Madison Avenue had its own Super Bowl yesterday. In a twist on the usual bathroom and beer runs during breaks, Super Bowl viewers often stay glued to their lazy boys to catch the sometimes wacky, sometimes moving ads. A lot of money is at stake, both for companies and the networks. Yesterday, we saw why ads in the the first half are a lot more expensive. A blowout means lots of people turning off the game. I must admit, while the score was a blowout, I hung in there, expecting the Manning magic that never materialized. I suspect others did the same. I thought the ads were on the whole a bit weak. No ETrade baby, which was disappointment. My favorite ad was the Scarlet Johansson Sodastream spot. She was amazing, but I remembered what the product was, which is kind of important. They didn't need the annoying voiceover at the end though. I am sick of the ads that are supposed to give you a warm feeling about America, how damn wonderful we are, etc. The two worst were the stupid Cheerios spot with the fake biracial family thrown in for some unknown reason and the Coke ad with the tired "look at how diverse we are" hokum. Lame. Another ad in that category was actually pretty damn moving, the Chrysler ad. Unfortunately, it did nothing to convince me why I should let them build the cars. If other countries are so much better at everything else, isn't it likely they would also build better cars? Three other car ads caught my attention. Four actually, but the Ford ads because they were so monumentally insipid. There is edgy and funny, then there is trying too hard. Ford was the latter. The ad for Maserati in the first quarter was great, although too long and kind of off topic. I certainly had no idea what they were going to be plugging , and in the end I was kind of wondering what it had to do with a car company. Do you want to buy a car that apparently has to sneak around? Great production values and script ,etc, but did it make me want to rush out and buy a Ghibli? No. The Jaguar ad was weird. I had never really thought that Brits only played bad guy or spy roles. Hello, Sherlock Holmes, Downton Abbey, etc. If the intent was to make you think that Jags give you bad boy cred, I wasn't buying it. Again, trying too hard, which is ironically something Brits find offputting. The best of the car ads was the Kia Matrix takeoff. It did seem to me you are basically writing off anyone who is not into the Matrix thing, but whatever, I liked it. My second favorite ad may have been a car ad too, but I forgot the product they were pushing, whch seems a real problem with these complicated spots. It was the ad where they bred the two dogs and ended up with a hideous mix of a tiny dog with an enormous doberman's head and disposition. The message was they didn't like compromises either, but I forgot who it was that didn't like it, so the ad pretty much was a waste of money. The best part was how Fox kept slipping in ever long previews for 24. The first couple you didn't even know what it was, then you were like, wait a minute, then by the end, i was ready to strap on a glock and body armor and kick some fucking butt with Jack. Jack is back, rested, healed up and ready to do what he does best. The ever-scowling Chloe too. Get that DVR ready.
I just saw this ad. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...per-bowl-commercial-was-this-local-georgia-ad Freaking unreal.
I forgot the Tebow series of ads. I thought hey were pretty good, funny but on message. Well done TMobile. Also, I loved the Radio Shack ad where the "80's" called and wanted their stuff back, then a parade of 80's icons pours into the store. Not sure if the younger crowd totally got it though.
I actually turned off my TV after about the first 10 seconds of the 3rd quarter, immediately after the Seattle kickoff return for the touchdown. I knew it was over. I thought Ford, in running two ads back to back, touting the Fusion Hybrid's nearly double gas mileage was quite effective and different. Overall, the ads didn't seem that great this year. Maybe they were better in the third and fourth quarters, but I wouldn't know. The best thing that FOX and the Broncos could have done was just say "it's over", then brought McCartney down out of the press box with his guitar to do a few numbers. At least it would have provided some true entertainment after the football / Bruno Mars fiascoes.
Apparently the Coke multicultural ad, which featured a bunch of foreign looking people singing the Amercia the Beautiful in their native languages, created a huge backlash. http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/02...ultilingual-singing-of-america-the-beautiful/
I had to watch that ad 15-20 times to finally soften my opinion and the verdict is still out. If Coke is attempting to reach out to this countries diverse ethnicity, fine. Usually the subject matter isn't so controversial nor does it run the risk of offending other sectors within it's own consumer base. Why spend the ad dollars picking up new customers only lose others in the process ..... Coke's think tank failed this time, the backlash was predictable...... "America the Beautiful" Really? IMHO, it's another corporate sellout pushing the "agenda". Anymore I can't tell who controls whom. Does Government control Corporate America, or Corporate America control the Government, by all appearances it's been bought and paid for. The urinal scene in the VW ad "Wings" had me laughing.
Brother Wallet, allow me to offer some confirmation of your assumption... The whores in DC control EVERYTHING in the USA, UNTIL they get paid enough money.
Me too, although it seemed , what shall I say, out of place in an ad where VW engineers become angels. Actually, I found the ad kind of offensive as a Christian. The coke ad was just stupid. Lot of foreigners watching american football? This is what happens when you have out of touch liberals running your company and marketing. Anyway, it's useful to know that this is the kind of thing that is so important to Coke they would blow a Superbowl ad pushing it.,
Doubtful. They base their deeply held principles on what the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and idiot consultants tell them.