Super Bowl commercials

[rthomas]

I can't believe Dylan's ad for Chrysler. Never saw that coming.

[wilson]

I can't believe Dylan's ad for Chrysler. Never saw that coming.

You didn't hear? Utter repudiation of one's own lifelong philosophical heritage, along with completely unintelligible live performances, is really in these days.

[DUKIECB]

Thought the commercials overall were mostly forgettable. I don't know, maybe the game was such a buzz kill it affected my opinion of the ads.

Some of the standouts for me were the Doritos time machine and the Doritos with the little kid cowboy riding the St. Bernard. Both were pretty funny.

The Budweiser ad with the puppy and the Clydesdales was cute but I'm not sure why it supposed to make people want to buy beer.

The Coke ad with America the Beautiful being sung in different languages was a bold move I thought. It will be interesting to see how it was received.

I kind of liked the Volkswagen ad where the engineers got their wings every time a VW reached 100,000 miles.

The Bud Light deal with the guy having the night of his life was stupid.

Oh, one other I thought was better than average was the 80's Radio Shack spot.

[blazindw]

The Coke ad with America the Beautiful being sung in different languages was a bold move I thought. It will be interesting to see how it was received.

Some people did not take it well. Warning: NSFW, language.

[wilson]

I'm a huge Muppets fan, and I'm particularly partial to a number of the more obscure Muppets, most notably Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. So imagine my delight at seeing (amid a great deal of overall Muppety Super Bowl goodness) the whole band in a Toyota.

My one quibble: Whoever is currently doing the voice of Janice (the blonde hippie chick on lead guitar and vocals) is not in line with the original voice and needs practice.

[77devil]

The Budweiser ad with the puppy and the Clydesdales was cute but I'm not sure why it supposed to make people want to buy beer.

The Clydesdales are among the most popular and effective Super Bowl ads year in and year out, and most everyone love puppies. Believe me, AB has the data.

Oh, one other I thought was better than average was the 80's Radio Shack spot.

I thought this ad was very effective. The largest target demographic for Super Bowl adds is 45-49 years old. They could relate to all the 80s characters. This add showed self awareness like the Domino's ads in the past which proved effective.

[OldPhiKap]

Weakest. Group. Ever.

[Reisen]

Thought the commercials overall were mostly forgettable. I don't know, maybe the game was such a buzz kill it affected my opinion of the ads.

Some of the standouts for me were the Doritos time machine and the Doritos with the little kid cowboy riding the St. Bernard. Both were pretty funny.

The Budweiser ad with the puppy and the Clydesdales was cute but I'm not sure why it supposed to make people want to buy beer.

The Coke ad with America the Beautiful being sung in different languages was a bold move I thought. It will be interesting to see how it was received.

I kind of liked the Volkswagen ad where the engineers got their wings every time a VW reached 100,000 miles.

The Bud Light deal with the guy having the night of his life was stupid.

Oh, one other I thought was better than average was the 80's Radio Shack spot.

I agree wholeheartedly. In general, this was probably the worst batch of super bowl commercials I've seen.

The VW ad with wings was good, as was the Radio Shack ad. Maybe one or two others. The truck ad with the cancer "road to recovery" was bold. I thought the Esurance ad right after the game was ok. A lot were really, really bad though.

The best "SuperBowl Ad" was not really a SuperBowl Ad: Newcastle's http://www.ifwemadeit.com/

My favorites are the Anna Kendrick interview, and the focus group.

[Mal]

In general, this was probably the worst batch of super bowl commercials I've seen.

I feel like half the audience says this every year now. Are our expectations just too high, or is it really the case that the creative has fallen consistently from some previous highwater mark? I favor the former explanation. Everything's leaked in advance, and we've been made to expect transcendance and forget that 90% of the ads back in whatever glory days we imagine were also forgettable, stupid, or overwrought.

You know what I say every year, though? Broken record alert. It's how much I loathe the Budweiser clydesdale ads. No, I'm apparently not human. Yes, cute puppies are cute. No kidding. That's some real craftsmanship, to get people to go "Awwwww!" at cute puppies and anthropomorphized horses. Not.

I liked the multilingual Coke ad, but within 5 seconds said "uh, oh. Certain demographics are going to be calling for a boycott of that most unAmerican of companies, Coca Cola, tomorrow."

Seinfeld was pretty funny. I miss that show. I liked the bit about "You availed yourself of their master bathroom!" I also liked the Radio Shack, Doritos time machine, and VW spots. Hated the Maserati ad, appropriating a film about scrappy rural poor people to sell a product that perhaps .5% of the population could ever even dream of purchasing.

[Reilly]

... I loathe the Budweiser clydesdale ads ...

This year's was not believeable. The Clydesdales in the past have shown a certain decorum, and they seem pretty by-the-book (remember how their pick-up football games even had refs?). And they work for a large corporation. I don't think they'd affect the stream of (puppy mill) commerce by stopping the sale the way they did, or that they'd generally cotton to the trespassing, escaping pup, either. Hopefully next year the ad makers will go back to showing them in their true light.

[DukieInKansas]

I feel like half the audience says this every year now. Are our expectations just too high, or is it really the case that the creative has fallen consistently from some previous highwater mark? I favor the former explanation. Everything's leaked in advance, and we've been made to expect transcendance and forget that 90% of the ads back in whatever glory days we imagine were also forgettable, stupid, or overwrought.

You know what I say every year, though? Broken record alert. It's how much I loathe the Budweiser clydesdale ads. No, I'm apparently not human. Yes, cute puppies are cute. No kidding. That's some real craftsmanship, to get people to go "Awwwww!" at cute puppies and anthropomorphized horses. Not.

I liked the multilingual Coke ad, but within 5 seconds said "uh, oh. Certain demographics are going to be calling for a boycott of that most unAmerican of companies, Coca Cola, tomorrow."

Seinfeld was pretty funny. I miss that show. I liked the bit about "You availed yourself of their master bathroom!" I also liked the Radio Shack, Doritos time machine, and VW spots. Hated the Maserati ad, appropriating a film about scrappy rural poor people to sell a product that perhaps .5% of the population could ever even dream of purchasing.

This! I think expectations are too high. The advance showing of the ads also detracts from them.

However, I do like puppies and the Clydesdales. The VW spot - especially the line about blowing rainbows out their butts - made me laugh. I went like, oh oh, like on the Coke commercial. We are a nation of immigrants so I liked seeing all the different backgrounds being shown across the country.

As someone pointed out on twitter - at least it was an add for the "cheap" Maserati.

[DukieInKansas]

This year's was not believeable. The Clydesdales in the past have shown a certain decorum, and they seem pretty by-the-book (remember how their pick-up football games even had refs?). And they work for a large corporation. I don't think they'd affect the stream of (puppy mill) commerce by stopping the sale the way they did, or that they'd generally cotton to the trespassing, escaping pup, either. Hopefully next year the ad makers will go back to showing them in their true light.

I didn't see it as a puppy mill. I liked the unlikely friends aspect of the commercial and the horses not letting someone take the puppy. I must be a rebel at heart.

[Reisen]

I feel like half the audience says this every year now. Are our expectations just too high, or is it really the case that the creative has fallen consistently from some previous highwater mark? I favor the former explanation. Everything's leaked in advance, and we've been made to expect transcendance and forget that 90% of the ads back in whatever glory days we imagine were also forgettable, stupid, or overwrought.

You know what I say every year, though? Broken record alert. It's how much I loathe the Budweiser clydesdale ads. No, I'm apparently not human. Yes, cute puppies are cute. No kidding. That's some real craftsmanship, to get people to go "Awwwww!" at cute puppies and anthropomorphized horses. Not.

I liked the multilingual Coke ad, but within 5 seconds said "uh, oh. Certain demographics are going to be calling for a boycott of that most unAmerican of companies, Coca Cola, tomorrow."

Seinfeld was pretty funny. I miss that show. I liked the bit about "You availed yourself of their master bathroom!" I also liked the Radio Shack, Doritos time machine, and VW spots. Hated the Maserati ad, appropriating a film about scrappy rural poor people to sell a product that perhaps .5% of the population could ever even dream of purchasing.

I kind of get that. I certainly don't feel like I say or think that every year, but someone will probably dig up an old post of mine from 2008 or something where I claimed the same thing (certainly possible)!

I definitely forgot the Doritos time machine ad, which was very good.

[devildeac]

The Clydesdales are among the most popular and effective Super Bowl ads year in and year out, and most everyone love puppies. Believe me, AB has the data.



I thought this ad was very effective. The largest target demographic for Super Bowl adds is 45-49 years old. They could relate to all the 80s characters. This add showed self awareness like the Domino's ads in the past which proved effective.

I'm glad you included "most everone" before "loves puppies." Stangely, you forgot to mention Christmas and children. BTW, after Saturday, I think I'm back to "spoiling" Christmas again somehow. Maybe in 2-3 weeks at CIS? The decision is still pending about children however. What was that WC Fields quote again that OPK posted?

[Olympic Fan]

I see that the USA Today fan vote picked the Budweiser "Puppy Love" commercial No. 1.

Bud also made the top five with its patriotic homecoming commercial. Doritos had two ads in the top five -- the time machine and the kid riding the St. Bernard:

http://admeter.usatoday.com/story/sp.../?sf22359773=1

My favorite didn't make the list. Not sure it was really an 'ad' ... but Jerry Seinfeld's 90 second reunion spot to promote Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has been the most downloaded commercial from the Super Bowl (great appearance by Newman):

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/2/537...getting-coffee

I thought the Radio Shack ad was cute, but I'm always a little leery of commercials that admit, 'Okay, we've been lousy".

Worst commercial was the one I was most anticipating -- the Bud commercial where the guy gets picked up by an actress and meets a bunch of celebs. A terrible waste of a great idea.

I didn't see the Dylan spot ... I'm glad I didn't. Dylan sells out ... wow! That's a heartbreaker.

[77devil]

You know what I say every year, though? Broken record alert. It's how much I loathe the Budweiser clydesdale ads. No, I'm apparently not human. Yes, cute puppies are cute. No kidding. That's some real craftsmanship, to get people to go "Awwwww!" at cute puppies and anthropomorphized horses. Not.

This year's was not believeable. The Clydesdales in the past have shown a certain decorum, and they seem pretty by-the-book (remember how their pick-up football games even had refs?). And they work for a large corporation. I don't think they'd affect the stream of (puppy mill) commerce by stopping the sale the way they did, or that they'd generally cotton to the trespassing, escaping pup, either. Hopefully next year the ad makers will go back to showing them in their true light.

Don't worry. Neither of you are the target audience; not even close. That commercial will sell a ton of beer and the the fact that you didn't like it is totally irrelevant to AB. They know how sell.

"Puppy Love' wins 2014 Super Bowl Ad Meter"

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/2014/02/02/5174401/

[weezie]

I was surprised that Bob Dylan was clearly, verbally understandable and yes, I'm sure it was heavily edited. Thought it was pretty cool. When are they going to do one featuring blazindw and my own self?!

But still, everybody's been talking today about that great halftime show.

[Mal]

Don't worry. Neither of you are the target audience; not even close. That commercial will sell a ton of beer and the the fact that you didn't like it is totally irrelevant to AB. They know how sell.

"Puppy Love' wins 2014 Super Bowl Ad Meter"

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/2014/02/02/5174401/

Oh, no doubt they're not aiming at me. Just establishing my hipper than thou cred. I might not run away from their product so much if they weren't so unabashedly, aggressively middlebrow with their marketing, but that's a loss of one or two beers consumed per year for AB, when there are another 5 million new beer drinkers without brand loyalty imprinted on them yet to go after annually.

That being said, do those ads actually work with 18-24 year olds who haven't chosen a domestic lager to back yet, or just 40+ and kids? Do college students these days see them and say "What the h#$l do giant horses have to do with Budweiser?" other than in the sense of they run an ad with them every year during the Superbowl. At some point, will they need to refresh the recognition of the icon? Run one of those old ads where the beer sleigh is gliding around through the woods in the winter, just to re-establish it? I still remember the jingle, actually. The further they get from that, the more contrived it feels, so I wonder if you can float ever further from the original association and maintain effectiveness. I am not a marketing person. Obviously.

[Mal]

I didn't see the Dylan spot ... I'm glad I didn't. Dylan sells out ... wow! That's a heartbreaker.

Wait, Oly, was that sarcasm, or did you miss his Victoria's Secret ad from about a decade ago?

[Duvall]

You didn't hear? Utter repudiation of one's own lifelong philosophical heritage, along with completely unintelligible live performances, is really in these days.

I like Dylan, but I thought selling out was a key part of his lifelong philosophical heritage.