superbowl
Everyone’s Favorite Super Bowl Game
After focus groups prevented me from playing The Bachelor’s Rose Ceremony Game on Monday night and Lost bingo on Tuesday night, you better believe nothing’s getting in the way of my (sub-par) Super Bowl boxes on Sunday night.
As you can see, Charles and I have an uphill battle going into the game. But he’s a lucky dude and there are 9 ways to win. For those wanting to play along, here are the deets:
$20/box / 1st quarter - $150 / Half-time - $300 / 3rd quarter - $150 / Final - $1100
Additionally, the “four touchers” of the final score box will get $50 each and reverse score wins $100.
So start your own tomorrow at work or with your party on Sunday. Or just root for me.
Super Bowl Ads: Upon Further Review
The call in the first post stand: Pretty much even with last year…which is not a good thing.
Now having been able to re-watch last night’s ads, read some reviews, engage in (limited) conversations, and most importantly awaken from my food+beverage coma, I will report on the day after. Firstly, you may have noticed that above I said convos were limited. Surprisingly, few people at the advertising agency were talking about the commercials today. There were a few mentions of the Coca-Cola work (which I should have mentioned we do here at Wieden in the last post) as well as a bit of debate on the CareerBuilder stuff, which our Portland office does too. As much as I’d like to delve into that one alone, I’m going to hold my tongue as a relatively new guy because I don’t want to be forced to use CB! (I will say that the site is more interesting and would be interested to hear your take on the 4 spots. Do you think the right two were selected?)
Anyway, we weren’t talking about the ads. We were talking about the game. Yes, living in New York had a big impact; however, we’re still at an ad agency (with spots in the game). So if we were talking about the Giants and Patriots in this creative space, it’s probably a safe bet that the cooler talk elsewhere was less about the commercials this year. The point: Context matters. Because the game was actually really good, the spots got less of the spotlight.
Context also matters for each individual viewer. What the previous post should show is how personal reactions can be. Two of the most memorable spots for me (the two about which I chose to blog) were too of the least talked about spots this year. Not particularly positive or negative reactions. A look at the more quantitative measures (the ad polls) shows a variety of results. They are, however, consistent in the number one: Dalmatian training a Clydesdale for Budweiser.
Yet this point should not discount the group setting in which most Super Bowl viewing takes place, and the (not always explicit or obvious) impact that has on each ad’s likability. Groups tend to reach a sort of consensus. Think about your reviews today. Was there any ad you had a change of heart on? (Heart stays in body with change.) Even if you held the minority opinion in the living room, you can start fresh with the consensus viewpoint and have a better chance of having something in common/avoiding a debate today. I’m sure you’re not that easily swayed and you have a spine (just not a heart—check your boss’ office); I’m just suggesting it’s possible you left the party thinking that Life Water wasted its money because Naomi is the worst even if you thought lizards dancing to Thriller was pretty cute.
But the most interesting thing I saw today has to be this advertising review by the Miller High Life guy. He definitely tells it like it is and is more truly the voice of the average viewer.
Crazy props on the turnaround time. If Saatchi & Saatchi did create it, though, it’s a little sneaky (read as: wack) to hype its own Tide spot.
Super Bowl Commercial Highlights
It’s always an enlightening experience being the guy who works in advertising at the Super Bowl party. For the past five years it has fun being the de facto expert on commercial creative and strategy (and somehow feeling like you get credit for every laugh from the group); however, tonight I was constantly answering the question, “did they really spend $2.7 million on that?” And while I don’t think this year’s spots were significantly more disappointing than last year’s, I did start to feel a bit disheartened. I had been making the (unoriginal) case to listening co-couchers that although it may seem an excessive amount to pay, when you consider not just the reach of this event but (more importantly) the number of eyes that will actually be actively engaging with the content (watching/talking about each) during the game (as well as the coverage in the weeks before and following), it was probably worth it for at least some companies. But unfortunately when the game ended, the consensus was “the commercials sucked” (with the exception of Ferrell for Bud Light “suck one”). There didn’t appear to be breakout stars—brands that benefited from being “diamonds in the rough.” Instead, the negativity toward the collection was the final word. And I started to wonder how many more chances we all would get before people would rebel against (ignore, skip, channel flip, or call for a change in the model) our thirties and sixties the way they do during the other 364 nights.
In case you missed them and want to find your gems, you can watch them on MySpace. These are not my favorite commercials, but certainly the two standout moments…
The first is the Gatorade ad, “Man’s Best Friend.” I know from my work with Purina that the more frames showing a happy dog, the better. Yet, I connected to it because of the striking resemblance of the black lab to my family’s, Zeus (that’s his name).
The second moment was fulfilling because I was the first person to remember “where is that guy from?” in the Amp Energy commercial. Your turn to try (if you haven’t already).
Yes, you guessed it. Right? It’s Donkeylips (confirmed by Michael Bower Wiki entry) from Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts. Amazing show, and really the only thing that made this commercial bearable.
It’s late and I’m too tired to go spot by spot, but quickly I thought Coke was unsurprisingly solid, E*Trade surprisingly good, and most of the rest forgettable.