Feb/100
The Ads of Super Bowl XLIV (Who Cares About Football, Anyway?)
I won't try to presume you're a Colts or Saints fan, and I won't even presume that you know that those are football teams. That Super Bowl XLIV is this Sunday may be news to you. I can be reasonably assured, however, that at some point you will watch a Super Bowl ad on YouTube. In an age of partisanship and global conflict, YouTube, the great cultural leveler, has united the masses over adorable cat videos and embarrassing local news segments. And creative advertising and commercials rank right below bloopers, clips of pets, and Lady GaGa music videos in terms of popularity.
The Super Bowl is a fantastic opportunity for advertisers to showcase their creativity. With millions of viewers, expectations are high. And some of the past decades most memorable commercials have first aired during the Super Bowl (see: Waaaasssuuuuupp). So what can we expect for this year?
Photo by volov via Pixmac.com
As always, there will be beer commercial upon beer commercial. The site I4U News reports that Anheuser-Busch InBev, the owner of Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois, and basically every other beer that you drink, is this year's biggest Super Bowl advertiser with five total minutes of ads (which cost the brewery $30 million, no big deal).
And beyond the expected focus on brews, this year's selection of ads has been surprisingly political. Focus on the Family, an evangelical church organization, will show a pro-life ad that features Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother -- a development that has been made more controversial by CBS' rejection of an ad for ManCrunch, a gay dating website.
If you want a run-down of all the ads, the content, and the agencies responsible, check out AdWeek's comprehensive Super Bowl XLIV Commercial Players Chart.
Having taken on the totally arduous task of watching most of this year's Super Bowl ads (it's a hard job, but someone has to do it), I have a few favorites:
This ad for the Kia Sorento features a lovable cast of characters (including Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba!) getting crunk and crazy. The robot doing the robot is sublime.
And E-Trade is bringing back their popular baby ads, featuring the same wise-cracking, financial geniuses as before. Note how the animation has improved! My love for these ads is inspired by my dad, who never fails to get the giggles when they come on TV.
So what appeals to me in an advertisement? Obviously it has to be funny, preferably in a slightly weird or quirky way, and ads that are visually unique can usually catch my eye. I like when ads buck the stereotypes: I don't have much patience for beer ads that feature the well-worn trifecta of slightly fugly dude + attractive woman + physical comedy. What about you? Is there an advertising archetype that never fails to grab your attention?
Image via the Adages blog
Let's not forget, however, the traditional print medium. Ken Wheaton of Advertising Age's blog Adages had declared this print ad to be "the best Super Bowl related ad ever" -- a declaration that may or may not be related to his home-state bias. Even so, there's no denying the power of this Tobasco ad. It skillfully acknowledges the city's painful past without being emotionally exploitative, and in doing so is ultimately hopeful. And the ad does what I imagine most advertisers hope to do -- it incorporates the brand into reality without being overbearing. Speaking personally, I have very little stake in who wins the Super Bowl this Sunday, so it's a testament to the power of advertising in general that I may find myself rooting for the Saints.
I hope I haven't offended any die-hard Colts fans out there. If I have - retaliate! Hit me with your best shot, and by best shot I mean most convincing advertising scheme related to Indianapolis. And if you couldn't care less about the game itself and all of its physical displays of masculinity, what's your favorite Super Bowl ad? Any awesome ones I've missed?
