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pretty timid Super Bowl Advertisers were nervous about pushing limits Feb 9, 2010
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being outstanding, how would you rank this year's ads compared to years past and why? Well, if 10 is the best year for Super Bowl commercials, this one would rate a 2 or 3. The “why” is a tough call, but my guess is it’s the economy. It’s created a “play it safe” attitude: Advertisers being afraid of doing anything “risky” that gets someone protesting–as the GM ad with the robot committing suicide a couple of years ago–and ad agencies offering conservative thinking because of the risk of losing business over the same potential problem. The only other reason I can think of is the industry has gotten lazy or full of itself and thinks the work is better than it is. What made the Snickers ad stand out to viewers? The Snickers commercial stood out because it took some chances. What I mean is it risked offending someone. It was very evident that advertisers, on the whole, were playing it safe this year. Betty White played an octogenarian playing a pick-up football game with some guys. She gets body slammed into a mud puddle. She offers a pithy insult about another player’s girlfriend with a sexual innuendo. I’m sure there will be complaints, but the fact is Snickers told a funny story that anyone could understand while expertly weaving their product’s benefit into the story. It was my favorite spot in a dismal overall showing. What ads were the biggest surprises in the top 10? Why? The big surprise this year was that there were no big surprise commercials this year. I expected one or two. Nada. Everyone played it very close to the vest. The winner this year was a good commercial, but creatively it wasn’t a game-changer. In the golden days of Super Bowl commercials it might be in the top 10, but maybe not. What sort of themes did viewers seem to be responding to this year? Stories. The Snickers commercial, the Bud spots, and Doritos, to name a few, were like bite size sitcoms with story lines. They all did pretty well in our Adbowl ranking. Bud Light is usually a top contender for best ad, but this year its spots did not seem to resonate. Why not? I guess because they weren’t very funny. What was the reaction to the controversial Focus on the Family advertisement? Did it live up to all the pregame buzz? Why or why not? The spot was invisible and didn't stand out amongst the night's ads, but it did its job with all the pregame buzz it got. People definitely talked about it leading up to the game. Which ads were the least popular with viewers? Why? The bottom of the barrel, according to Adbowl voters, was the Skechers spot. Next, Round UP. Then Bud’s Select 55. What they have in common is they felt like the same effort you get on daytime television commercials. They weren’t about entertaining the audience, they were about communicating data. I watched the game at a friend’s house who has a DVR. Keeping his hand off the fast-forward button during these commercials was difficult. The Google ad was a bit of a surprise, it did not get a lot of pregame publicity and it had been running on YouTube for a couple months. But it's getting a lot of kudos for its creative. Why did it work? Google did a commercial that treats the audience with respect, as if they might be intelligent. Obviously they were right. People got the idea and Google made our top five. It was one of my favorites this year, too. What did you think of the Letterman-Leno ad? Why do you think Leno agreed to do it? Another invisible ad. I'm thinking Leno did it for the money.
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