Dissappointing
>Every year the Super Bowl commercials get a lot of hype. So much so that there was a 1 hour special on CBS Friday night about the best Super Bowl commercials. I of course watched it. After getting a sneak peak at some of this year’s commercials, I was mildly disappointed. They showed a handful so I thought, there must more – perhaps they didn’t show the best of the best?
With that in mind, I watched the commercials with an open mind. All in all, I was very disappointed. While I’m going to give a recap of my top 10, only the top 4 deserve a round of applause. Here is the recap compared to USA TODAY’s Ad Meter (UTAM) rankings:
1. Pepsi Max – Love Hurts (#5 on the UTAM): Not only did this commercial have enough humor to keep me laughing but it stayed on target with Pepsi’s message – Zero calories.
2. Doritos – Pug Goes for Chips (tied for #1 on the UTAM): In typical Doritos fashion, this ad is full of humor and has you wanting Doritos.
3. Pepsi Max – Torpedo Cooler (#24): During the few seconds of this commercial, my living room full people all sighed with “aw,” and then a huge burst of laughter. Pepsi did it again with laughter and a targeted message.
4. Volkswagen – Young Darth Vader (#3): I tweeted (@MichelleSeeber) this ad on Friday and still loved to watch it again. It was sentimental, had humor and who doesn’t love parents playing tricks on their kids? While this is my FAVORITE commercial, as a marketer I had to bump this down on my list since the only thing we’ll remember is the tiny Darth Vader and not the name of the car company.
5. Budweiser – Wild West (#16): I thought this was a great commercial – what better way to remind you of Budweiser than the Clydesdales, a bar and the song “Tiny Dancer.”
6. Bridgestone – Reply All (#11): Funny and clever however the message tying it to Bridgestone didn’t really do it for me.
7. Bud Light – Dog sitter (tied for #1): This was cute but I don’t think it deserved to be tied for #1.
8. Coca-Cola – Border Guard (#10): I feel like this spot was an old standby with a new situation and people. It was still well done and left you with that share-a-Coke-feeling.
9. E-trade – Baby Gets a Suit (#15): This was another solid commercial by E-trade. It weaved in the fact that they have helpful customer service, its easy to use and how well someone can do when using E-trade.
10. Verizon – iPhone Coming (#46): I thought this commercial deserved a better ranking by UTAM. It was simple and hit the target with identifying a pain from prospects.
Honorable mentions: Snickers (#17) , CarMax (#23) , Telflora (#30), Careerbuilder (#6), Pepsi Max’s first date (#7) and Chevy Cruze (#51).
A few commercials that just didn’t sit right:
1. Doritos: Grandpa (#4) and licking the finger (#14) were a little too strange for me. The gross factor just didn’t do it.
2. NFL (#8): It was so exciting to see all the old shows but what a let down at the end when we saw it was an NFL commercial.
3. Eminem does a commercial for Lipton (#50) about how he doesn’t like to do commercials. While this is done well, Eminem is also in another commercial for Chrylser/Detroit (#44). If I was Chrysler, I’d be pretty upset that its star person just ranted about not doing commercials.
4. Chevy: all your commercials before and probably after the Super Bowl with Tim Allen as the voiceover have got to go. While I like him as “Santa Claus,” his voice is too distracting for a car commercial. His voice reminds me of “Home Improvement” and all the movies where he is a humorous guy. It’s just not working…
That’s it for this year’s recap of Super Bowl XLV… let’s hope the commercials in Super Bowl XLVI are better!
Feel free to comment and let us know your favorites and who missed the mark.