Superbowl-ads.com Article Archive

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6859306/

Advertisers say they’ll tone it down, but few offer any specifics

The Associated Press

NEW YORK – As in years past, many Super Bowl advertisers are guarding the secrecy of their 30-second spots with the zeal of a Kremlin intelligence operative. Even so, one thing seems certain: Gas-passing horses, crotch-biting animals and accidental bikini wax treatments will be nowhere in sight.

Just ask advertising executive Jeff Goodby, whose firm created the Budweiser spot last year in which a draft horse spoiled a romantic evening for a young couple riding in a hansom cab. “This year, I think most advertisers are going to be incredibly well-behaved,” he said.

That ad and others aired during last year’s game caused concern in some quarters that advertisers had gone too far in using ribald humor to grab the attention of the young, male audiences that marketers try so desperately hard to reach.

Goodby said advertisers are much more cautious this year.

“Everybody knows where the line is, and I don’t think it will be crossed,” he said. “It’s implicit in the process that you’re not going to get your client in trouble this year.”

Goodby’s San Francisco-based firm, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, is producing a spot for Emerald snack nuts that will be a far cry from the horse ad.

Unicorns and nuts

In it, a father tries to deflect a request from his daughter to share his Emerald nuts by saying that if he does, unicorns will disappear forever. A moment later, a unicorn strides into the living room and chides the nut-hoarding parent: “Ah, that’s not true, Jack.” Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny also chime in before Dad hands over the nuts.

Fox, which is broadcasting the Feb. 6 game, is asking $2.4 million for each half-minute ad this year, up slightly from last year’s $2.3 million rate. Fox said it has sold about 95 percent of the ad space this year.

Most advertisers are keeping their spots under lock and key, hoping to create a sense of anticipation and mystery. That tactic worked wonders a generation ago for Apple Computer Inc., when it introduced the Macintosh computer during the 1984 Super Bowl with an iconic ad featuring a runner hurling a sledge hammer against a giant image of Big Brother.

Bud, Volvo keep mum

Anheuser-Busch, which again will be a top Super Bowl advertiser, purchased 10 of the 30-second commercial spots, but isn’t saying what it plans to do. It also will have what’s known as “category exclusivity,” meaning that competing ads from Coors, Miller and other beer makers will be shut out.

Volvo, a first-time Super Bowl advertiser, will only say it put together a spot for its new V-8 sports utility vehicle.

“Right now, the (ad) is secret, so stay tuned,” said John Maloney, who handles advertising and marketing for Volvo Cars of North America. “First, part of being on the Super Bowl is the anticipation of what you’re going to see. Two, we have a particularly unique execution that, quite frankly, we don’t want anyone else to know what it is.”

Visa spokesman Michael Rolnick was equally tightlipped about his company’s spot, which will extoll the security features of Visa’s check card. Is the ad funny? “It is, and that’s all I can tell you right now,” Rolnick said.

Will ‘Net companies show up?

It’s also unclear whether there will be many ads from Internet companies, as in 1999 when a slew of upstart dot-coms merrily spent their IPO money on Super Bowl ads, only to go down the drain later.

Go Daddy Group Inc., a leading vendor of Internet domain names, will be making its Super Bowl debut. Founder Bob Parsons said his company expects to rake in $200 million this year, ensuring that if the ad for www.GoDaddy.com is “a complete whiff, we’re still fine.”

That still doesn’t mean he would let the cat out of the bag. "The ad will be different, something beyond what anyone has seen before, and beyond that I’m sworn to secrecy,” Parsons said.

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44297

40% of the Audience Was Female but Ads Skewed Heavily Male

QwikFIND ID: AAQ32E

By Martha Barletta and G. Mark Alarik

There was a time when $2.4 million was a lot of money. You didn’t spend that kind of coin without a pretty good reason to believe your advertising was going to create awareness, deliver a message or build your brand into a bond with your consumers.

Most of this year’s ads were mildly entertaining, innocuous and positioned as if female viewers didn’t exist.

Not any more, I guess. This year’s Super Bowl ads were … mystifying. In their eagerness to be both entertaining and innocuous, many of them missed the biggest opportunity of the year.

Ask yourself this — Who were they advertising to? Men, of course. After all, the Super Bowl is football, and football is a male-dominated audience, right?

Buying decisions Well, the truth is, more than 40% of the Super Bowl viewer audience is women — in total more women than the runner-up big event, the Academy Awards. And it’s an established fact that women make most of the buying decisions in most of the categories advertised on the Super Bowl (beer and trucks being the most notable exceptions).

Which gives us a question even more mystifying than some of the ads themselves: Why aren’t Super Bowl advertisers trying to connect with women?

Some car companies are starting to get it. Women buy 60% of new cars, and of the eight car brands advertised on the Super Bowl, three — Saturn, Lexus and Prius — ran ads that resonated well with women. All showed people; Saturn and Lexus showed genuine family moments, and the Prius concept is founded on a principle women generally care about more than men — the environment.

Speeding past women But of the other five, the Cadillac V-Series, Nissan and Volvo all platformed on the conventional “faster than a speeding bullet/rocket” story — and all languished in the

Was Dennis Rodman the most effective way to speak to women about Silestone countertop products? Watch the spot on the ‘TV Spots of the Week’ Video Page. conventional men’s world of faster, stronger, cooler. And Cadillac even went so far as to show a father who seems to care more about his XLR than his daughter’s future. Probably not the best way to connect with women.

Some of the more popular commercials, according to a few informal surveys, were the “Don’t judge” spots from AmeriQuest. But many viewers lost the tie-in to mortgages, and brand awareness suffered. And the opportunity to connect with women who are often “judged” by financial advisors as inconsequential to the decision process was completely missed.

Dennis Rodman? Honda knows that most trucks are bought by men, and expertly directed its ad toward that segment, with the Ridgeline conquering mountaintops as the voice-over talks about horsepower and integrated frames. But what ever made Silestone think that the best way to speak to its obviously female-dominated market was to use three retired Chicago football players and ending with Dennis Rodman in a tub?

Seventy percent of new businesses are started by women. But FedEx/Kinko’s chose to ignore this obvious market for its product. In fact, the marketer chose to ignore its product altogether, making the advertisement itself the reason for the advertisement. Here’s a company that can be an incredible multitasking resource for these new-business owners, and what is their message? Optional.

It has become de rigueur that a Super Bowl ad be entertaining. An ad without the humor, ingenuity or poignancy that viewers have come to expect is not only ineffective, but potentially damaging. But dancing bears and rugby-playing Gladys Nights just aren’t enough. The Super Bowl gives access to the largest number of members from the most significant market segment there is — women. And the advertiser who can speak to that audience and still entertain will truly have gotten their money’s worth.

Martha Barletta, is the author of Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach and Increase Your Share of the World’s Largest Market Segment.

G. Mark Alarik is the head of client strategies at Michelson Direct Advertising in Chicago.

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44310

Marketers Are Trying to Hard to Be Entertainers and It Shows

QwikFIND ID: AAQ32R By Rance Crain

It’s time the Super Bowl ad parade stopped being a popularity contest.

Our own Bob Garfield lamented that “smart-minded idiots” polluted the environment by censoring Super Bowl commercials “for their own craven political ends.”

Rance Crain, editor in chief, ‘Advertising Age’

Our rather alarmist headline said that “fear” stalked the Super Bowl ad process.

Another explanation May I humbly offer another explanation as to why the ads were less than scintillating this year (although some ad critics, notably Stuart Elliott of The New York Times, opined that the commercials were “markedly better” than typical spots from previous years)?

Some of last year’s crop of ads over-reached by catering to the lowest level of frat-boy humor — flatulence and crotch-biting set the theme. I looked it up, and Bob wasn’t impressed. He wrote: “Pay attention, the ads shouted, PAY ATTENTION TO ME!

“But notwithstanding the annual hype and grandiose posturing, the advertisers offered nothing for the annals, little will be remembered beyond Groundhog Day and lots of just what you’d expect,” Bob said in last year’s column.

Tried to raise standards? So could it be, dear readers, that Super Bowl advertisers tried to raise the artistic standards of their commercials to a higher level, spurred on by critics like Bob and not so much by the “small-minded idiots” that seek to impose their smut-free views on the rest of us?

That they fell woefully short of the mark shouldn’t be blamed on self- or any other kind of censorship. It should be blamed on their own inability to be hip and witty and funny and clever year after year. They are trying too hard, and it shows.

USA Today’s ad-meter ratings are more than a little culpable. With visions of all that free publicity dancing in their heads, advertisers are encouraged to devise ads that score high on the likability scale. In case you haven’t read the fine print, USA Today says the ad-meter process electronically charts the second-by-second reactions to the Super Bowl ads of 289 volunteers, who registered on handheld meters how much they liked the ads. Not how much the ads persuaded them to buy the product, mind you, but how much they were entertained.

Everyone likes chimps Is it any wonder that “four smart-alecky chimpanzees” were the stars of the show, based on pure likability? The advertiser, CareerBuilder.com, is so giddy with the results that it is putting more chimps in a new ad to run on the Academy Awards.

Honda’s Ridgeline truck commercial.

The ranking for Honda’s first U.S. pickup truck, Ridgeline, was at the bottom of the list. For my money, it was the most effective commercial in the Super Bowl, showing the new truck sure-footedly navigating a mountain ridge. The tagline: “Above all, it’s a Honda.” Great stuff.

Honda’s money well-spent
Honda so far doesn’t have a whole lot of evidence that the Ridgeline commercials were successful, but I would argue it was a better use of ad dollars than the Anheuser-Busch spot showing a pilot jumping out of an airplane without a parachute in pursuit of a six-pack of Bud Light (which ranked No. 1 in USA Today’s ratings).

But, then again, buying a truck is serious business and buying beer isn’t. At the very least advertisers that use their Super Bowl time to concentrate on good old-fashioned selling can avoid the morality mood swings that embroil us every few years.

Press Release Source: Clickin Research, Inc.

AUSTIN, Texas /PRNewswire/ — Super Bowl commercials must compete with the drama of the game. In Super Bowl XXXIX the battle for victory, as well as the production value of the pre-game and half-time game show, proved tough competition. Number 81 Eagle Terrell Owens, recovering from major surgery, showed both his heart and skill; a coach who has known the agony of defeat now leads a New England “dynasty”; Sir Paul McCartney provided unforgettable musicianship — while fully clothed; and the show started with a rendition of the national anthem by visually impaired children so incredible that it brought tears to the eyes of more than 80 million viewers.

The competition between the game and the commercials was hard fought until the last seconds, keeping the audience securely in front of the screen. And they paid attention to some of the spots — but not all. “The teams and the franchise were the clear winners,” said Dr. Martha Russell, president of Clickin Research, “coming away with the most significant increases in familiarity and likeability — two very important measures of advertising effectiveness.”

Clickin Research, an Austin Texas based market research company, announced the results today of its study of Super Bowl XXXIX television commercials. This is the sixth year of Clickin’s unique pre and post game Super Bowl ad survey measurements. In a well-designed examination of viewer’s responses to Super Bowl advertising, more than 300 of Clickin’s Cyberleague(TM) Panelists gave their opinions prior to the Super Bowl and then immediately after the broadcast, providing analysts with a unique matched sample and good estimates of how Super Bowl ads affect brand familiarity and likeability.

Ad winners in the Clickin survey — those brands showing increased familiarity and likeability — included financial services, foods, and new auto models. Losers (i.e., those showing no change in pre and post game measurements) were generally all well-known products and brands. Several spots proved to be particularly effective in gaining audience attention and increasing brand likeability. Emerald Nuts, for example, initially showed a low level of familiarity and likeability; however, in the post game survey the brand showed significant increases in both familiarity and likeability.

GoDaddy.com had the courage to defy both the recommendations of the NFL Super Bowl committees and the trend in network TV towards conservative censorship (although Fox pulled the second showing of the ad). The viewing audience liked the commercial’s sexy casting and gave the brand the highest increase in brand familiarity and brand likeability.

Further analysis of the data is underway, and a more detailed description of the Super Bowl XXXIX ad survey’s results will be available at http://www.clickinresearch.com . Clickin Research has been conducting research on the Internet using its Cyberleague(TM) Panel for more than ten years.

For additional information call Dr. Martha Russell at 512.236.9161 x.11 or email her at mrussell@clickinresearch.com .

Source: Clickin Research, Inc.

Press Release

Late-Breaking Data Reveal Major Traffic Spikes at Advertiser Sites

RESTON, Va., comScore Networks today released an analysis of the online impact of Super Bowl XXXIX.

In 2005, consumers came to expect that many Super Bowl commercials will deliver a call to online action, whether to learn more about an intriguing product, enter a sweepstakes or make sense of a purposefully vague advertisement.’

According to a comScore survey conducted in the week preceding the Super Bowl,* viewers were well prepared for advertisements both on television and on the Web.’ Fully 28 percent of those planning to watch the Super Bowl reported that ‘watching the ads’ would be their favorite aspect of the game, and 77 percent of respondents reported that they expected to use the Internet on game day.

Budweiser.com Was This Year’s Top Gaining Advertiser Site

When asked to select which three brand advertisements they most look forward to seeing, 80 percent of survey respondents chose Budweiser/Bud Light.’ The brewer did not disappoint, based upon online activity; this year’s top gaining advertiser Web site was Budweiser.com, which saw traffic increase by almost 600 percent on Super Bowl Sunday compared to the average of the four previous Sundays.’ Moreover, the site was up significantly for much of the week leading up to the Super Bowl as users visited in search of an ad spoofing Janet Jackson’s ‘wardrobe malfunction,’ which Budweiser reportedly pulled from its Super Bowl lineup.

An undoubtedly controversial ad by Web services company GoDaddy.com drove traffic to that site 378 percent above average, while technophiles and others seeking more information about the Olympus m:robe portable media player turned up traffic volume at OlympusAmerica.com by 363 percent.

Apple iTunes saw a more than 170-percent jump in site traffic driven largely by the second annual Pepsi promotion offering the chance to win free songs through the pay-per-download music service; Napster, which advertised for the first time as a rival to iTunes, posted a greater than 30-percent increase on Super Bowl Sunday.’ A commercial promoting the Cadillac V-Series throttled traffic to Cadillac.com 171 percent above average, while a pair of advertisements for Ameriquest Mortgage Company, in addition to sponsorship of the Super Bowl halftime show, nearly doubled activity at the lender’s Web site.

Top Gaining Advertiser Web Sites

Super Bowl Sunday Compared to the Average of the Four Previous Sundays

Total U.S. Home, Work, and University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

% Change

BUDWEISER.COM

594%

GODADDY.COM

378%

OLYMPUSAMERICA.COM

363%

Apple iTunes

172%

CADILLAC.COM

171%

AMERIQUESTMORTGAGE.COM

98%

Subway

97%

PIZZAHUT.COM

91%

PHILADELPHIAEAGLES.COM

89%

“‘

Traffic Spikes Correlated to Time of TV Advertisement

With PCs within the reach of many Super Bowl viewers during the game, traffic spiked dramatically at the Web sites of several game sponsors within minutes of their commercials’ airtime.’ comScore analyzed traffic levels to major advertisers’ sites in 30-minute periods throughout the day compared to the average half hour, and discovered that:

‘ Traffic at Cadillac’s Web site shot up by more than 1,700 percent after the company first ran its commercials advertising the high-performance V-Series and directing viewers to CadillacUnder5.com.’ When the commercial ran again in the second half of the game, traffic soared by almost 500 percent.

‘ The number of visitors to GoDaddy.com grew by as much as 1,600 percent compared to the daily average, following a somewhat risqu’ commercial that satirized government indecency hearings.

‘ Although iTunes turned in stronger growth than Napster for the full day, both sites increased visitor levels by almost 300 percent above the 30-minute average following their respective commercials.’ This year, traffic at iTunes peaked just after the advertisement featuring the Pepsi-iTunes promotion, unlike last year when more visitors waited until halftime to explore the iTunes site.

‘ With clever commercials but perhaps less of a call to action, Ameriquest Mortgage did not see any noticeable spikes immediately after the airing of its commercials; however, during the halftime show sponsored by the company, the audience at AmeriquestMortgage.com jumped 700 percent.

‘ Honda.com saw increases of more than 300 percent after the airing of each of two ads for the Ridgeline, the automaker’s first-ever pickup truck.

Note:’ Unless otherwise noted, comparisons reflect increases in site visitors for the 30-minute period spanning each brand’s television advertisements versus average traffic in all 30-minute time blocks on game day.

Sports Sites Score as Fans Follow Along Online

With a wealth of information beyond the TV broadcast about teams, players and plays, sports sites saw expected gains on Super Bowl Sunday.’ Compared to the four previous Sundays, the sites of the Super Bowl XXXIX competitors saw the biggest gains, with the Patriots coming out on top (230 percent to 89 percent), just as they did in the game itself.

Not surprisingly, official site SuperBowl.com saw a significant increase of 88 percent on game day.’ NFLShop.com gained 45 percent on Super Bowl Sunday, as Americans flocked to the sites to buy Super Bowl merchandise.’ Finally, buoyed by FOX’s coverage of the game and constant references to the Web site in the in-game ticker, FOX Sports on MSN saw a 38-percent visitation increase, while the sports entities of major Web properties such as Yahoo! and AOL also earned substantial gains.

Top Gaining Sports Sites

Super Bowl Sunday Compared to the Average of the Four Previous Sundays

Total U.S. ‘ Home, Work, and University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

% Change

NFL Internet Group

40%

NEWENGLANDPATRIOTS.COM

230%

PHILADELPHIAEAGLES.COM

89%

SUPERBOWL.COM

88%

NFLSHOP.COM

45%

FOX Sports on MSN

38%

Yahoo! Sports

35%

USATODAY Sports

29%

AOL Sports

26%

SI.COM

12%

‘We see continue to see advertisers growing more sophisticated in developing integrated campaigns that span different media,’ said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix. ‘The Super Bowl offers an ideal opportunity to pique interest via television, and follow through online where marketers can make more enduring connections with consumers.’

*Based on a comScoreQ2 survey of 1,530 U.S. participants in the comScore consumer panel, conducted January 28-31, 2005.’ A press release announcing the results of the survey is available at the following address:’ http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp‘press=554

About comScore Media Metrix

comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks, provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report ‘ with unmatched accuracy – details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe.’ comScore Media Metrix continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its Media Metrix syndicated Internet ratings – long recognized as the currency in online media measurement among financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers – while drawing upon comScore’s advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements.’ All comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore explicit permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its patent-pending technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes.’ comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI.’ comScore services are used by global leaders such as AOL, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Nestl’, Bank of America, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, GlaxoSmithKline and Orbitz.’ For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Contact: Graham Mudd comScore Networks (312) 775-6539 press@comscore.com

http://www.adjab.com/2005/02/08/super-bowl-commercial-adjab-reviews/

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=27035

by David Kaplan

DESPITE EFFORTS TO SCALE BACK tastelessness and sexuality surrounding the advertising and entertainment for Super Bowl XXXIX, TiVo users nevertheless prevailed when it came to commercials that pushed the envelope, as the DVR company reported that the few moments of ribaldry still drew the most enthusiastic viewing. In particular, the highest spike in commercial replay activity during the entire game was GoDaddy.com, which featured a fake “wardrobe malfunction.”

Still, in a win for decency, Paul McCartney’s half-time performance actually retained more viewers than the heavily promoted hip-hop half time from last year’s big game, with five percent more viewers overall.

The highest replayed moments of the game didn’t take place during a commercial or during the game, but rather when a phone number was displayed on screen that viewers could use to cast their own votes for the Super Bowl MVP.

And while the final ratings haven’t arrived from Nielsen yet, Fox Broadcasting is claiming that Super Bowl XXXIX, the post-game show, and “The Simpsons” all combined to give the network its highest-rated night ever in total viewers. Further, the success of the Super Bowl will have substantially contributed to Fox’s weekly ratings overall, giving the network its highest-rated week ever as well, a Fox spokeswoman said.

Super Bowl XXXIX garnered a 33.2 rating among adults ages 18-49, with 86.1 million total viewers. “The Simpsons”–which followed the Super Bowl and post-game wrap-up–posted an 11.2 rating among adults ages 18-49, with 23.1 million total viewers, the most the show has had in 11 years.

TiVo Top Ten Super Bowl Commercials

1 – Emerald Nuts – Unicorn

2 – Anheuser Busch — Designated Driver

3 – GoDaddy.com — Censorship Hearing

4 – Diet Pepsi — Cindy Crawford Eye Catcher

5 – Ameriquest — Robbery

6 – Careerbuilder.com — Monkey Brown-Nosing

7 – Tabasco — Burn

8 – Fed Ex — Super Bowl Commercial Formula

9 – Paramount Pictures — War of the Worlds

10 – Anheuser Busch — Thank You to Troops

Source: TiVo.

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44273

Controversy Generates Wide Play of Spot Elsewhere
QwikFIND ID: AAQ31M
By Hoag Levins

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Although it passed muster enough to be accepted and played during the first quarter of the Super Bowl, the GoDaddy.com “Broadcast Hearing” commercial had so upset Fox and or NFL officials by the fourth quarter that they canceled a second scheduled airing of the ad.

GoDaddy’s spot was vetted and approved for airing in the first quarter but has lost favor within Fox by the fourth when its second scheduled airing was killed. Watch the spot on the ‘TV Spots of the Week’ Video Page.

‘Out of step’ And now, neither Fox nor the National Football League is talking about the incident beyond Fox’s terse statement, saying that midway through the game network officials realized that the ad’s content was “out of step with the tenor” of the event.

GoDaddy is a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company that manages and sells Internet domain names. It was, until last week, virtually unknown to all but a relatively small group of Internet users who employ its technical services.

Pregame rejection But that changed when the first version of its Super Bowl commercial, created by the Ad Store of New York, was initially rejected by Fox, generating pregame buzz about content too sexual and controversial to be used in the Super Bowl. The company and its agency altered the ad enough that it was finally accepted by Fox for airplay in the first and fourth quarters.

Set in a mock congressional committee hearing, the spot starred a young women whose very large breasts were constrained within a very skimpy camisole that suffered a near “wardrobe malfunction.” The story line was a satirical jab at the government’s recent moves to more tightly regulate TV and radio content that falls within the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission.

Replaced with another ad It’s ironic, then, that an ad criticizing the concept of TV content censorship was itself censored and killed from further play by Fox and replaced by another ad.

On his GoDaddy.com blog, company owner Bob Parsons wrote, “We immediately contacted Fox to find out what happened. Here’s what we were told: After our first ad was aired, the NFL became upset and they, together with Fox, decided to pull the ad from running a second time. Because we purchased two spots, we were also entitled to a ‘Brought to you by GoDaddy.com’ 5 second marquis spot. They also chose to pull the marquis spot.”

However, Mr. Parsons was not mourning the development. In the often upside down world of public relations and advertising, the cancellation of the ad turned out to be a major publicity coup for GoDaddy. In interviews with press outlets, Mr. Parsons crowed that “millions of people across the country who didn’t know we existed are now aware of GoDaddy.com.”

Because of the pregame and in-game controversy swirling around the GoDaddy commercial, it has been played on TV news networks across the country as well as on a wide range of blogs and Web sites, including AdAge.com.

Industry observers point out that GoDaddy.com, a company that came out of nowhere, has succeeded, in its own way, in being to this year’s Super Bowl what Janet Jackson was to last year’s.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0207godaddy-ad-ON.html

The Arizona Republic

A Scottsdale company’s Super Bowl ad that played off Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” was risque enough that the NFL and the Fox television network yanked after airing only once in Sunday’s broadcast.

The pulling of the GoDaddy.com ad proved ironic given that the commercial was a toned-down version of one that Fox Broadcasting Co. had rejected. The Scottsdale firm, an Internet domain name registrar, cleaned up the ad to qualify for prime-time viewing during football’s biggest event of the year.

But apparently not clean enough.

According to Bob Parsons, the president and founder of the GoDaddy.com, the NFL became upset after the commercial ran in the first half and “they, together with Fox, decided to pull the ad from running a second time.”

So instead of seeing the commercial during the two-minute warning in the Super Bowl’s second half, viewers saw a Fox promotion of its popular series, “The Simpsons.”

Parsons said his company was also robbed of a five-second “Brought to you by GoDaddy.com” mention during the game – a benefit for advertisers who buys two or more commercials. The ads cost $2.4 million for a 30-second spot.

GoDaddy’s ad shows a high-spirited young woman appearing before a mock censorship board. She’s explaining what she does in the ad when the strap on her tank top breaks. “Put that strap back on,” a committee member shouts.

It spoofed last year’s halftime show, during which pop star Janet Jackson’s right breast was partially bared when her outfit was pulled by singer Justin Timberlake. The incident drew a $550,000 indecency fine for CBS, which is appealing the decision.

“Our ad is finishing high in opinion polls,” Parsons wrote in a blog on the GoDaddy.com Web site. “So far in early opinion polls, our ad seems to be finishing fairly high. In fact, in checking the one on the Fox site, it is in the No. 2 position. Not bad for an ad that could only be aired once.”

The NFL and Fox network could not be immediately reached for comment.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/07/earlyshow/main672016.shtml

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2005

(CBS) Approximately 90 million people were expected to tune in to Super Bowl 39. Commercials on the telecast cost $2.4 million on average, which works out to a cool $80,000 per second. Last year, the average ad cost $2.3 million.

Adweek advertising critic Barbara Lippert joins The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm to critique this year’s crop.

According to Lippert and her media counterparts, Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at last year’s Super Bowl made NFL and Fox squeamish about advertising this year. Lippert says she knows of at least three ads that were yanked because they were considered too sexually suggestive.

Which ones were among Lippert’s favorites?

For starters, the Budweiser ad showing men jumping out of a plane to get a Bud. One man is hesitant throughout. The pilot of the plane jumps out instead of the hesitant guy. The two men left on the plane realize no one is flying it.

The Ameriquest Mortgage commercial showing a man preparing dinner for a date. His white cat knocks over a pan of spaghetti sauce. When man’s date arrives, she sees him with a knife he’d been using to cook in one hand as he held the bloody-looking cat in the other.

The Emerald Nuts spot was outright funniest and most surprising: A father doesn’t want to share his Emerald nuts with his daughter. He tells her unicorns will disappear if he does, then one appears. After that, Santa appears and reprimands the father about sharing and next, the Easter Bunny gets into the act.

The Anheuser Busch Army commercial was the most touching. It shows soldiers walking through an airport who are headed to a foreign assignment, such as Iraq. People who watch them pass, applaud. The soldiers smile, and one looks back at them.

The “Go Daddy” is most controversial and the one that has it both ways. It shows a buxom woman testifying before a congressional-looking committee. She’s wearing a T-shirt that says “Go Daddy,” which is the name of a domain-naming company. Lippert says you have to marvel at how they got it done, and got everything in. There was name recognition, they explained what the company does, and also made fun of the breast incident last year and the hypocrisy of censorship.

The Federal Express commercial was, Lippert says, the “most knowing.” It makes fun of what it takes to make a good Super Bowl commercial. It shows Burt Reynolds (a celebrity), a talking and dancing bear, and as it progresses, ten elements are clicked off the FedEx jokingly says are needed for any good Super Bowl ad.

The Diet Pepsi truck commercial with P. Diddy and Carson Daly of MTV had the most unexpected twist. Trendsetter P. Diddy is stranded on the road and he asks a Pepsi truck driver who’s passing by to give him a ride to an awards ceremony. As a result of seeing him arrive at the red carpet event in a truck, several other celebs start driving a Diet Pepsi truck. The celebs include Carson Daly of MTV. Next, we see Daly driving a Pepsi truck and saying hello to P. Diddy, who wonders why Daly is doing this.

The Diet Pepsi spot showing a hunky, sexy man walking down the street. Women, including model Cindy Crawford, watch in admiration to the music of “Staying Alive,” from “Saturday Night Fever.” The funny part comes when Carson Kreesley from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” drops his jaw in surprise when he sees the hunk. Lippert says Pepsi has done this type of commercial with men and women ogling each other for years, but including Kreesley is a twist.

Careerbuilders.com wins Lippert’s award for best managerie. It’s a humorous series of commercials that show chimps working in an office. The last one shows the one man whom we see interact with them saying he doesn’t like the idea for the name of a product. Next, we see a monkey in a suit, kissing the butt of another monkey in a pinstripe suit, who appears to be the boss.

The MBNA commercial with singer Gladys Knight was worst, Lippert says. It shows Knight on a rugby field, playing with a team. Lippert says linking them together didn’t make sense. The ad doesn’t make its point.

Another klinker in Lippert’s eyes: the one with the Budweiser Clydesdales. These commercials are usually great, but Lippert wasn’t thrilled about this one, which shows a group of animals, ending with a pig, who want to be Clydesdales. We see a barn door opened with the Clydesdales and a donkey. This is a reminder of one of the most-talked about Super Bowl commercials, with the donkey who wanted to be a Clydesdale.

Another ranking comes from a poll AOL did of it sucscribers:
1 Anheuser Busch Thank You: 5163, 12%
2 Bud Light Skydiving: 4688, 11%
3 Ameriquest Guilty: 4027, 10%
4 Diet Pepsi P. Diddy: 3183, 8%
5 Ameriquest Robbed: 2967, 7%
6 GoDaddy.com Hearing: 2375, 6%
7 FedEx Ten Things: 2094, 5%
8 Ford Mustang Winter: 2063, 5%
9 Bud Light Sharing: 1972, 5%
10 Diet Pepsi Cindy Crawford: 1599, 4%
Total Votes 41,404

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/feb2005/nf2005027_4302_db016.htm

By David Kiley

One uncomplicated ad shone through among a mediocre crop of Super Bowl spots that featured everything from chimpanzees to celebrities

Anheuser-Busch (BUD ) is tough to beat among advertisers for best Super Bowl ad, and this year’s game was no exception. The winner of the BusinessWeek Online Grand Brand Award goes to the beer giant for its tribute to the American armed forces.

The spot was effective for its simplicity. Veterans in fatigues are walking through an airport with their belongings, apparently home on a respite and cycling through a commercial airport. Onlookers buried in their newspapers, working in eateries, and waiting on line become aware of the group of vets and slowly begin clapping.

The clapping builds and builds until everyone in sight is applauding the valor, hard work, and sacrifices they have made. It’s my experience that the simplest, most uncomplicated storylines work best in advertisements, whether the goal is humor or pathos. This spot, created by DDB Chicago, was easily the best commercial in the game.

RINGING MY BELL.? Typically, the Super Bowl is a hot competition among advertisers and ad agencies for which brand will entertain viewers the most. This year, the dynamics were different. After last year’s Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction,” advertisers and the host, Fox Network, were chastened for the most part. A couple of ads were turned away in the last week because they offended some group or skirted the line of appropriateness.

It was a year best described as “better safe than sorry” (see BW Online, 2/7/05, “Super Bowl Ads: Less Than Superb”). And the game came on the heels of several weeks in which the “thought police” were out in force.

That didn’t deter Anheuser-Busch, which had nine ads in the Super Bowl, the most of any single advertiser, including spots that used humor and sweetness to convey a brand message. And though it may strike some that choosing a salute to the troops is over-the-top for political correctness in the current atmosphere, I didn’t think any of the other spots measured up to this ad. This rang my bell clearly.

Without assigning rankings to the rest of the commercials, I thought five deserved to be recognized as the best of an overall-mediocre group of Super Bowl ads.

Honorable Mentions

Anheuser Busch/Bud Light. When a skydiver refuses to leap from the plane, the jump master throws a six-pack of Bud Light out the hatch as an incentive for him to go. The guy still doesn’t jump — but the pilot does and without a parachute. Good slapstick fun in this spot produced by DDB Chicago.

CareerBuilder.com. I’m taking the three ads, produced by Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago, as one effort, since they were all on the same theme — a forlorn office worker toiling away with a mischievous band of chimpanzee employees. This guy surely needs a new job. How many times have we all thought we were in the same banana boat?

Subway. Probably the closest the game ads got to edginess this time around. The spot pitching a new line of toasted sub sandwiches, produced by Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, featured a policeman driving up on a parked car that appeared to be the scene of a make-out session hot enough to steam up the windows. It turned out to be two guys sloppily devouring the sandwiches in a session of guilty pleasure. It wouldn’t have been as funny if it were a man and woman.

Ameriquest. The mortgage company was a first-time Super Bowl advertiser. Two commercials, produced by DDB Direct in Venice, Calif., hit the right notes of familiarity. In the first spot, a guy blathering on his cell phone via a concealed microphone steps up to a convenience store counter where the proprietor’s back is turned. The customer is telling someone that he’s “being robbed” because of what he’s paying to have some work done on his house.

He repeats the phrase, “You’re being robbed! You’re being robbed!” The foreign-born store owner, not seeing the guy’s hidden cell phone, misunderstands and starts beating him to a pulp. The tagline: “Don’t judge too quickly. We won’t.” Some of the best ads come from adopting moments that are universal — in this case, the mutton-head who can’t stop talking on his cell phone even when he’s engaged in another activity like buying something at a store counter.

Verizon V-Cast. This ad for a service that transmits video to your cell phone featured overblown personalities like Christina Aguilera and Deion Sanders clamoring to shrink enough to fit in the small cell-phone video screen. Misdirection and celebs, especially those who are egomaniacs turning the humor on themselves, is a time-tested formula. The execution of this spot, by McCann-Erickson in New York, was very good. And it perfectly conveyed what the Verizon product is about.

A Few Parting Thoughts

– Sure, everybody in the commercials business was skittish after last year’s wardrobe malfunction. But if advertisers and agencies don’t raise the bar of creativity for next year’s game, the hoopla over Super Bowl ads will start to die off. I can think of worse problems. But it would be a bad turning point for the ad business.

– Looking at the two coaches on the sidelines dressed so poorly and sloppily, I began to think nostalgically for the days when head coaches wore suits and ties on the sidelines. Here’s to you, Tom Landry and Hank Stram.

– When two advertisers and their agencies come up with essentially the same plot, you know they’re running out of ideas. In one Bud spot, Cedric the Entertainer is trying to tell a guy across a noisy bar that he’s the designated driver. He mimes turning a steering wheel to try to convey the point. The dancers in the bar all think Cedric is doing a new dance move, and everyone starts miming the steering-wheel bit.

Deja vu. In a Diet Pepsi ad, P. Diddy hops a ride in a Diet Pepsi truck to get to an awards show. Everyone there thinks he did it on purpose, and his fans turn up days after the show driving Diet Pepsi trucks as if they’re paying homage to P. Diddy’s trendsetting magnetism.

– The Paul McCartney halftime show, even if it was a conservative response to 2004′s fiasco, was the best in years. And it was a pleasure to hear an act in which all the words being sung were intelligible.

– Listening to Alicia Keyes sing America the Beautiful with St. Augustine-based Florida School for the Deaf & the Blind before the game, in a salute, in part, to the memory of Ray Charles, made me think that we should adopt that song as our national anthem. But to be fair, the military academy choirs performed the best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner I’ve heard in many years.

See you next year.

Kiley is Marketing editor for BusinessWeek. Follow his blog Brand New Day, only on BW Online

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/business/media/07adcol.html

By STUART ELLIOTT

Published: February 7, 2005

It may be hard to say, and harder to believe, but Madison Avenue could owe Janet Jackson a big thank-you.

The commercials that were broadcast on Fox last night during Super Bowl XXXIX were, in general, markedly better than typical spots from the last few Super Bowls – though there were some stinkers. And the reason for that improvement could well be Ms. Jackson’s breast-baring during the halftime show last year.

The reaction against the notorious “wardrobe malfunction” also generated attacks against crass, boorish commercials that ran before and after Ms. Jackson’s performance. Those spots relied on crude humor to pander to a large segment of the Super Bowl audience: younger men who live to laugh at bathroom jokes and misogynistic jibes.

Chastened by the complaints, advertisers and agencies promised to clean up their acts and proceed cautiously with commercials for 2005. That pledge was widely interpreted as foreshadowing a dull, play-it-safe Ad Bowl inside the Super Bowl.

But many of the 30 sponsors of the game rose to the occasion, proving they could deliver attention-getting ads without stooping to the fraternity-house antics of last year, featuring disreputable characters like a flatulent horse, a crotch-biting dog and a monkey pitching woo to a woman.

For instance, FedEx turned its Super Bowl marketing playbook back to 1998, when it won plaudits for a witty commercial by BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group, that mocked the conventions of Super Bowl commercials.

The 2005 version, also from BBDO New York, crammed into 30 seconds the 10 ingredients purportedly guaranteed to insure Super Sunday success. They included an obligatory celebrity (the actor Burt Reynolds), a bear (the required dancing, talking animal), two lissome cheerleaders (representing attractive females) and, when the bear became a film critic, one of those surprise endings so beloved by copywriters of Super Bowl spots.

The best moment: When Mr. Reynolds paused to deliver a pitch for FedEx, it was identified on screen as Item No. 8, “Product message (optional).”

Fox charged an estimated average of $2.4 million for each 30 seconds of commercial time, and some advertisers, alas, could not resist reflexively reaching for the lowest common denominator. For example, CareerBuilder.com, a job Web site owned by three newspaper companies, ran three commercials by Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago featuring a cast of – yawn – mischievous monkeys dressed as office workers.

Those viewers who still longed for the callow carryings-on of last year were rewarded with formulaic sight gags involving whoopee cushions, bananas and a literal interpretation of the phrase “kissing up to the boss.”

What follows is an assessment of some of the best and worst other commercials. The spots described below are among 35 provided to reporters before the game, out of the total of 50 commercials that were scheduled to run.

Anheuser-Busch A gauzy valentine to American troops, which ended with the Anheuser-Busch corporate logo superimposed on screen, was touching, but some viewers may have wondered whether “Busch” had been misspelled. And a commercial for designating a driver managed to deliver its message with a wink rather than a lecture. Agency: the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide, part of Omnicom.

Bubblicious A spot for Bubblicious gum, sold by the Cadbury Adams division of Cadbury Schweppes, was short (15 seconds) but sweet. The commercial, for the new LeBron’s Lightning Lemonade flavor endorsed by LeBron James, showed that having your bubble burst is not always a bad thing. Agency: JWT in New York, part of the WPP Group.

Budweiser The playful horses in a commercial for Budweiser beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, were far better behaved than their gassy counterpart in a Bud Light spot last year. A stable of Clydesdales faced off in a snowball fight, and the cute “razzberry” in the finale was as naughty as they got. Agency: DDB Chicago.

Degree A commercial for a new line of Degree deodorants sold by Unilever took a risk by pretending to celebrate men who avoid risk, as embodied by a make-believe brand of “Inaction Heroes” dolls bearing names like Mama’s Boy. The spot succeeded where so many failed last year, by treading the fine line between boldness and tastelessness. Agency: Lowe & Partners in New York, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

Lay’s Come back, MC Hammer, all is forgiven. That seemed to be the message delivered by a commercial featuring the 1980′s rapper, for the Lay’s potato chip brand sold by the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo. As for the connection between salty snacks and silly singers, as Mr. Hammer might put it, “U Can’t Figure This Out.” Agency: Spike DDB in New York, owned by the director Spike Lee and DDB Worldwide.

McDonald’s The fast-food company McDonald’s surprised with a hilarious commercial, far more clever than its usual fare. The spot, presented in a deadpan “mockumentary” style reminiscent of “This Is Spinal Tap,” was centered on a French fry that allegedly resembled Abraham Lincoln, which improbably became the subject of a bidding war on the Yahoo Shopping Web site. Agency: DDB Chicago.

MasterCard Cynics laughed last fall when Advertising Week in New York City began with a parade of familiar advertising characters. But the idea now seems, well, priceless, thanks to a delightful dinner reunion of 10 brand icons like the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut and the Morton Salt girl, sponsored by Debit MasterCard from MasterCard International. One disturbing thought: What was in that casserole Charlie the Tuna ate so heartily? Agency: McCann Erickson in New York, part of the McCann Worldgroup division of Interpublic (which created a MasterCard character for the occasion).

Pepsi-Cola A prosaic idea to promote iTunes and Pepsi-Cola, sponsored by Apple Computer and PepsiCo, turned up not once but twice: Uncap a Pepsi bottle and hear music; recap the bottle and the music stops. What, viewers didn’t get it the first time? But it was worth the double play to hear Gwen Stefani and Eve sing “If I Were a Rich Girl,” based on the song from “Fiddler on the Roof.” What’s not to like? Agency: the Playa del Rey, Calif., office of TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of Omnicom.

Silestone Jocks almost always play stock characters in commercials, taking parts like thug, superstar or dim bulb, but a droll spot for the Silestone brand of quartz surfaces sold by Cosentino defied convention. “I am Diana Pearl,” former athletes like Mike Ditka and Dennis Rodman declared, “Spartacus”-style. Huh? The punch line: It’s a color of Silestone they like. Agency: Freed Advertising in Sugar Land, Tex.

Subway A slyly subversive commercial for a new line of Fresh Toasted Subs sold by the Subway chain, owned by Doctor’s Associates, managed a feat that eluded so many spots last year: pulling off a sight gag without being obnoxious or offensive. It seemed to show an amorous couple parked for a hot makeout session, but as a pair of inquiring police officers learned, appearances can deceive when guys get hungry. Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, part of Omnicom.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/10836234.htm

Associated Press

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Pitches of beer accounted for two of the top three Super Bowl commercials, according to Michigan State University advertising experts.

Bud Light’s beer-chasing pilot, Careerbuilder.com’s cheeky chimpanzees and Budweiser’s iconic Clydesdale horses got the highest marks from the 11 professors in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retail. Sunday’s Super Bowl XXXIX marked the eighth year the Michigan State faculty members have graded the new crop of ads on what is typically the most-watched telecast of the year.

The professors agreed that this year’s ads were much more restrained than last year’s, possibly in response to the public outcry that followed Janet Jackson’s halftime “wardrobe malfunction.”

The group gave a collective thumbs-up or -down to most ads, chortling at the Careerbuilder spot in which a group of chimps puts a whoopee cushion on a co-worker’s chair and groaning as one at the first mention of a pill for erectile dysfunction.

There was some debate over Anheuser-Busch’s spot featuring a group of soldiers receiving an ovation as they walk through an airport.

“There’s an ethical question to use pain and suffering to sell beer,” advertising professor Bill Ward told The State News, the Michigan State student newspaper. “I don’t think it’s OK for companies to tap into emotion like that to sell beer.”

The group’s five favorite ads were:

5. Diet Pepsi (P. Diddy): “Celebrities usually do OK – people recognize them,” advertising professor Bob Kolt said. “It involved a lot of high-quality production.”

4. Toyota Hybrid: “It was different, creative and showed the product benefits and showed how their technology is outpacing everybody else’s,” advertising professor Bruce Vanden Bergh said.

3. Budweiser Clydesdale horses: “All animals get a lot of attention and they had a diverse assortment,” advertising professor Bonnie Reece said.

2. Careerbuilder.com (whoopee cushion chimps): “We hate to think that that’s the kind of thing we laugh at,” Vanden Bergh said. “But monkeys can get away with stuff the rest of us can’t.”

1. Bud Light (parachutist): “The humor kind of shows why to buy the product,” Ward said. “You didn’t know where this spot was heading until the end.”

The most-panned ads were:

5. “Be Cool” (movie trailer): “For a movie, just pulling clips doesn’t have the same level of creativity as other commercials,” Ward said.

3. Silestone (quartz countertops): “They’re just using wordplay with well-known people,” Vanden Bergh said. “What the heck does that have to do with the countertop?”

3. MBNA (Gladys Knight playing rugby): “Gladys Knight can bob and weave, but the spot didn’t score,” advertising professor David Regan said.

1. Degree anti-perspirant (action figures): “It was so bizarre in relation to the product,” Ward said. “At least they took a risk.”

1 (tie). Cialis (erectile dysfunction) “Cialis was limp,” Kolt said.

http://www.statepress.com/issues/2005/02/07/webextra/691770

The Web Devil staff had the tough assignment of picking out the cream of the Super Bowl commercial crop. Here are their picks for the best displays of shameless capitalism.

Spicy, sexy woman steals show

I can’t say that I’ve ever liked the taste of Tabasco sauce, but I like the spicy woman who appeared in the condiment company’s commercial during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The Tabasco Company airs only one televised ad per year, and for the last few years it’s appeared during the Super Bowl. This year’s ad was quite clever and my personal favorite.

A gorgeous woman in a white bikini with little Tabasco logos all over it is sun bathing on the beach. The camera cuts quickly between different shots of her, exposing her sexiness as she slowly struts her stuff around the beach. She enters her beachside villa and splats a little Tabasco into her cocktail sauce. After eating, she steps toward a mirror and lifts her bikini strap to reveal a tan line that has developed under her bikini, rather than on the skin around it.

A little Tabasco with breakfast is really beginning to seem like a hot idea.

–Daniel Swier, Associate Editor

Zany twist ending makes for great gimmick

The award for the best commercial of the night goes to the Ameriquest ad featuring a man getting wrongfully beat down by some convenience store clerks, finishing with the tag line “Don’t judge too quickly”. This ad, shown during the first quarter and followed later by another ad with the same tag line, was a pleasant surprise. Initially, you really have no idea what is going to transpire.

That is, until the twist ending. Mr. Hands-Free Cell Phone repeatedly says to an unseen person on the other end of the line, “you are getting robbed.” Of course, he is speaking figuratively about a bad deal that person has gotten. But the store staff gets scared and then Mr. Cell Phone gets some pepper spray in the eyes, and even some prodding with a shock stick of some kind. This ad was classic.

–Zach Amarillas, freelance writer

Don’t judge this one too quickly, either

With a less-than-exciting game taking place, my Super Bowl party guests talked only during game play and never during commercials. The expensive ads seemed to steal the show this year.

The top of my favorite commercial list was Ameriquest’s ad showing a man cooking a surprise dinner by way of an ominous-looking knife. The man’s cat walks along and knocks over a pot of red sauce. The man picks up the sauce-covered cat just as a woman walks through the door. The last shot shows the man holding a threateningly large knife in one hand, and the cat covered in sauce in the other hand. Coincidentally, the sauce is the same color as blood.

The words “Don’t Judge Too Quickly” flash on the screen, and the advertisement continues to assure customers that the insurance agency wouldn’t judge too quickly either. This shockingly funny commercial nearly caused me to miss the following commercial.

Although I tend to love the commercials featuring monkeys, I was not quite as intrigued by careerbuilder.com’s commercials about monkeys making one man’s career seem like a terribly dead-end job. I preferred the cat commercial.

–Laura Winger, freelance writer

Mr. Clean and Mr. Peanut, together at last

The MasterCard animated dinner commercial, aired during the fourth quarter, was one of my favorites. The ad featured a dinner table with many of the popular mealtime mascots, such as the Starkist Tuna, the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Chef Boyardee, the Morton salt girl, Mr. Peanut, The Vlasic Pickles stork and Mr. Clean. I thought the commercial was cute and creative for incorporating all the classic mealtime friends.

–Brenna Miller, freelance writer

Monkeying around

My favorite commercial was for careerbuilder.com, just at the beginning of the second half. I liked when the man in the commercial told the one of the monkeys, “You didn’t dial a number; You’re not talking to anyone.”

–Ryan Olson, freelance writer

A few side effects

I liked just about all of the aformentioned ads, so I don’t want to sound like a broken record. I was especially charmed by Ameriquest’s ongoing joke of “Don’t judge too quickly” that recurred in both halves of the Super Bowl. The company certainly got everyone’s attention. But you, dear reader, have already heard about those ads.

Since I probably am the most cynical beast in this online jungle, I’ll mention an ad that was funny without even trying to be funny. I got a ton of amusement out of a Cialis ad early in the second half. The ad had a lot of images of men being manly and embracing their women and fishing and so on, so forth.

It was all pretty relaxing and serene. But the unseen voice-over guy was saying lots of things that just didn’t match the peaceful, nature-infested scenery. Men could experience a variety of health difficulties including heart problems or–gasp–an erection lasting more than four hours.

Guys: Remember to see a doctor if either thing happens. Ads for such drugs often point out that the latter occurrence is rare. Hopefully the former occurrence is rare as well. I also find it funny that such ads run in so-called “Prime Time” marketing slots, when supposedly impressionable children are watching. Of course, Cialis has nothing on Janet Jackson’s pierced nipple.

Now if I could only remember what Ameriquest actually does….

–Nicole Saidi, Online Editor in Chief

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=496&e=1&u=/ap/super_bowl_ads

By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK – Sure, Super Bowl ads have been wacky before. But Gladys Knight scoring in a rugby game? MC Hammer and a ’72 Impala getting hurled over a backyard fence — to plug potato chips?

There were plenty of curiosities in this year’s crop of ads tailored for the game, the place where the advertising industry goes all-out to show off its most daring, creative work and make the most of the biggest television audience of the year.

What we didn’t see was a repeat of last year’s rampage of off-color humor. And no wardrobe malfunctions — unless you count a cheeky spot from newcomer GoDaddy.com, a vendor of Web site names, that poked fun at the hubbub over the halftime incident from last year with a fake hearing into broadcast decency. An elderly politician clutches for an oxygen mask after a buxom woman’s top nearly falls down from a broken shoulder strap.

Some marketing pundits still say that $2.4 million — that’s $80,000 a second — is too much to pay for a 30-second advertising spot. But with so few truly mass audiences left, the networks don’t seem to have any problem selling out the full inventory of ads and charging ever-higher prices for them.

This year saw a slew of newcomers, including Volvo, with a clever spot featuring Richard Branson going into space in a rocket. A sticker on the side boasts that his other vehicle is a Volvo. This ad even comes with its own promotion, giving viewers a chance to sign up to win a trip into space on commercial space flights Branson is planning.

Ford Motor Co. ran a funny ad toward the start of the Super Bowl in which a tough group of bikers is scared away from a roadside diner after seeing a line of trucks parked in front. The gang of Hell’s Angels lookalikes is spared embarrassment when one of them sheepishly suggests that the salad bar up the road is better anyway.

Several of this year’s ads were definitely puzzlers.

Gladys Knight appears as a rugby player in a pitch for the credit card issuer MBNA Corp., and both MC Hammer and a ’72 Impala come flying over a backyard fence in a spot for Lay’s potato chips.

While some of this year’s ads may have been somewhat off, they were a far cry from last year’s selection that offered crude jokes, including an accidental bikini wax for Cedric the Entertainer, and a guy who squeals in delight when a blast of cold air blows up his kilt, Marilyn Monroe-style.

Pepsi, a perennial Super Bowl advertiser, referred to one of its own classic ads by showing Cindy Crawford (news) ogling a plain-dressed but hunky guy walking along and sipping on a can of Diet Pepsi as the theme from “Saturday Night Fever” plays in the background.

Crawford herself was the star of a 1992 Pepsi ad where two young boys ogled her as she pulled into a dusty gas station and quaffed a Pepsi in slow motion.

But this being 2005, after Crawford and numerous other women are stopped in their tracks by the hunkalicious Diet Pepsi drinker, there’s one more pair of eyes caught by the passing stud: those of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” host Carson Kressley.