January 19, 2013
Watch the Top Five Super Bowl Commercials from the past fifteen years (yes, Feb. 3 marks the 16th anniversary of our coverage of your favorite Super Bowl Commercials – SuperBowl-ads.com)
August 17, 2010
Posted: Aug 09, 2010 10:10 a.m.
Sure, we just had the first pre-season NFL game yesterday, but as any coach will tell you, it’s never too early to start planning a trip to the Super Bowl. Just ask General Motors.
Joel Ewanick, GM’s vice president of marketing, told Advertising Age that GM “will return to the Super Bowl in 2011; that an ad campaign will break next month for the Chevy Camaro; and that there’s a new tagline coming for Cadillac, ‘The new standard for the world.’”
As the company comes out of its bankruptcy filing with several new products, GM is increasing its marketing budget. Automotive News reports, “GM is increasing its advertisement spending to levels seen prior to its bankruptcy filing.”
“GM hasn’t advertised during the Super Bowl since 2008, but will be making a return appearance as it continues to distance itself from its 2009 bankruptcy filing. Ewanick failed to reveal what specific plans GM has for the big game, but did reveal all advertising would revolve around the Chevrolet brand,” writes Left Lane News.
For consumers, the extra cash GM is spending on marketing will mean more commercials — but then again, that will also mean more exposure to GM products. Still, “Exactly when these new marketing efforts will start popping up on our TV sets is still to be determined,” writes Autoblog.
If you’re in the market for a new car –and don’t need to wait for GM to start marketing to you — check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.
January 29, 2010
January 28, 2010 11:08 AM Eastern Time
Papa John’s to Integrate Newest “Papa’s in the House” Deliveries into Super Bowl XLIV Telecast
Pizza company’s first-time NFL sponsorship to include 30-second enhancement during first half of The Big Game
LOUISVILLE, Ky.–Since NFL play began in August, Papa John’s has been “in the house” of football fans nationwide, with millions of pizzas delivered at stadiums and homes across the country. The first-time NFL sponsor will culminate the season by being in the house at The Big Game, with some special deliveries featured in a unique integration in the Super Bowl XLIV telecast on CBS on February 7.
“This year, we are excited to be in the house as the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL and Super Bowl XLIV, and to be able to thank the fans and those behind the scenes who make the game great.”
As the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL and Super Bowl XLIV, Papa John’s will be featured in the Super Bowl telecast for the first time in company history. Near the two-minute warning of the first half, Papa John’s Founder John Schnatter will be featured in a 30-second broadcast enhancement, customized and themed for Super Bowl XLIV, celebrating the people who make the NFL and Super Bowl XLIV great — the latest installment in the brand’s “Papa’s in the House” ad campaign.
“As the quality leader in the pizza category, for years football fans have invited Papa John’s to be the guest of honor at their homes while watching the Super Bowl,” said Papa John’s Chief Marketing Officer, Andrew Varga. “This year, we are excited to be in the house as the Official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL and Super Bowl XLIV, and to be able to thank the fans and those behind the scenes who make the game great.”
From now through Super Bowl XLIV, Papa John’s will have exclusive offers and deals available at www.papajohns.com, including its Super XL IV Pizza – an extra-large pizza with up to four toppings for only $11.99, and its 1st and 10 Offer – any large pizza for only $10.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the world’s third largest pizza company. For nine of the last 10 years, consumers have rated Papa John’s No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national pizza chains in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Papa John’s also was honored by Restaurants & Institutions Magazine (R&I) with the 2009 Gold Award for Consumers’ Choice in Chains in the pizza segment, ranked first among pizza companies in the 2008 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, and was named 2007 Pizza Today Chain of the Year. For more information about the company or to order pizza online, visit Papa John’s at www.papajohns.com.
Contacts
Papa John’s International, Inc.
Tish Muldoon, 502-261-4987
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
tish_muldoon@papajohns.com
or
Fleishman-Hillard
Doug Terfehr, 314-982-9134
doug.terfehr@fleishman.com
Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100128006091/en/Papa-John%E2%80%99s-Integrate-Newest-%E2%80%9CPapa%E2%80%99s-House%E2%80%9D-Deliveries
January 22, 2010
Diamond Foods Makes Super Bowl History Featuring Two Brands in One Advertisement
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND), announced today that it will unveil a new, groundbreaking commercial featuring two of its snack food brands —- Pop Secret(R) Popcorn and Emerald(R) Nuts —- during CBS’s coverage of Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, Florida on February 7, 2010.
The Company has a reputation for creating award-winning, memorable ads with its trademark offbeat humor and has been challenging the status quo with a strong history of energizing categories and building brands. This year is no exception.
Diamond Foods will be making a splash with its ad featuring the World’s Most Flamboyant dolphin trainer standing on top of a volcano in the middle of a marine theme park. The commercial begins with the trainer whipping the crowd into a frenzy screaming “Let’s Get Aquatic!” The ad ends with the phrase “Awesome + Awesome = Awesomer.” How this relates to popcorn and snack nuts will be revealed during the second half of the game.
“We have used Super Bowl advertising very effectively over the years to drive broad awareness and growth of our Emerald brand,” said Diamond President and Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Mendes. “This year, we are leveraging our Super Bowl investment featuring both Pop Secret Popcorn and Emerald Nuts in one ad. This reinforces the fact that Diamond has two contemporary snack food brands in its portfolio well-positioned to serve a similar consumer demographic.”
Diamond is no stranger to making memorable ads that positively impact sales having produced award winning ads that aired during Super Bowls in 2005, 2006 and 2007. In each year, the Company experienced high double digit growth in sales following those games as it built the Emerald snack food brand that it launched in 2004. This year, Diamond is sprinkling its magic on Pop Secret Popcorn, the brand it purchased in 2008 and took full control of in February 2009.
Working with San Francisco based advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Diamond has achieved a first in Super Bowl advertising featuring two distinct brands side by side in one commercial.
“We have raised the bar for ourselves and really pushed the envelope to create a unique commercial,” said Andrew Burke, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Diamond Foods. “We are excited with the results and believe we have a memorable spot that will connect with our target audience and dramatically increase our off shelf promotional displays.”
Popcorn and snack nuts are a staple at Super Bowl parties. According to a study by The Integer Group, over 6 million pounds of popcorn and snack nuts will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.
Diamond will be supporting the television ad with a robust marketing campaign that includes print and online advertising. The Company will run a print advertisement in USA Today and online ads the week before the Super Bowl on the websites of USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. After the Super Bowl, the Company will utilize search advertising via Google and YouTube to drive consumers to its branded websites.
Since the middle of December 2009, Diamond has been reinvigorating the Pop Secret brand with its recently launched kernel campaign featuring animated kernel characters that are passionate movie lovers actively watching popular scenes from classic movies. Andy Allcock, Pop Secret Brand Manager added, “We have been receiving very positive responses to the ads. Consumers love them.” The Company has aired over 600 spots during the campaign.
Emerald snack nuts are the fastest growing brand in the snack nut category and have grown sales dollars almost 50% over the previous year.
About Diamond Foods
Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND) is a leading branded food company specializing in producing, marketing and distributing culinary nuts and snack products under the Diamond(R), Emerald(R) and Pop Secret(R) brands.
Corporate Web Site: http://www.diamondfoods.com
Consumer Web Sites: http://www.diamondnuts.com, http://www.emeraldnuts.com, http://www.popsecret.com, http://www.feedyourfingers.com
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners Web Site: http://www.goodbysilverstein.com
SOURCE: Diamond Foods, Inc.
CXO Communication
Richard Simonelli, 650-906-1022 (Media)
Managing Director
rich@cxocommunication.com
or
Diamond Foods, Inc.
Bob Philipps, 415-445-7426 (Investors)
VP, Treasury & Investor Relations
bphilipps@diamondfoods.com
January 21, 2010
For the First Time, Consumers Can Use the Shazam® App to Tag a Television Commercial and Receive Enhanced Brand Content
With consumers now inextricably linked to their mobile devices and connected 24/7, the Dockers® brand has created an innovative way to provide consumers with relevant content on their terms. Dockers® and Shazam® have developed an integrated program that allows consumers who watch the new Dockers® “Men Without Pants” TV commercial to use their mobile devices to engage at a deeper level with the brand – a world’s first. Once the ad is “shazamed,” viewers will link directly to a branded-content site. This technology is a major step forward in making TV clickable like digital media.
The new commercial debuts during the Super Bowl XLIV broadcast on February 7 on CBS, the first Dockers commercial to air on the Super Bowl since 2002. Viewers who have Shazam® downloaded on their smartphones can tag the spot and are instantly taken to a branded-content page. On this page, consumers can read about the “Wear the Pants™” campaign, learn about and purchase the “I Wear No Pants” track and more. The ad debut will also include a khaki pant giveaway promotion that can be entered immediately via consumer mobile devices with the Shazam® technology. The commercial continues through 2010 on a variety of shows and networks including NBA on TNT, FX, Comedy Central and the Discovery Channel and will also air online immediately following the Super Bowl debut. The khaki give away runs from February 7 – 15, 2010.
“The Dockers® brand is not only reinventing the khaki, but also how it engages consumers in relevant and meaningful ways,” said Jim Calhoun, Dockers® Brand President. “With the Shazam technology, we are inviting consumers to dig deeper into our brand and our products with the touch of a button.”
“Consumers are increasingly looking to connect with the brands they love on a richer, more emotional level, and our world-first partnership with Dockers® is a clear and unique
example of how that engagement can be achieved,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “Innovation has always been at the heart of the Shazam proposition, and this partnership represents the first opportunity for Shazamers to experience this new brand journey in 2010.”
The specially created soundtrack for the spot, which is performed by the actors featured in the ad, was inspired by the song “I Wear no Pants” by The Poxy Boggards, a 13-man band who perform original and traditional songs. The original Poxy Boggards song is available for purchase online.
The brand’s new “Wear the Pants™” global ad campaign launched in December 2009 and is fully integrated with broadcast, print, billboard, radio, social media, events and digital marketing. The campaign celebrates the reemergence of the khaki as the go-to versatile pant in a man’s wardrobe. The tongue-in-cheek campaign encourages men to Wear the Pants™ and has stirred up a passionate discussion online about what it means to be a man and the role of gender in today’s society.
The “Wear the Pants™” campaign and television spot were created by the San Francisco office of Draft/FCB. The innovative integration of Shazam® was developed in partnership with Ignition Factory, a creative media specialty unit of Dockers® media buying agency OMD. Dockers® works with the Ignition Factory to develop breakthrough marketing concepts in media, technology and pop-culture and proactively find new ways to reach and engage consumers.
For consumers that don’t have the Shazam® application on their smartphone, it is available on AT&T by texting “pants” to 7299 (messaging and data rates may apply), or by downloading it from the AT&T App Center. The Shazam® application can also be found on BlackBerry App World, App store, Android Market, Windows Phone Marketplace and the Ovi Store by Nokia.
# # #
About the Dockers® Brand
The Dockers® brand has embodied the spirit of khaki for more than 20 years. Since their introduction in 1986, Dockers® has been perfecting khakis—and the essential goods to go with them—for men and women all over the world. No compromises in quality.
Just versatile, essential style. Day to night. Monday to Sunday. Wearing the pants has never looked so good. For information on Dockers® and its products, please call 1-800-DOCKERS or visit www.Dockers.com.
About Shazam®
Shazam® is the world’s leading mobile music discovery application – enabling consumers to experience and share music with others across mobile devices and the Internet. Since its launch as the first mobile-specific service to help users discover new music seven years ago, over 50 million people have used the service. Shazam has created a new way for users to connect to each other through their music tastes and preferences.
Headquartered in London, England, Shazam’s solutions enhance the music strategies of carriers in more than 150 countries, including AT&T, T-Mobile and Vodafone. It has deployed across multiple platforms such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian and Java.
The Shazam Tag Chart, generated by the company’s mobile music recognition service, is constantly referenced by the music industry as a true indicator of market interest in pre-release material and a monitor of the hit potential of a track or artist.
Shazam’s successes have been recognized through numerous awards, including the Mobile Entertainment Award for Best Music Service Provider.
For more information please visit www.shazam.com
The Shazam name and symbol are trademarks of Shazam Entertainment Limited.
About OMD
OMD is the largest and most innovative media communications specialist in the world, with more than 140 offices in 80 countries. Named Most Creative Agency in the World by The Gunn Report for Media for four consecutive years, OMD also has the distinction of being named 2008 Global Media Agency of the Year by Adweek. The agency network is a unit of Omnicom Group, Inc.
via pitchengine.com
January 11, 2010
Historical Advertising Data Showcases Super Bowl’s Leading Spenders, Quadrupled Ad Rates and More Cluttered Air Time
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The escalating chatter surrounding Super Bowl XLIV is not just about the teams competing for the 2010 championship. The TV commercials that will appear during the game are also the subject of discussion and speculation. And participating advertisers will once again be confronted with the difficult question of whether the Super Bowl is a smart marketing investment or a wasted use of the budget.
TNS Media Intelligence has again combed through its extensive database to report on the past 20 years of Super Bowl advertising. From 1990 thru 2009, the Super Bowl game has generated $2.17 billion of network sales from a total of 210 different advertisers and more than 1,400 commercial messages.
“The Super Bowl remains a singular event for engaging the broadest number of consumers at one time,” said Mark Nesbitt, President, TNS Media Intelligence. “Because it is viewed live and experienced by a majority of the country at the same time, a commercial presence on the broadcast has great significance and impact for a brand, making each not so much a brand message as a brand event. It is why a presence on the broadcast lends itself so effectively to an integrated marketing effort.”
“As an advertising event, the Super Bowl has evolved beyond a vehicle for presenting expensive, stand-alone commercial spots that seek to entertain viewers and generate awareness,” said Jon Swallen, SVP Research for TNS Media Intelligence. “Increasingly, in-game spots are being supplemented by elaborate integrated communications programs that attempt to drive traffic online or in-store, generate positive social media discussion, incorporate public relations effort and ultimately achieve a strong ROI.”
Top Five Super Bowl Advertisers
The top five Super Bowl advertisers of the past 20 years have spent $783 million on advertising during the game, accounting for 36 percent of total advertising revenue. Anheuser-Busch and PepsiCo, which have appeared in every game during this period, lead the pack, followed by General Motors, Walt Disney and Time Warner.
| TOP 5 SUPER BOWL ADVERTISERS
1990-2009 |
|||||||
|
Rank |
Advertiser |
# of Years With |
Ad Spend |
||||
| 1 | Anheuser-Busch | 20 | $ | 311.8 | |||
| 2 | PepsiCo | 20 | $ | 254.2 | |||
| 3 | General Motors | 15 | $ | 80.5 | |||
| 4 | Walt Disney | 10 | $ | 71.6 | |||
| 5 | Time Warner | 12 | $ | 64.8 | |||
| Top 5 Total | $ | 783.0 | |||||
| Source: TNS Media Intelligence | |||||||
Although Pepsi soft drinks will not be advertised in this year’s game, ending a 23-year streak, the PepsiCo parent company will still be represented by its Frito-Lay snack food division. General Motors will be absent from the game for the second year in a row. Prior to dropping out in 2009, GM had advertised in 11 of the previous 12 Super Bowls.
The Price of Advertising
The cost of a 30-second advertisement in the Super Bowl has more than quadrupled in the past 20 years and reached $3 million in 2009. The recessionary environment is expected to yield lower pricing for the 2010 game, with CBS reportedly selling 30-second units for between $2.5 and $2.8 million.
The amount paid by individual marketers will vary depending on where the ad runs in the game, how much commercial time is purchased and whether the advertiser opts for a larger package that includes spots in the pre-game and/or post-game coverage.
| SUPER BOWL ADVERTISING:
RATES AND REVENUE 1990-2009 |
||||
|
Year |
Cost :30 Unit |
Total Ad Revenue |
||
| 1990 | 700 | 39.0 | ||
| 1995 | 1,150 | 69.7 | ||
| 2000 | 2,100 | 135.1 | ||
| 2005 | 2,400 | 159.2 | ||
| 2006 | 2,500 | 162.5 | ||
| 2007 | 2,385 | 153.7 | ||
| 2008 | 2,700 | 186.3 | ||
| 2009 | 3,000 | 213.0 | ||
| Source: TNS Media Intelligence | ||||
First Time Advertisers
Since 2005, the annual Super Bowl ad lineup has had between 30 and 35 different companies. First-time advertisers are accounting for 20-25 percent of the ad roster. The ad time vacated by such long-time sponsors as FedEx, General Motors and Pepsi is being taken over by other companies eager for the recognition and brand-building opportunity of the Super Bowl stage.
The first-time advertisers in the 2009 game were Cash4Gold.com, Castrol, Denny’s, Teleflora and Vizio. For the 2010 contest, the rookie lineup is expected to include Electronic Arts and HomeAway, among others.
| NUMBER OF SUPER BOWL ADVERTISERS BY YEAR | ||||||||||
|
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
||||||
| All Advertisers | 34 | 32 | 30 | 32 | 30 | |||||
| First-Timers | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | |||||
| Source: TNS Media Intelligence | ||||||||||
More Advertising, More Clutter
Over the past ten years, the volume of commercial time in the game has been edging upwards even as the price of advertising has become more expensive. The NBC telecast of the 2009 Super Bowl contained a record 45 minutes, 5 seconds of network ads. This included paying sponsors, commercial messages from the NFL, plus “house ads” aired by CBS to promote its own shows.
Source: TNS Media Intelligence
Top Super Bowl Advertising Categories
What kinds of products are most frequently advertised on the Super Bowl? The popular perception is that beer, soft drinks and autos are the prime ad categories, given their annual presence in the game.
Actually, the leader by dollar value is promotional advertising from the network itself. In a typical Super Bowl, 15-20 percent of all commercial time is a plug by the network for its own programming. In 2009, the value of this air time exceeded $42 million.
| Network Promotions In The Super Bowl | ||||||
|
Time |
% of All Ad |
Value |
||||
| 2006 | 7:20 | 16.6% | $36.7 | |||
| 2007 | 9:35 | 22.2% | $46.7 | |||
| 2008 | 7:55 | 18.2% | $42.8 | |||
| 2009 | 7:05 | 15.7% | $42.5 | |||
| Source: TNS Media Intelligence | ||||||
“The Super Bowl offers the host network an attractive platform to promote its upcoming programming and try to build an audience,” added Swallen. “In deciding how much ad time to keep for itself, the network has to assess the trade-off between giving up current revenue in the game versus building future revenue from its other programming.”
Over the past decade, the Super Bowl has attracted a bevy of different movie studio, automotive and dot-com companies, making them the most populous and competitive ad categories.
|
Number of Super Bowl Advertisers By Category |
|||||||||||
|
Category |
2000 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
|||||
| Auto Manufacturers | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | |||||
| Dot-com | 14 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 9 | |||||
| Motion Pictures | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | |||||
| Source: TNS Media Intelligence | |||||||||||
How Big is the Super Bowl Versus Other Sport Franchises?
The Major League Baseball’s World Series and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship are two other high profile sporting events that attract significant interest from TV advertisers. But how do these compare to the Super Bowl in terms of ad spend?
The World Series is four to seven games. March Madness peaks with the semi-finals and championship on its final weekend, a total of three games. The Super Bowl, of course, is a single telecast. In recent years, the Super Bowl and World Series have been running neck and neck in total ad spending. In 2009, baseball pulled slightly ahead as the Fall Classic went to a sixth game for the first time since 2003.
| MAJOR SPORTING CHAMPIONSHIPS
NETWORK TV AD REVENUE ($ MILLIONS) |
||||||
|
Super Bowl |
World Series |
NCAA Basketball |
||||
| 2005 | $158.4 | $146.9 (4) | $142.2 (3) | |||
| 2006 | $162.5 | $160.8 (5) | $154.7 (3) | |||
| 2007 | $151.5 | $156.6 (4) | $168.4 (3) | |||
| 2008 | $182.3 | $176.2 (5) | $177.9 (3) | |||
| 2009 | $213.0 | $223.6 (6) | $163.2 (3) | |||
| Source: TNS Media Intelligence | ||||||
About TNS Media
Established in more than 30 countries, TNS Media explores all media – print, radio, TV, Internet, social media, cinema and outdoor worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full range of insights, analyses and audience measurement services.
TNS Media combines the deepest expertise in the industry to provide media and marketing intelligence including advertising expenditure monitoring, advertising creation monitoring, audience measurement, market influence analytics, online consumer behavior tracking, news monitoring, sports sponsorship evaluation and more. The TNS Media companies track more than 3 million brands and provide vital market intelligence to 16,000 customers around the world. For further information, please visit www.tnsmediagroup.com.
About Kantar
Kantar is one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.
For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com.
February 15, 2008
Companies that spent big bucks to air advertisements during the Super Bowl did not necessarily see those dollars translate into more visits to their Web sites this year.
Traffic to Super Bowl advertisers’ Web sites saw no dramatic increase during the game this year, according to a figures released Monday by Akamai Technologies (Nasdaq: AKAM), a Cambridge, Mass.-based content delivery network company. Sites averaged between 150,000 to 200,000 visitors each hour, about the same amount of traffic seen in previous weeks.
Akamai delivered the Web sites and advertising content for approximately half of the companies that aired commercials during the Super Bowl, according to company spokesperson Jeff Young. This year’s advertisments featured fewer commercials with so-called cliff hangers, which drive viewers to a company’s Web site to see the conclusion of the ad, Young said.
“These numbers reflect there wasn’t as much of a push toward the Web this year,” he said. “Many advertisers didn’t even include a Web site or Web component in their ad this year, which perhaps indicates people may be more comfortable now finding them online.”
Web traffic is expected to increase over the course of the day Monday as people head back to the office and check out ads online.
“These ads are so popular people want to replay them again and again online,” said Young.
via bizjournals.com
February 10, 2008
|
Baby, you’re a star He spit up in front of 97.4 million people and “underestimated the creepiness” of a clown he hired, but the 9-month-old in E-Trade’s (ETFC) two Super Bowl ads is a star. Both ads aired late in the game, but ranked 13th and 14th out of 53 game ads with consumers rating the ads in real time for USA TODAY’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter. Since then, they’ve been two of the most-watched game ads online and finished high in measures of online buzz. How they made the ads: The crew at agency Grey New York filmed the baby (his name is not being disclosed) sitting in a highchair before a green screen making expressions, mostly in response to his mother. She sat in an adjacent room for the filming and was seen by the baby on a monitor. Added later digitally: the mouth movements of a 5-year-old actor, the voice of a 30-year-old and the keyboard, room items and clown.
VIEW, RATE SUPER BOWL ADS: See all Super Bowl ads and their Ad Meter scores, with second-by-second responses from our panel
AD METER CHART: Bud takes top honors again; see how all the ads ranked
WORD-OF-MOUTH HITS: E-Trade baby, Bud’s dog and pony ads build buzz
The director’s cut Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese calls for quiet on the set in a new “silence your cellphone” theater ad from AT&T(T). The plot: A woman chats with her husband, then hands the phone to her young son so he can say goodnight to his dad. Scorsese rushes in and says the plot of this “ordinary” phone call isn’t working for him. “There’s no edge to it,” he says. He then directs the woman to envision she is “trapped in a loveless marriage.” He tells the boy to visualize his father, on a business trip, as an ex-convict who betrayed him and should be killed. The tag line: “We won’t interrupt your phone calls. Please don’t interrupt our movies.” Giant-ade Ah, the thirst quencher with a New York Giants kick. Gatorade (PEP) has brewed-up a limited-edition bottle of Gatorade with a silver label that celebrates the Giants’ victory over the New England Patriots. It says: NY Super Bowl XLII Champs. Bottles can be ordered for $2.25 each or by the case of 24 for $24.99 (plus shipping). But better order quick, Big Blue fans. There are only 2,520 bottles in stock, says Matt Knott, vice president of marketing. “First come, first serve.” Yes, they also had a set ready for a Patriots perfect season. They’ve been destroyed, so don’t bother scouring eBay (EBAY). What did go up on eBay: Five of the Super Bowl bottles autographed by MVP Eli Manning. Gatorade auctioned them to raise funds for the United Way and to support kids activities. Perfect timing Under Armour (UA) paid big bucks to advertise its new sports shoe during the Super Bowl, but rivals Reebok and Nike(NKE) were hot on its heels after the game with ads congratulating the Giants in ESPN’s 11 p.m. SportsCenter. The Reebok ad, which also aired on the NFL Network, featured players from the 1972 Miami Dolphins, still the only team with an undefeated season. The Dolphins players are enjoying a “perfect” day, barbecuing in “Perfectville,” when a delivery man drops off a package. Inside is a football and a card reading: “A gift from the New York Giants. Enjoy it for one more year.” See the ad here. Nike’s simple ad — black background with white text— also ran for a few days afterward. Phrases such as “perfect interceptions” and “perfect inconsistency” make a nod to the Giant’s rocky start. Then they turn upbeat, ending with: “Perfect when it counts.” Both advertisers had alternate plans for a different outcome: Reebok’s ad would have ended with a moving van bringing new neighbors to Perfectville: the New England Patriots. Nike would have subbed an ad citing everything perfect about the Pats. Salesgenie.com rethinks pandas Vinod Gupta — the InfoUSA(IUSA) CEO who owns Salesgenie.com and writes and produces its ads himself — is going to give his ads a trial run before they open on the Super Bowl stage next year.
He doesn’t want to have to kill one after the game as he did last week after complaints from people offended by his animated pandas with Chinese accents. Gupta says he’ll create a selection of ads next year and test them with consumer focus groups. This year, he says, he only ran the ad by some friends. “None said it was offensive,” he says. He also asserts his ad was no more offensive than an Anheuser-Busch(BUD) ad in which comedian Carlos Mencia teaches pick-up lines to immigrants with accents. “If it’s produced by a big agency, nobody trashes it,” says Gupta, who is Indian, “but if it’s done by an Indian in Nebraska, you’re gonna hear about it.” A-B says it test edits ads carefully — in the way Gupta plans to do next year.”Before airing commercials on the most-watched program of the year, we show them to focus groups of adults from a broad range of ethnicities and nationalities,” says Dave Peacock, vice president, marketing. “Across the board, this spot was very well-liked, which was reflected in the high score it received on the USA TODAY Ad Meter.” The A-B ad ranked No. 11 in the annual Super Bowl Ad Meter real-time consumer ratings. The Salesgenie commercial was No. 44 out of 53 in-game ads. Super Bowl Idol One of the musicians who scored big online sales gains from playing in the Super Bowl was Doritos online song contest winner Kina Grannis. Her original tune Message From Your Heart floated into the Top 30 on iTunes. Doritos produced a music video of Grannis’ performance of the song and aired it in the first quarter of the game, giving her an audience of nearly 100 million people. Also scoring was Haddaway, with Top 100 iTunes sales after Super Bowl exposure. His 1993 club hit What is Love provided the insistent beat for the bobbing heads in the Diet Pepsi Max ad. The biggest sales winner: Tom Petty, who did some of his familiar hits in the Bridgestone-sponsored halftime show. His greatest hits album has been the No. 3 album download on iTunes since the Super Bowl, and five of his single tracks have been in the Top 100. By Laura Petrecca, Theresa Howard, Bruce Horovitz ASK THE AD TEAM Q: Could you please settle a longtime debate? In the early ’80s there was a commercial with the pitch:”Best eatin’ in town, up ‘n’ down ‘n’ all around.” I think its spokesman was a Western movies actor. The argument is whether it was for Hardee’s or Arby’s. A: This took some work to track down, but the answer is Hardee’s — thanks to Lee Staak, a former president of the Independent Hardee’s Franchisee Association and a longtime Hardee’s franchisee in Iowa, who kindly helped out with the answer while vacationing in Florida. Staak says the campaign, by agency Benton & Bowles, ran in the mid- to late 1970s, and its eight-year run marked the longest-running ad campaign Hardee’s has done. Says Staak: “The star of the campaign was RoadRunner, a young stock car driver played by soap opera actor Phil McHale. RoadRunner’s sidekick was Ernie, his mechanic. They traveled the racing circuit, stopping at Hardee’s in every town to try their favorite roast beef sandwiches (or whatever new product Hardee’s wanted to advertise). They also had a hometown Hardee’s where they were regulars and the female manager swooned over Runner. McHale was always on the road doing personal appearances at Hardee’s and drawing huge crowds. Our own personal company celebrity.” Thanks, Lee! Not an answer you could get from Google or Wikipedia — or Hardee’s headquarters. CKE(CKR), parent of Carl’s Jr., bought Hardee’s in 1997 and knew nothing about the 1970s campaign. Q: I was wondering if you know the name of the song that is sung on the Jeep commercial with all the forest animals in it? It starts “Rock me gently, rock me slowly …” A: The song is Rock Me Gently by Andy Kim, a Canadian-Lebanese singer who had a number of Top 40 hits through the 1970s. In the Jeep Liberty ad, a young man drives along a wooded road with the windows open and music cranking. Soon, a menagerie of animals ends up in the car with the driver, singing along to the upbeat, infectious song.
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| Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2008-02-10-ad-track_N.htm |
February 8, 2008
Hitwise, announced the Super Bowl XLII advertiser websites with the largest increases in market share of visits on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 3, 2008) were Hyundai (www.hyundaigenesis.com), up 1450 percent versus Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, Paramount’s Ironman Movie (www.ironmanmovie.com), up 800 percent and GoDaddy.com, which increased 616 percent.
| Super Bowl Advertiser Websites Ranked By Percent Change Based on Daily Market Share of U.S. Visits |
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| Advertiser | Domain |
Sunday % Change |
Monday % Change |
| Hyundai | www.hyundaigenesis.com |
1450% |
-55% |
| Paramount | www.ironmanmovie.com |
800% |
-33% |
| GoDaddy | www.godaddy.com |
616% |
-30% |
| Audi | www.truthinengineering.com |
433% |
NA |
| SalesGenie | www.salesgenie.com |
333% |
15% |
| Office of National Drug Control Policy | www.theantidrug.com |
200% |
0% |
| New Line Cinema | www.semipromovie.com |
200% |
133% |
| Gatorade | www.gatorade.com |
200% |
-33% |
| Under Armour | www.underarmour.com |
156% |
-22% |
| Bud Light | www.budlight.com |
100% |
0% |
| Tide | www.mytalkingstain.com |
57% |
NA |
| GMC | www.gmc.com |
39% |
-25% |
| Coke | www.coca-cola.com |
33% |
25% |
| CareerBuilder | www.careerbuilder.com |
27% |
39% |
| Budweiser | www.budweiser.com |
25% |
20% |
| Planters | www.planters.com |
15% |
0% |
| Dell | www.dell.com |
8% |
9% |
| Cars.com | www.cars.com |
2% |
5% |
| Garmin | www.garmin.com |
0% |
22% |
| T-Mobile | www.t-mobile.com |
-1% |
-7% |
| Victoria’s Secret | www.victoriassecret.com |
-2% |
19% |
| Toyota | www.toyota.com |
-10% |
-3% |
| Toshiba | www.toshibadirect.com |
-15% |
32% |
| Disney | www.disney.com |
-17% |
-34% |
| Taco Bell | www.tacobell.com |
-20% |
-25% |
| eTrade | www.etrade.com |
-27% |
175% |
| Sunsilk | www.lifecantwait.com |
-29% |
100% |
| FedEx | www.fedex.com |
-31% |
136% |
| 20th Century Fox | www.jumperthemovie.com |
-50% |
-50% |
| Claritin | www.claritin.com |
NA |
100% |
| Vitamin Water | www.vitaminwater.com |
NA |
-50% |
| AMP | www.ampenergy.com |
NA |
200% |
| Note – the data is based on the daily market share of U.S. visits among all US Internet users from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users. The Sunday percent change is based on comparing the daily market share of U.S. visits for Feb. 3, 2008 vs. Feb. 2, 2008. The Monday percent change is based on comparing the daily market share of U.S. visits for Feb. 4, 2008 vs. Feb. 3, 2008. | |||
| Source: Hitwise | |||
Labels: HitWise
February 6, 2008
RESTON, VA – comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of its annual Super Bowl post-game survey. The survey of 1,139 U.S. Internet users who watched Super Bowl XLII, which featured the New York Giants’ improbable victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, was conducted on February 3-4, 2008. With two large market teams and the Patriots’ quest for a perfect season on the line, the television broadcast averaged a record 97 million viewers throughout the game, making the event even more important than usual for this year’s advertisers.
Anheuser-Busch Reigns as King of Ads
The most popular advertiser during the Super Bowl was Anheuser-Busch, whose commercials for Bud and Bud Light (including comedian Will Ferrell’s offbeat spot) scored well amongst viewers, with nearly half indicating they would most like to see the commercials again. Beverage spots were particularly popular this year, with a large percentage of respondents saying they would also like to see ads for Pepsi (28 percent) and Coca Cola (25 percent) again.
Q: Which of this year’s Super Bowl advertisers’ ads would you like to see again? (Select 3)
February 3-4, 2008;
Source: comScore, Inc.
Anheuser-Busch (Bud/Bud Light)
49%
Pepsi
28%
Coca Cola
25%
FedEx
18%
Bridgestone
17%
1 in 8 Viewers Watched Super Bowl Ads Online
The Internet has become a key part of following the Super Bowl on game day, for both game-related and ad-related purposes. For game-related purposes, 11 percent of respondents indicated they used the Internet to monitor stats and stories related to the game, while 3 percent said they went online to place bets on the game.
The Super Bowl has also become an important vehicle for cross-media advertising. Though the ads are viewed on TV, many of them direct their audience to a Web site for related information, content, or promotions. This year, 13 percent of respondents said that they watched a Super Bowl ad online after the game. A similar 13 percent also said that they visited an advertiser Web site after the Super Bowl. Of those who visited an advertiser’s Web site, 38 percent said they visited GoDaddy.com, while 22 percent visited Coca Cola’s site and 21 percent visited Pepsi’s site.
Hyundai Does Most to Help its Brand, SalesGenie.com the Least
Super Bowl ads are often a risky venture for advertisers due to the increased attention and scrutiny they receive, not to mention the reported $2.7 million price tag for a 30-second spot. Though most ads elicit a highly positive impression of the brand being advertised, in some cases advertisers can actually incur damage to their brand. Respondents were asked whether the Super Bowl ads they saw improved or hurt their impression of the brands being advertised, and each of this year’s advertisers did see some level of brand improvement.
Hyundai’s advertisement for the Genesis had the most positive impact on its brand, with 46 percent of respondents indicating it helped the brand, while just 1 percent said it damaged the brand, giving it a net improvement score of 45 percent. Anheuser-Busch once again got an overwhelmingly positive response, while Bridgestone earned the third highest net improvement score with its humorous ad featuring Richard Simmons.
Q: Which Super Bowl advertisers’ ads improved or damaged your impression of the brand in any way?
February 3-4, 2008;
Source: comScore, Inc.
Highest Improvement
Improved
Damaged
Net Improvement Score
Hyundai
46%
1%
45%<
Anheuser-Busch (Bud/Bud Light)
44%
2%
42%
Bridgestone
42%
3%
39%
Lowest Improvement
Improved
Damaged
Net Improvement Score
SalesGenie.com
21%
18%
3%
GoDaddy.com
26%
13%
13%
Under Armour
30%
12%
18%
*based on minimum 100 survey responses
Meanwhile, SalesGenie.com had the highest “brand damage” score, but still managed a small net improvement score. Perennially controversial Super Bowl advertiser GoDaddy.com also drew a high negative response with its racy ad featuring race car driver Danica Patrick.
“Anheuser-Busch’s performance in this study reinforces the persuasive power of combining likeability with the right messaging,” said Barry Krause, CEO of Persuasion Arts & Sciences, a new model agency. “Regardless of how many hits they receive, Sales Genie, on the other hand, missed an opportunity by turning off almost as many people as they turned on.”
via comscore.com
February 5, 2008
By Bruce Horovitz, Laura Petrecca, Theresa Howard and Erin Kutz, USA TODAY
The days of Super Bowl ads littered with celebrities may be numbered. Celebs of various sorts showed up in 18 ads this year, but not one cracked the top five in USA TODAY’s Ad Meter, an exclusive real-time consumer rating of the ads.
Shut out of even the top 10: Pepsi’s (PEP) high-priced Justin Timberlake, Carmen Electra for Ice Breakers, Shaquille O’Neal for Vitaminwater and Richard Simmons and Alice Cooper for Bridgestone. In the game’s celeb heyday of the 1980s, Michael Jackson could make a Pepsi ad an event, and Michael Jordan took ads into rare air. On the latest Super Sunday, some celeb ads even crashed.
How celebrity ads ranked in the 2008 Ad Meter:
No. 7: Charlie Brown, Coca-Cola
The top-rated celebrity in the game was a balloon: cartoon character and a perennial loser Charlie Brown. In this ad for Coke (KO), a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon of the Peanuts character beats balloons of Underdog and Family Guy‘s baby Stewie to grab a giant floating Coke bottle. Charlie helped Coke trump Pepsi for top soft-drink in Ad Meter.
No. 10: Naomi Campbell, SoBe Life Water
Supermodel Campbell, dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, was upstaged by gyrating lizards. The lizards also made some viewers think the ad was for Geico, which has a gecko mascot. “Geico has the lizard market cornered,” says USA TODAY reader Michelle Couwenhoven. “SoBe not so much.”
No. 13: Shaq, Glacéau Vitaminwater
Shaquille O’Neal looks huge. The horse looks tiny. But that one-trick pony of a sight gag didn’t gallop Glacéau Vitaminwater — now a Coca-Cola brand — into Ad Meter’s top 10.
Give Shaq some credit, though: No stunt doubles were used in the making of this ad, even though just about everyone involved (including maybe the horse) wanted to hire one.
“I’m an all-purpose man,” O’Neal told USA TODAY. “I’m pretty good at riding the horse, being from Texas and all.”
No. 16: Cooper/Simmons: Bridgestone
Let’s see. Besides a raccoon or possum, what creatures might appear in the road in a night driver’s headlights? A deer, of course — and rocker Alice Cooper, above, and exercise guru Richard Simmons. Ironically, Bridgestone scored far better — No. 3 — with an ad starring just forest critters screaming than it did with putting these celebs in the woods.
No. 21: Justin Timberlake, Pepsi
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| Pepsi | |
| Timberlake goes on a wild ride. | |
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This Pepsi ad was proof that Big Stars can’t always guarantee Big Ads. In the spot, Timberlake is inexplicably yanked into a series of hazards by a young woman sucking her Pepsi through a straw. One laugh: Timberlake gets caught on mailbox post, and his crotch gets crunched not once, but three painful times. Cosmic punishment, perhaps, for his hand in Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction.”
No. 23: Adriana Lima, Victoria’s Secret
It sounds like a recipe for love: sultry supermodel Adriana Lima in lingerie with Brenda Lee’s I’m in the Mood for Love playing in the background. But it was a so-so turn-on for Ad Meter panelists. The ad was shot in one take, and Limas told USA TODAY her instruction was to “think about your boyfriend watching the Super Bowl and you are trying to get his attention.”
Lima tried her darnedest, but it was an unusually exciting game.
No. 28: Barkley/Wade, T-Mobile
Basketball all-star Dwyane Wade can’t get Charles Barkley off his case. No matter where Wade goes, Barkley finds him on his cellphone. Problem: The ad goes on for 60 seconds instead of 30. Ad Meter panelists wanted to hang up on it. So did USA TODAY reader Richard Shapiro of Tampa, who said that the ad “made it very clear to me NOT to get a T-Mobile phone.”
No. 38: Will Ferrell, Bud Light
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|
| Anheuser-Busch | |
| Ferrell shoots, misses. | |
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|
Will Ferrell was a hit on Saturday Night Live. Ditto for his string of films, including Blades of Glory and Talladega Nights. In this Bud Light commercial, however, based on his character in his upcoming basketball flick, Semi-Pro, Ferrell shot an air ball with the Ad Meter panel.
No. 44: Carmen Electra, Ice Breakers
Carmen Electra apparently is supposed to be funny in this poorly ranked spot in which a fan impresses her (and upsets her bodyguards) by offering her some Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum. He is wrestled to the ground for his troubles.
The Ad Meter panelists were less impressed — and forgot to laugh. Maybe they could find some comic relief in her Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease exercise videos.
No. 48: Danica Patrick, GoDaddy.com
Race car driver Danica Patrick may have crashed and burned what seemed a promising ad career by showing up in this oh-so-tacky Go Daddy commercial — actually a promo to go online for the even tackier “real” ad rejected by Fox. She unzips the top of her racing suit, hinting there’s more online. There’s not — only a tasteless joke involving a live rodent. Wave her off the track.
Some of the faces in the crowd
No. 8: Missy Elliott, Diet Pepsi Max. The singer led a celeb-filled cast, including LL Cool J, Macy Gray and Busta Rhymes. The premise: Diet Pepsi Max, with ginseng and extra caffeine, cures nodding off. The ad, with its pumping dance track (What is Love), perked up Ad Meter panelists.
No. 9: Faux Ugly Betty: Planters. Christa Woomer, 32, is not America Ferrera of Ugly Betty, but the reference was clear. The mono-browed faux-Betty who sent lads swooning to the tune of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You also outsmarted the beautiful people. “Pretty girls have their place,” she says, “but it’s wonderful to show a little less glamorous character. Most of us don’t look like Victoria’s Secret models.” They can, however, finish 14 spots higher in Ad Meter than a real one.
No. 12: Carlos Mencia, Bud Light. Mencia is the famous face, but his co-stars steal the ad as immigrants he tutors in picking up women.
No. 18: Chester Pitts, National Football League. It was an ad for the self-promoting NFL, but this endearing story of a grocery bagger becoming an NFL star scored at least a field goal in Ad Meter.
No. 29: Bill Frist/James Carville, Coca-Cola. Coke figured election-minded viewers would love seeing the former GOP senator bond with a famous Democrat over a Coke. Maybe next year Coke should try George Bush and Al Gore.
No. 42: Alex Rocco, Audi. This parody of the horse-head scene from The Godfather may have jarred film fans because Rocco was a different character in the 1972 film. Then again, a lot of viewers weren’t born when the film was made.
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| Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2008-02-05-celebrities-super-bowl-ads-admeter_N.htm |
February 4, 2008
|Christine Daniels
Giant carrier pigeons terrorize a towering skyscraper. Justin Timberlake is thrown onto the street and dragged into traffic. One beer drinker torches a romantic dinner with his flame-throwing breather and another gets sucked into a jet engine.
What did the creators of this year’s Super Bowl commercials know about the fate that awaited the New England Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl?
Mayhem and destruction were overriding themes in the commercial barrage that was interrupted by long stretches of the Patriots spinning their wheels during the New York Giants’ 17-14 upset victory, tripping up New England’s quest for a 19-0 season at the final leg. Perfection is never the goal of these ads. Far from it. Shock value remains a popular objective, but try as these ads did, nothing plugging liquid refreshment, cars, tires or websites approached the edge-of-the-seat surprise that accompanied Eli Manning’s late touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress.
And nothing scripted by the people at CareerBuilder.com did more for the concept of career building than the Giants’ Manning.
Consider precisely what Manning accomplished with his 19-for-34, 255-yard, two-touchdown passing performance in Glendale, Ariz. He not only kept pace with the tough act carved out last year by one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks (his older brother Peyton, who defeated the Chicago Bears in 2007), but also upstaged another (Tom Brady, who had been 3-0 in Super Bowls) on the same field.
Eli was like the Clydesdale in the Budweiser commercial. One year, he’s cut from the squad. The next, he makes the grade, thanks to perseverance, faith and some unusual coaching.
(One difference between the personal-trainer Dalmatian in the commercial and Giants Coach Tom Coughlin: The Dalmatian never changed its spots. Today, however, Coughlin’s upgraded resume includes the line: Yes, he can win the big ones after all.)
It was this kind of Super Bowl: The Miami Heat (9-36) had a much better day than the Patriots. Two of the telecast’s better commercials featured members of the less-than-lukewarm Heat. Shaquille O’Neal as a late-charging, physics-defying winning jockey was the thrust of a Glaceau Vitaminwater spot. In another ad, for T-Mobile, viewers suffered along with Dwyane Wade as he was pestered by never-ending phone calls from Charles Barkley.
February 4, 2008
This was the eighth Super Bowl of the 21st century, but if you were only paying attention to the commercials, you might have thought it was the 1970s, ’80s or ’90s.
It wasn’t just older themes that played during the between-plays breaks in Super Bowl XLII, such as Budweiser’s Dalmatians and Clydesdales, which have been commercial stars during the big game for decades. Sunday’s Super Bowl ads also referred to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the Andrea True disco song “More, More, More” and the “Saturday Night Live” skit that led to the 1998 movie “A Night at the Roxbury.” And that was just in the first half.
Nostalgia was definitely the way to go for many of the top advertising agencies that handled the multimillion-dollar accounts for Super Bowl regulars such as Anheuser-Busch, Coke and Pepsi – and newcomers including Tide. But it was also part of a general theme of playing it safe that was pervasive this year. After Janet Jackson’s exposed nipple shocked the world in 2004 and Budweiser featured a chainsaw-wielding madman in 2007, this year’s ads were almost all fun and fit for the family.
“Less brave. No risk,” wrote Publicis US advertising executive Bob Moore, who was live blogging on SuperAdFreak.com. “More talking animals.”
As for the quality, it was a decent year, with several memorable ads and only a couple of catastrophes, including some Chinese stereotype pandas for a Salesgenie.com commercial that seems most likely to result in the first Super Bowl ad apology of the season. (Or maybe not. A Salesgenie exec boasted that his commercials were intentionally bad. In this game, some companies want negative attention.)
Around the blogosphere, the public seemed to be split, with many of the armchair critics acting underwhelmed with the output – while several experts who write about the advertising world suggested it was a pretty good year.
Standouts included a nostalgia-saturated Coke commercial, where giant parade balloons of Underdog and “Family Guy” baby Stewie duke it out over New York for an inflatable bottle of Coke, before it gets swiped by a Charlie Brown balloon. (The special effects were seamless – and after losing the football all those years, it was cathartic to see Chuck come out ahead.) A Tide ad with a talking stain was short, cute and memorable, as was Justin Timberlake getting dragged all over the city for Diet Pepsi Max.
But while the critics like style, the masses often go for the lowest common denominator. Planters Nuts will likely have a fan favorite with its commercial that focuses on a homely girl with a unibrow – who uses cashews as a perfume. And for the second time in four years, a Bud Light advertisement ended with a guy’s date getting torched by fire. At least this time the culprit wasn’t a flatulent horse.
This was also the year for late finishers, which seemed at times to match the thrilling come-from-behind 17-14 victory by the New York Giants. The Coke parade-balloons commercial came at the start of the fourth quarter, which is often a dumping ground for advertisements. And Amp energy drink may have stolen the show with a shirtless overweight guy who hooks up battery cables to his nipples and jump-starts a truck.
That was arguably the raciest ad of the afternoon, and even it had an element of nostalgia – with the Amp guy dancing to the 1986 Salt-n-Pepa song “Push It.” Other music from the past included the 1979 song “Escape (The Pina Colada song)” and “Thriller” from 1984, which featured lizards mimicking the choreography from that song’s video. (Which would have been a hit if we hadn’t all seen the same idea executed better in last year’s viral YouTube video of prisoners in the Philippines doing the same dance.)
The songs weren’t the only blasts from the past. Among the older movies that inspired ads were “The Godfather” for Audi – complete with a cameo by actor Alex Rocco, who played Moe Greene in the movie – and the “Night at the Roxbury” skit for Pepsi, with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by original head-bobber Chris Kattan. There were also a couple of talking baby ads, which seemed left over from the Baby Bob commercials from the dotcom era.
On the SFGate Culture Blog, where readers were commenting on a live blog of the advertisements, opinions of the quality of the 2008 ads seemed split between good and bad, sometimes in the same post.
“I agree Salesgenie ads were shameful and the baby ads were creepy beyond belief,” posted one viewer. “Can’t believe so much money was wasted. The pigeon ad and Pepsi max bopping heads were funny though.”
And with the game remaining interesting until the final seconds, for once the advertisements didn’t even have a chance of stealing the show.
“Wow,” wrote another poster. “For the first time in many years the game is more interesting than the commercials!”
– To read comments about the Super Bowl commercials, go to the Culture Blog at sfgate.com.
The memorable and the squirm-inducing
Three best ads
1. Coke parade balloons: Three cartoon character parade balloons float over New York and fight it out for a bottle of Coke, with Charlie Brown coming out ahead. The visuals were great, it was very sweet and people will remember the product.
2. FedEx pigeons: The competition still delivers packages with carrier pigeons, including some that have Terminator-style cyborg eyesight (yet another 1980s reference) and other giant ones that can throw a car through a window. Very funny and clever.
3. Tide “My Talking Stain”: A job applicant gives his credentials, but all the interviewer can focus on is the gibberish-talking stain on his shirt. This was Tide’s first ad and it hit it out of the park, with something understated and memorable that tied in well to the brand.
Three worst ads
1. Salesgenie.com talking panda: A cartoon panda speaks in a Chinese accent that even Rosie O’Donnell would find offensive – which apparently was all part of the plan to prove that bad publicity is better than none.
2. GoDaddy.com Danica Patrick: GoDaddy once again plays the “we’re-so-controversial-we-got-banned” card, directing viewers to its Web site to see the company’s rejected ad. That commercial is very lame, adding little to the “beaver” joke from “The Naked Gun” while failing in its tease to show Patrick in something skimpy.
3. Doritos “Message from Your Heart”: If we wanted to see some singer we’ve never heard of playing an acoustic guitar, we’d skip the Super Bowl and go to a local coffee shop. Doritos is generally solid, but this was a miss.
- Peter Hartlaub
Online resources
To see all the Super Bowl ads: www.myspace.com/superbowlads
To read what other viewers had to say about the Super Bowl commercials, go to the Culture Blog on www.sfgate.com
Ranking Super Bowl ads
BEST: Coca-Cola’s commercial featured a tussle between cartoon character balloons.
WORST: Salesgenie.com’s Chinese stereotype pandas should prompt an apology.
via sfgate.com
February 4, 2008
by Doug Aamoth
Something is wrong here. TiVo grabs data from how many times the pause and rewind buttons are pressed during the Super Bowl and makes the most frequently shifted ads the “top ten” ads.
If you watched the game, though, you’ll agree with me that there’s no way the Dorito’s “Mouse Trap” or the Ice Breakers “Carmen Electra” spot should be anywhere close to the top ten ads. I can, however, see people rewinding each of the aforementioned ads and saying, “What the hell was that? Someone spent $3 million on THAT? Rewind it again, I can’t tell what the hell just happened.”
So please, TiVo, let’s not call these the “top ten rated commercials” just because a couple of them didn’t make any sense and had to be rewound a few dozen times. Full list after the jump.
The top ten rated commercials of this year’s game were:
- E-Trade: “Baby” (1)
- Pepsi Co: “Justin Timberlake”
- Doritos: “Mouse Trap” (user-generated)
- Coca-Cola: “James Carville and Bill Frist”
- Ice Breakers: “Carmen Electra”
- Bridgestone: “Headlights”
- Bud Light: “Cavemen”
- Vitamin Water: “Horse Race”
- Cars.com Plan B: “Witch Doctor”
- Life Water: “Thriller”
February 4, 2008
FedEx, “Pigeons”: After a first quarter that was filled with lame or underwhelming spots, this was the first to draw big laughs from my Bowl-viewing contingent.
Doritos, “Mouse Trap”: I’m not 100 percent sure why, but my tiny focus group went wild for this one. When people are yelling for you to pause the game and rewind a commercial, that’s a successful spot. As one of my friends put it, “The mouse repeatedly punching him in the face was a nice touch.”
Tide to Go, “Interview”: More clever than ha-ha funny, this one made its point well. Or maybe I just enjoyed it because I went home with nacho-cheese drips all down my shirt front.
T-Mobile, “Fave 5″: I just loved this one. Funny from start to finish, and pleasingly random. “Do you like popsicles? Have you ever been to Amsterdam?”
E*Trade, “Baby Banking”: Not much to say, really. It just got laughs. Clowns are creepy!
NFL, “Mr Oboe”: Far and away the best non-humor spot of the night.
via portfolio.com
