Super Bowl 46: The Ads (First Quarter)
So, I watched (most of) Super Bowl 46, and since I kind of hate both teams that were playing in it, I think the only thing I really want to talk about is what everyone else always talks about - the ads. Here's my quick recap to the Super Bowl ads. The first quarter, in order (at least Yahoo's order):
Never been a fan of the Apprentice, nor the b, c, and d-list celebrities that normally end up on those things. HINT: your appearance on a reality show should not give you "celebrity" credentials to appear on another reality show. I could have let it slide, but seeing Debbie Deborah Gibson in enough makeup to frighten a circus clown depressed the hell out of me. Alyssa Milano doesn't look like that, Debs. Just dab on a little Electric Youth and all will be well again.
Simple, yet dramatic. Not an ad everyone will talk about the next day, but enough to get good buzz around the car. Good looking vehicle, presented well, and not long enough to drone on and on about features. Makes you want to learn more.
I remember when I first heard that "Battleship" was being made into a movie and assumed it was an Onion headline. It became a punchline for everyone (myself included) but I think the studio has done a good job with seemingly making it nothing resembling the board game which makes you ask - why name it after the board game in the first place?
Oh, because it's being made by "Hasbro Studios", a subsidiary of the toy company.
Best part of the ad: in the intro, "FROM HASBRO THE COMPANY THAT BROUGHT YOU TRANSFORMERS". Oh, not the movie, guys. The toys. They had nothing to do with the movie. They didn't even come up with the toys - they just made a deal with the Japanese company Takara to license their toys in the US. But that's a geek road to go down another day.
PS: if you're bored, check out the cast of "Battleship". It's fascinating.
GoDaddy is interesting from a marketing/PR standpoint because it's a company that despite regularly shooting itself in the foot and doing whatever it can to piss off people - both customers and non-customers - they seem to still be a successful business. More of the usual GoDaddy stuff here again - whoring out two female celebrities who could be seen as female role models, yet instead lose a ton of credibility by acting like tee-hee eye candy, painting a "naked" woman. The UNCENSORED portion of the commercial is on their website! You know, implying that if you go to GoDaddy, a Cinemax late-night flick is going to break out. Here's the thing - it's not even like you're teasing Danica Patrick is going to "get naked" anymore. It's awkward, it's airing in the first quarter (when the kids are still awake), and it's not shocking because you do it every year. It'd be awesome if they tried something original for a change - even played off of their usual stuff. But no - of course not.
The first memorable (for a good reason) spot of the night. Vanessa Williams as the voice of the brown M&M candy worked well (sophisticated, elegant, intellegent) and the red M&M gets a chuckle. Good for kids and adults (thought I hate the "Sexy And I Know It" song - well, I hate my grade school and younger kids signing it.)
Cute - not funny necessarily, but no harm either. I liked what Coca-Cola has been doing with the polar bear conservation, and I would have liked a little message at least in this, but I guess that could come off a little preachy. Maybe a link.
Another one with wasted celebrities. Nice that you got Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders in it, but Aikman was unnecessary, and possibly even took away from the impact of the commercial. If an ordinary person throws the weird football "gripping the turns", it shows that the Bridgestone technology can help us everyday drivers. Keep Deion in it to get pissed off, especially if the everyday guy is throwing the football.
A commercial that will be remembered more for its knock on Ford than for anything else. Cute Twinkies reference but takes a second viewing to see what they were going for (with all the disasters - the robot, the UFO, the meteor, etc.) and if you have to watch it more than once to "get it", you lose points.
Funny how a company that is almost soundly hated by geeks puts together a very geek-friendly commercial. Shoutouts to lots of people who wouldn't otherwise get recognized with a little meta thrown in (the "Words With Friends" guys getting scolded on the plane, referencing the Alec Baldwin incident) leads to a fun commercial. Best Buy also offering a simple, non-swarmy service without making promises it can't keep (although "unbiased advice"? Are you sure about that?) makes it a good spot.
Beer commercial. Nothing memorable (except are those cobalt bottles?) about the product or how it's necessarily supposed to be different or "new". In reality, Bud Light Platinum is an interesting concept that I think Bud is marketing wrong, but here it just looks like another Bud Light product, which really it's not. A waste.
Goofy take on stereotypical car commercials. Gets good car time, along with a laugh. Decent overall.
Thankful they aired this during the Super Bowl because it's not like I've seen this advertised EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS OR SO. Cripes - I think I've seen Katherine McPhee more often in Smash commercials than I did her entire run on American Idol. I hear critics (and common folk) like the show, but it's nearing Titanic Paradox levels for me despite not yet debuting.
Tied for the funniest commercial of the quarter with the M&Ms commercial. No sparkle to piss off the Twilight lovers (although I would have loved to see that), but the last one hiding behind the log was the kicker.
So we have Elton John, Flava Flav, Jacob Ben-Israel from Glee, possibly Halle Berry (focused on twice, but I could be seeing things), but the star is... um... who is that? Turns out she's the chick who won "X-Factor", a show that was so successful 2/3 of the cast was dumped for the second season. It's nice to give the winner the spotlight in a Super Bowl commercial, but to assume the entire Super Bowl watching public is going to know who the hell she is might be a little short-sighted. Coke's not rushing out to make a Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. commercial, you know?
Better commercial than their first one, focusing on the product (noting the different alcohol content), but still not adding much info. It's an interesting product that they're selling - a beer that has more alcohol than a traditional lager, yet less calories. Yet no mention of the calorie content in the ad. Guess they're leaving it to you to figure out.
Contest winner ends up on a Super Bowl commercial - always a cool story. Song was done well. Not much product push or anything, but the commercial is more of an end result of a bigger ad campaign done earlier. If Pizza Hut doesn't have anything new to sell (and they don't) but they want something during the Super Bowl, why not a contest winner?
Rocky theme always gives me chills. Good spot, although the irony isn't lost on me that an icon so often viewed as "American" (although he didn't really start fighting "for America" until Rocky IV - he just beat up black people) is being used for a Korean car company. U-S-A! U-S-A!
Hey, look! It's Sasha Baron Cohen doing Sasha Baron Cohen things! Admittedly, the track & field event scene made me laugh, but I don't think you're going to break new ground in viewership. If anything, I wasn't sure if it was an Adam Sandler movie at first, so I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
WINNER: M&M's: Just My Shell, Audi: Vampire (tie)
LOSER: GoDaddy.com: Body Painting