The Baltimore Ravens weren’t the only winners at Super Bowl XLVII. One man and his Clydesdale also made quite an impression.
The latest Anheuser-Busch ad to feature the famed Clydesdales, this spot chronicled the relationship between a trainer and the horse he raised. According to USA Today’s Ad Meter, this was the most popular commercial of the night. As if the Ad Meter results weren’t enough kudos, the ad may have inspired Jose Canseco to get himself a horse.
Meanwhile, Patrick Rishe of Forbes singled out the Mercedes-Benz “Soul” ad as the best of the night. The star-studded spot featured Willem Dafoe, cast as the devil, along with Kate Upton and Usher. With the glamor quotient nearly as high as the RPMs in that auto ad, it’s no wonder that it garnered plenty of attention.
Another advertiser who went all out when it came to high-wattage players was Samsung, casting Apatow-regulars Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd in a comic sendup on Super Bowl ads — and the publicity-hungry marketers and stars who create them. In a game that brought its own special effects, with Beyonce’s electric halftime performance and the Superdome’s unexpected power outage, the commercials needed to have something special to stand out. Celebrity endorsers seemed a safe bet to pull that off.
Yahoo! included the Clydesdale ad and Samsung’s two-minute comedy bit in a list of the “buzziest ads” of the night but didn’t think Upton and Mercedes made the grade. Could the teaser and advanced release of the full-length commercial have hurt interest? That list did include a few of the night’s other notables, namely the Audi “Prom” commercial and Amy Poehler’s demanding trip to Best Buy.
As usual, there were several advertisers who thought less clothes would translate into more success. Whether it was Calvin Klein’s scantily-clad male model, the damsel in distress (and in a bikini) in the Axe commercial or GoDaddy’s long kiss between Bar Rafaeli and her nerdy match, the results were mixed for the ads built around sex appeal. Unless, of course, you count those M&M ads, which continue to be quite suggestive and quite successful. Perhaps symbolizing that this year’s top ads were a bit cleaner than in recent years, Tide finished second to the Clydesdale ad in the USA Today Ad Meter.
From the Clydesdale and Kia’s adorable “Space Babies” spot to Chrysler’s poignant homage to American farmers, here are some of the commercials that generated the most positive buzz during the Super Bowl. What was your favorite? How does the Super Bowl commercial class of 2013 stack up against last year’s favorites? Or the all-time classics?
Samsung’s “Next Big Thing” ad may have tapped the star power of three celebrities, but at least one firm’s analysis shows it didn’t gain much traction with consumers.
The two-minute ad featuring Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and LeBron James confused customers and failed to hold their attention, according to data from the research firm Frank N. Magid Associates.
In an wonky teaser, Samsung referred to its long-running patent battle with Apple, by showing Rogen and Rudd fumbling with words to avoid trademarked phrases such as “Super Bowl,” “San Francisco 49ers,” and “Baltimore Ravens,” leading them to ultimately call the game “El Plato Supremo.”
Magid surveyed nearly 400 consumers across the country in real time over mobile devices, to get immediate reactions. On both Magid’s data and on the NFL’s page asking fans to rank their favorite ads, the leading choice was Budweiser’s ad featuring a Clydesdale horse and his trainer.
BlackBerry also released a spot that had been topping the NFL’s fan-ranking page but has been removed from voting. The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that removal.
The ad, created by AMV BBDO, touted the features of the company’s new touchscreen Z10 by not actually showing any of them. BlackBerry’s chief marketing officer, Frank Boulben, said that it wasn’t “feasible” to show off all the phone’s features in a single spot, so the company opted for a different approach.
“We decided to use the lighthearted spirit of Super Bowl ads to showcase what BlackBerry 10 can’t do,” he said in a statement. The spot showed a man using the phone to teleport into a sewer and or turn a runaway semi-trailer into rubber ducks.
Out of the roughly 37 companies spending a combined $300 million on commercials this Super Bowl Sunday, one country outside of the U.S. stands out: Korea.
Korean firms and even Korean culture are going to be everywhere this Sunday night as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII.
Samsung will have an ad for mobile devices featuring Hollywood stars Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd.
Kia will school us on where babies come from and show us a kick-ass female robot.
Hyundai will air three different ads, including a Sonata Turbo racing a butt-cracking motor cyclist and one set to a Quiet Riot metal head throwback from the early 80s, “Bang Your Head”.
And lastly, while it’s not an ad for a Korean product, Wonderful Pistachios landed Mister Gangnam Style himself, Korean rapper and worldwide YouTube sensation Psy, to sell the weird green nut.
Mars Chocolate North America introduced a teaser video of M&M’S® Brand’s new 30 second television commercial that will air during the first quarter of Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday. The ad, which was created by BBDO New York, is part of the brand’s new ‘Better With M’ campaign.
The trailer is featured on the M&M’S® Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mms). M&M’S will post the new commercial on both Facebook and YouTube as it airs during the game on Sunday.
Lincoln, the luxury automotive brand, today released its second Super Bowl ad that is a part of its purchase of two 30-second spots to air during the broadcast. The brand spot featuring the 2013 MKZ is titled “Phoenix,” and graphically showcases the new beginning of the brand with an MKZ emerging from the flames of a Lincoln Town Car.
These Super Bowl ads represent a significant piece in the Lincoln reinvention strategy as the brand attracts a new market of individual-minded luxury consumers. Lincoln recently launched the all-new 2013 MKZ, and will deliver three more vehicles in the next four years to appeal to these new luxury consumers who have emerged as a powerful economic force, already making up close to 25 percent of all luxury automobile purchases.
The 30-second spot will be available on the Lincoln YouTube channel.
Agency: Hudson Rouge
Production Company: Imperial Woodpecker
Director: Stacy Wall
Samsung Mobile launched a teaser spot for its two-minute big game ad. In it, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd pitch ideas to Bob Odenkirk. Rogen and Rudd are told that trademarked words can’t be used, like Super Bowl, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens. They refer to the game as El Plato Supreme and the teams as The San Francisco 50 minus 1ers and the Baltimore Black Birds.
The typical 30-second Super Bowl ad should be the perfect Internet meme, capable of going viral quickly and infecting large swaths of Internet users with its marketing message. After all, advertisers are paying millions of dollars, hiring the best creatives in the industry, bringing celebrity talent aboard, and giving social media sites seemingly everything needed to go viral on the Web. And, yet, only a handful of the ads on deck for this Sunday’s Super Bowl will ever make it into the national watercooler conversation on Monday morning. And even some of those that do — such as the “racist” VW ad and the “sexist” Kate Upton Mercedes-Benz ad may do so for the wrong reasons.
So why is it so hard to go viral on the Internet?
As a society, we are becoming inoculated to the rampant viral and meme culture of the Internet, in the same way that we’ve become inoculated to other forms of advertising. In short, with the huge growth of social media and the sharing culture of the Web, we’ve become so obsessed with creating the viral — through YouTube videos, animated GIFs and trending topic tweets — that we’ve effectively vaccinated ourselves against anything weakly viral. Just as our bodies develop anti-bodies to combat viruses in the real world, so too, can our minds develop anti-bodies to the memes in the virtual world.
On a daily basis, we are barraged with a constant stream of content that wants to go viral — cute cat videos, cute baby videos and famous people doing ridiculous things are just the most obvious examples. It’s to the point where the 30-second Super Bowl ads are no longer “the best talking baby video of the year,” they are “the best talking baby video of the past 30 minutes.”
Another reason may be that Super Bowl advertisers are going about it all wrong. Flush with huge marketing budgets, they are turning their 30-second advertisements into 30-second entertainment clips, with potentially negative consequences for getting consumers to actually buy their products.
This is our look into the advertisers and creative previews of what to expect from the commercials that will air during Super Bowl XLVII.
Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch’s newest brands, Budweiser Black Crown and Beck’s Sapphire, will be making their national television debut during four and a half minutes of Anheuser-Busch ads. For Bud Light 2 :60 second ads “Journey” and “Lucky Chair” The two ads are the culmination of the brand’s successful “Superstitious” campaign, which portrays the traditions and rituals NFL fans employ to help their teams win. Both ads are set in New Orleans, tying the creative closely to the Super Bowl.
Bud Light “Journey”
Bud Light “Lucky Chair”
Bud Light “Lucky Chair” :15 second teaser
For Budweiser 1 :60 second ad “Brotherhood” the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales are back in an ad that chronicles the bond a Clydesdale foal shares with his trainer.
For Budweiser Black Crown 2 :30 second ads “Coronation” and “Celebration”. “Coronation” will air in the first spot after kickoff.
Budweiser Black Crown – “Coronation” :15 second teaser
Budweiser Black Crown “Celebration”
For Beck’s Sapphire 1 :30 second ad “Serenade”. The ad celebrates Beck’s Sapphire’s sleek, one-of-a-kind black bottle, and features a surprise admirer that is mesmerized by its beauty.
Allstate 1: 30 immediately after game ends. This spot features Mayhem and he shows the important roles he’s played throughout history. He’s the apple that Eve gives to Adam: “I’m a forbidden fruit and not to brag or nothing, but I’m pretty much the most amazing apple ever.”
Audi of America 1 :60 second commercial – A young man heads to prom dateless but confident because he’s driving his fathers 2013 Audi S6.
Audi Let the public decide which of their 3 alternate endings would be shown during the Super Bowl. See all three alternate endings.
AXE 1 :30 second spot entitled “Lifeguard,” that includes a “twist” at the end that “aligns with a creative campaign” that will kick off in the new year. Axe is also running a promotion that will send lucky fans to outer space and hired Buzz Aldrin to help promote the contest. Watch the spot “AXE Apollo Fireman”Best Buy Best Buy hired actress and comedian Amy Poehler to get its brand message across in a humor-focused spot during the Super Bowl XLVII.
Best Buy :15 second teaser with Amy Poehler
Calvin Klein 1 :30 second spot
Cars.com 1 :30 second ad in first quarter, will show consumers how buying is “Drama Free” at Cars.com
E*TRADE 1 :30 second ad in the 3rd quarter. “Talking baby” is back showing you what to do with those hidden 401k fees.
Fiat 1 :30 second ad – Probably will be “Topless” but there are other humorous ad choices. See the other possibilities here.
Ford-Lincoln 1 :60 second ad will promote 2013 Lincoln MKZ sedan to ‘younger’ viewers. Jimmy Fallon helped create the ad, but will not appear in it. It was a script written from tweets sent in by the public to #steerthescript
Gildan’s Activewear 1 :30 second ad in the 3rd quarter “Getaway” shows what a guy will go through to get his favorite shirt. See the previewGoDaddy.com 2 :30 second spots – One after the 2-minute warning in the 4th quarter will again promote “.CO” with Danica Patrick. See the ads’ sneak peek now. The full .CO commercial has been released, watch it here.
The other Go Daddy ad will air in the second spot of the second break during the first quarter will show us “what sexy is” and star Dana Patrick and Bar Refaeli in a spot called “Perfect Match”
Hyundai 2 :30 second ads “Excited” and “Don’t Tell” in the pre-game show, 1 :60 second ad pre-kick spot titled “Epic PlayDate”, 1 :30 second spot “Team” in the first quarter, 1 :30 second ad “Stuck” in the second quarter. For more details read this postKia Motor 1 :30 second spot in the third quarter for the Forte and 1 :60 second spot in the fourth quarter for the Sorento Read More about the Kia ad “Space Babies” here.
Kia Forte Super Bowl XLVII commercial “Hot Bots”
2014 Kia Sorento Super Bowl XLVII commercial “Space Babies”
Teaser
Kraft’s MiO 1 :30 second ad in the 3rd quarter will feature Tracy Morgan in comedic look at things that have changed in America, including sports drinks. Read more about the campaign and preview the ad.
M&M’s Mars Chocolate North America 1 :30 second ad in the 1st quarter
This isn’t the ad that will appear during the 1st quarter, but we think it’s great.
Mercedes-Benz 1 :60 Second ad in 4th quarter – Kate Upton, Usher and Willem Dafoe star in the spot where a guy may sell his soul to the devil to get his “heart’s desire”. See the five commercial sneak peeks
Extended Cut of Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl XLVII commercial “Soul”
The ad with Kate Upton getting a car wash in slow motion has been widely reported to be the Super Bowl ad – and even though it was released on the Mercedes-Benz YouTube page – It’s not the spot they intended to air during the Super Bowl, sorry to all those people who got their panties in a bunch.. (maybe it will air during the pregame) We see it as a nice move to get the Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl commercial virally out there.
Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) 1 :30 second ad in 2nd quarter Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson shows how far a father will go to make sure his children have milk for their breakfast cereal.Follow this link to watch the Rock get his Milk
Oreo 1 :30 in first quarter will have the theme “What’s your favorite part of the cookie… the Cookie or the Créme?”
Paramount Pictures “Star Trek Into Darkness” Star Trek will advertise a second time during the Super Bowl (also in 2009) Announced augmented reality app partnership with Qualcomm. The :30 second ad will be in the second quarter.
Also a :30 second spot for Brad Pitts’ zombie plaque film “World War Z” during the pre-game.
Paramount Pictures will also be showing a new spot for Iron Man 3, and marks the 3rd time paramount has used the Super Bowl to debut the Iron Man series.
PepsiCo Beverages Along with sponsoring the halftime show Pepsi will have a 2 new :30 second commercials, In the spot that airs just before halftime, Beyonce and photos of consumers from their online contest. The other will showcase Pepsi Next.
Pepsi Next “Party Shopping” Teaser
Pepsi Next “Party”
PepsiCo Doritos “Crash The Super Bowl” contest winners ads. See the top five commercials from the contest.
Research In Motion (RIM) – Blackberry 10Samsung 2-minute commercial – In this teaser for the ad, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd pitch ideas but are told that trademarked words can’t be used, like Super Bowl, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens.
Skechers 2 :30 second spots – In “Man vs. Cheetah” :30 second spot at 2:00 minute warning before halftime Skechers GOrun2 help Man catch Cheetah? See the preview. In Skechers second spot during the second quarter football legend Joe Montana will pitch SKECHERS Relaxed Fit collection
SodaStream 1 :30 second ad in the 4th quarter. The ad will be based on the company’s current spot showing scenes of soda bottles suddenly disappearing as people make their own soda with SodaStream. Sodastream did have an ad rejected by CBS because of its use of Coca-Cola and Pepsi logos, uniforms, and trucks. See the banned commercial here.
SpeedStick 1 :30 second ad in third quarter “Unattened Laundry”. Part of the brand’s ‘Handle It’ campaign, featuring men who are sweating on the inside but cool and collected on the outside.
Subway 1 :30 second ad in the 4th quarter. Subway will be back in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2005, It’s expected that their ad 14 Subway athletes — including superstar Washington Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III — will congratulate Jared for keeping off the weight he lost for 15 years by eating low-cal offerings at Subway.
Taco Bell 1 :60 second ad in the 3rd quarter “Viva Young” 87 year-old Bernie Goldblatt, along with his friends, take viewers on an unforgettable night depicting that anyone at any age can Live Mas. Watch the preview.
Tide – Proctor and Gamble 1 :30 second ad in the 3rd quarter. The spot will feature both teams playing in the Super Bowl, a testament to Tide’s “Always-On” strategic approach.
Toyota 1 :30 second ad in the 1st quarter will star Kaley Cuoco and on lucky fan from online contest. Preview the Super Bowl commercial teaser here.
Universal Pictures Vin Diesel announced that a :30 second Super Bowl ad is ready for “Fast and Furious 6″. Read more.
Possibly a :30 second spot for “Oblivion” with Tom Cruize
Volkswagen 1 :60 second in the second quarter. “Get Happy” See the preview featuring Jimmy Cliff (No Darth Vader?) and some youtube misfits and their meltdowns
Walt Disney Pictures Will be showing a :90 second spot for “The Lone Ranger,” a :60 second spot for “Iron Man 3,” and a :60 second spot for “Oz: The Great and Powerful”
Wonderful Pistachios Psy of YouTube “Gangam Style” fame will star in ad to show how he opens his Pistacios
In this Pepsi NEXT Super Bowl commercial teaser we see three friends shopping for the most unbelievable things they can bring to an epic party. What is the duct tape for? Why would Sharks be raised in a pool? Most importantly, do we have enough Pepsi NEXT? Tune in to the Super Bowl to check out the Pepsi NEXT Party!
For the second year in a row, Hyundai is dialing up the entertainment value of the Super Bowl by producing a unique TV commercial which targets Canadian viewers.
As North America’s premier sports and entertainment event, the Super Bowl attracts a huge audience. Some 50 percent of Canadian households tune-in for the Super Bowl commercials as much as the game itself. But due to the practice of signal substitution which sees US Super Bowl commercials replaced with Canadian commercials, Canadian viewers are robbed and must settle for a stream of current Canadian TV commercials. With some exceptions, however.
“We are thrilled to be one of the few Canadian companies committed to creating a unique commercial for the 2013 Super Bowl. There is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl to make a statement about one of our products and its advanced technology,” said John Vernile, HACC’s Vice President of Marketing. “We decided to invest in this commercial to entertain our viewers but at the same time, to inform them that we have a world-class hybrid sedan.”
Taking a different tack this year, Hyundai will not keep Super Bowl lovers waiting until game day but is posting the commercial online today. And to maximize entertainment value and help stoke conversations around office water coolers and chat rooms, two versions with different endings will be released for the benefit of the online community. Canadians can now view the two different cuts online at www.YouTube.com/HyundaiCanada or www.Facebook.com/HyundaiCanada in advance of this Sunday’s broadcast.
The 60-second TV spot, created by HACC’s advertising agency Innocean Worldwide Canada, features the Sonata Hybrid in a post-apocalyptic chase scene with an epic, cinematic feel. Director Benji Weinstein (Steam Films) assembled a crew of Hollywood’s best stunt drivers and stunt coordinators whose credits include Kill Bill, Transporter 2, The Amazing Spiderman, The Green Hornet…to name just a few. World renowned cinematographer Amira Mokri (The Fast and the Furious) brought the action to life. It’s an action packed, engaging 60 seconds with a fun ending, all attributed to a key Hyundai feature – fuel economy.
The commercial is expected to air during the highly-anticipated Half Time Show. “The Super Bowl has evolved to become an all-round entertaining event for the viewers. But the Half Time Show historically gathers the whole family in front of the television, so it only made sense to air our commercial when the most viewers are expected to tune-in,” said Vernile. “I have no doubt that Canadians will appreciate that Hyundai took the extra step to ‘up’ the entertainment factor of the Super Bowl broadcast in this country with our own, unique ad.”
With more than 100 million viewers expected to watch the Super Bowl in North America and more than 14 million in Canada alone, the ad speaks to the sophisticated urbanite that is conscious of style, quality, and price, while motivated by value-packed, fuel efficient vehicles.
This year’s Century 21 Super Bowl ad will continue the “Smarter, Bolder, Faster” theme developed in conjunction with the franchisor’s 40-year anniversary in 2011. In this year’s spots, Century 21 agents will be the celebrities. The ads will have a fun, ironic feel and carry the theme “There’s a Century 21 agent in the house.”
Century 21 is sponsoring an hour long pre-game show. And have their ad in the early part of the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl XLVII.
An interview with Greg Popp – Director of the 2013 Century 21 Super Bowl commercial.
Wheat Thins, the snack known for its complex taste and satisfying crunch, today announced the launch of its new “Must. Have. Wheat Thins.” campaign with a new television ad debuting in the Super Bowl pre-game. The television spot, which airs between 5:30 p.m. EST and the start of the 6 p.m. broadcast on Sunday, Feb. 3, was inspired by Wheat Thins’ most passionate fans and depicts the intense relationship they have with the brand by showcasing a man so passionate about his Spicy Buffalo Wheat Thins he’ll do nearly anything to protect them from even the most unexpected intruders—even a yeti!
“We talked to some of our most enthusiastic fans and were pleased to hear about the deep connection they have with the Wheat Thins brand,” said Katie Williams, Senior Marketing Director at Mondelez International. “The goal of this campaign is to celebrate those who already love us, entice others to discover that love and reward our consumers’ passion for the brand in meaningful ways.”
In addition to the new ad, Wheat Thins will support the new “Must. Have. Wheat Thins.” campaign with a social media promotion in the weeks leading up to the big game, one of the biggest snacking occasions of the year. Wheat Thins understands that many fans are just as devoted to football as they are their favorite snack, and to ensure its most passionate fans never run out of their all-important game time snacks, is challenging consumers across the country to determine whether San Francisco’s or Baltimore’s fans deserve free Wheat Thins. Fans can share their love for one of the two cities by voting on Twitter and Instagram with #SF #MUSTHAVEWHEATTHINS or #BAL #MUSTHAVEWHEATTHINS. In the winning city with the most social ‘noise,’ or votes, Wheat Thins will be making snack runs on Feb. 3, delivering free products so fans can enjoy their favorite snacks without missing a single play. For complete rules, please visit www.musthavewheatthins.com.
The second ad in the “Must. Have. Wheat Thins.” campaign will feature a particularly frustrated fan unable to eat Wheat Thins — in this case, a puppet!
Both ads were produced by creative agency BEING. Ideas and innovation agency AKQA developed the digital experience. Look for future developments in the “Must. Have. Wheat Thins.” campaign on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/wheatthins, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wheatthins or on Twitter @wheatthins.
This 30-second spot due to air at the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter is titled “YourBigIdea.CO” was created by Deutsch in New York. The ad shows people all over the world putting off registering a special .CO domain name, thinking they’re the only ones with the big idea. In the end, the man who did register it is seen on his own private jet, with Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick as his pilot.
Register your big idea at http://GoDaddy.CO and who knows – you could end up on private jet, sipping champagne!
Follow the the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #YourBigIdea.
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Super Bowl XLVII Broadcast News
Thirty-second spots during Super Bowl XLVII are being sold for as much as $3.8 million. (up .3 million from 2012)
The Super Bowl XLVII broadcast will be on CBS and is scheduled to take place in New Orleans on Feb. 3, 2013.
Kick off time is set to be 6:25 pm. (ET)
Beyonce will headline the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show. The 31-year-old will take the stage at the Mercedes Benz Superdome during halftime of this season's NFL championship game. Beyonce may be collaborating with a reunited Destiny's Child and Jay-Z. (Beyoncé's husband)
Fourteen-time Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys will perform the National Anthem for Super Bowl XLVII.
Neilsen Ratings 2012
According to results from The Nielsen Company, the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI on NBC had an average audience of 111.3 million viewers, surpassing last year’s Super Bowl, and thereby breaking the record, yet again, for the most watched television program of all time. The game was viewed in 53.3 million households, with a 47.8 U.S. household rating.
February 8, 2013 
