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Silestone and Diana Pearl are not exactly household names. And Dennis Rodman slurred his line. It sounded like "Dinah Pearl, rather than, "Diana Pearl." I'm sure
director or writer got dissed when they said, "Uh, Worm... it's 'Di-A- na'."
"Sure. Dinah."
As a side note, why were only Chicago Bears in it until Dennis Rodman at end? No Scottie Pippen or Slammin’ Sammy?
On to good 'uns...
Winners:
This year, game was nearly as good as ads, as there were a surprisingly good number of breaking spots. Leading pack was Career Builder, FedEx, Mastercard, and Anheuser-Busch.
FedEx likes to make ads relating to advertising on advertising's biggest stage. They did it again - patching together 10 "tried and true" Super bowl ad conventions to great results.
Career Builder put a great spin on a stale category with best work since Monster's "I Wanna Be..." [a brown noser, forced into retirement, etc.] from '98. Three ads featuring a hapless chump working for chimps managed to put their name into mind share largely dominated by two others.
MasterCard got a bunch of animated branded food icons together for a meal and a nice touch of nostalgia. Ad fans and agency folks dug this one.
A-B hit emotional hot buttons with a near-public service ad saluting troops retuning home. Yes, they were real military - not actors. Their uniforms just did not have any insignias, so common soldier would be represented. For their light beer category, ad with head on wall and designated driver spot were best for Bud Light.
Pepsi’s second year of an iTunes promotion kicked off well. They ran a humorous spot featuring people opening winning bottles for a free song. When bottles were opened, a song reflecting drinker’s taste in music would play. Although spot was humorous and worked, Pepsi could’ve really hit a home run by involving older “authority figure” more into ad. But, keeping with brand tradition, they kept focus young.
AmeriQuest had two entertaining spots revolving around themes of misunderstanding and jumping to conclusions. Their message was, “We don’t prejudge.” The ad featuring spaghetti sauce, a cat, and knife will certainly make some ‘Best Of” reels this year.
Decent work also included Honda's new pickup/SUV product introduction. Good detail with benefit highlights. Left "Honda" out until end. Cadillac and Volvo had solid ads. Volvo should have bought another ad, if not two, as many people missed early run. The audience also may have missed details on their unique contest. But they did follow up with some net portal ads day after. Ford's F-150 Biker spot was OK. Their line that "it makes YOU tough," really undercut effectiveness.
John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his web site http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and in-house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a business is its brand.
