Superbowl-ads.com Article Archive

Is stereotyping wrong when the qualities being assigned to a given group are positive ones? How you answer that question probably determines whether you believe Volkswagen’s new Super Bowl commercial about people so happy they speak in Jamaican accents is racist or just cute.

I tend to err on the side of cute, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who finds it to be in poor taste. There’s certainly something patronizing about reducing an entire complex culture down to “Don’t worry, be happy.”

Is “Dave” the face of the real Jamaica — a nation beset by intense corruption, violence and poverty — or the one that American tourists want to imagine (and the Jamaican tourism industry wants them to imagine)? It smacks of minstrelsy.

Still, Volkswagen says it tested the ad extensively with Jamaicans and got positive feedback. On YouTube, the response has been similar, running nearly 19-to-1 in favor.

If there’s an objective problem with the spot, it may be that it’s factually dubious. Jamaicans are not actually among the world’s happiest peoples, either according to the U.N. World Happiness Report or the Legatum Prosperity Index.

Read More at : Forbes

Here it is—the highly anticipated follow-up to Volkswagen’s 2011 Super Bowl sensation, “The Force.” And this year’s installment is … kinda odd. (This is the 75-second extended version; the actual spot on Sunday will be cut down to a :60.) Called “The Dog Strikes Back,”

In this extended version of the 2012 Super Bowl commercial, the sporty, all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle inspires Bolt the dog to get in shape, and an intergalactic superstar makes a surprise appearance.

A recent article in the Washington Post interviews Tim Mahoney, the German automaker’s top product and marketing executive for the United States, and asked him several questions, and one about the upcoming Super Bowl commercial.

Mahoney mentioned that this year Volkswagen is going with one 60-second spot. (instead of two 30-second ones) The company said the ad will air at the beginning of the second half, and that the ad will feature the iconic Beetle. Mahoney says. “It’s certainly a Beetle spot, but with the way we constructed it, it’s really talking about VW as a whole.”

Volkswagen AG’s U.S. sales surged 26 percent last year, boosted by new products and an aggressive marketing campaign including Super Bowl commercials with a pint-sized Darth Vader, and a bugs-view peek at the new 2012 VW Beetle.

2011 Volkswagen Super Bowl Ad “Black Beetle”

Read More at: Washington Post

Hyundai Motor Co. is taking a page from Volkswagen AG’s Super Bowl playbook.

The South Korean automaker wants to “turn the needle a little bit in the direction of more entertainment,” John Krafcik, chief executive officer of Hyundai’s U.S. unit, told reporters last month while outlining plans for NBC’s Feb. 5 broadcast of the championship game of the National Football League. “We’d like a little bit more memorability.”

Last year’s winners saw big — and lasting — market-share gains after putting up spots in last season’s final game. VW Passat interest surged 70 percent on Edmunds.com during the week after it aired a spot of a child playing Darth Vader compared with the prior four weeks, according to Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica, California-based website that tracks automotive sales.

Chrysler also benefited from its Super Bowl play. Car shoppers’ consideration of the brand on Edmunds soared 87 percent in the week following its two-minute ad for the 200 sedan that featured rapper Eminem and extolled Detroit’s toughness as a possible source of luxury.

“It does raise the bar because the other car companies look at what happened with the 200 and they figure ‘We can do that too,’” said Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Anwyl of Edmunds, which also helps shoppers compare vehicles. “It’s not that easy.”

Boosting Sales

The successes of VW and Chrysler, which both gained U.S. market share this year, raises expectations, while the growing industry means more is at stake, said Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst with TrueCar.com, another site that monitors auto sales. Chrysler Group added 1.3 points of share so far this year, the most in the industry, to 10.7 percent, according to researcher Autodata Corp., while VW rose to 3.5 percent from 3.1 percent.

“We expect 2012 to be another year of recovery, reaching to nearly 14 million car sales,” he said. “There is more sales potential for automakers to grab during the next Super Bowl than during the past three Super Bowls.”

Light-vehicle sales in the U.S. fell to 10.4 million in 2009 after averaging 16.8 million from 2000 to 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp.

Volkswagen’s ad for the new Passat showed a pint-sized version of the Star Wars villain trying to control household objects with his mind. His dad eventually starts the car with a key fob, letting the child believe he has special powers.

That spot and another for the new Beetle were “pretty radical” departures for the Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker, said Jonathan Browning, head of VW’s U.S. operations.

“It served the purpose of getting Volkswagen back in a discussion and dialogue that it wasn’t part of at that point in time,” Browning said in an interview.

Hyundai was successful advertising in the 2010 Super Bowl, according to Edmunds data. The automaker had the most automotive ads during that year’s game and traffic on Edmunds website for Hyundai rose almost sevenfold following those spots, compared to average Sundays in January, the website said. For the year, its U.S. market share rose 47 basis points, or hundredths of a point, compared with 43 through November this year to 5.2 percent.

Hyundai has purchased ad slots in the pre-game shows and during the contest itself, said Krafcik, the U.S. leader.

“For us, it’s always been: How do we build consideration for the brand?’” he said. “We’re competing with Doritos and Pepsi and Anheuser-Busch. Those are tough competitors from an entertainment point-of-view because they can do some things that we wouldn’t necessarily want to do or would be right for our brand.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Higgins in Southfield, Michigan at Thiggins21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net

Read More at: Bloomberg

This fascinating, behind-the-scenes video, gives you an up-close and personal look at the making of the entomological, CGI wonderland of the Black Beetle.

Read more at: Adage

Having retired AdReview last spring I was at long last liberated to be an ordinary media consumer. But, of course, that means running across the ads openly released or leaked in advance. The big pre-game sensation this year: a charming, funny 60-second spot called “The Force.”

Like I said. A-dor-a-ble.

Others thought so, too. By game time Sunday, the spot had been viewed on YouTube in excess of 10 million times. That’s very viral, very fast. Now maybe those views were dwarfed by the broadcast audience of 100 million or so, but you get a lot of extra credit for being sought out.

Much more, actually, because Twitter and Facebook were in overdrive — not to mention actual, analog, carbon-based word-of-mouth, such as most marketers only dream of. In the Relationship Era, even the dearest remnant of the Old Model — the Super Bowl spot — puts the sponsor’s fate in the hands of the people.

But if we were VW, we wouldn’t be too triumphal too quickly. Another name for the Relationship Era is the Listenomics Age, and if you listen to what was being said, you’d notice that the vast majority of the Twitter traffic mentions the ad, and not the car.

In the first spot for The 21st Century Beetle, cutting-edge CGI creative goes entomological, creating a photo-real lush kingdom where the Black Beetle rules, runs, navigates and out performs all the other creatures

Volkswagen Introduces Classic “Punch Buggy” Game with Modern Day Twist; Super Bowl Ad Features Cameo from Actor and Comedian Tracy Morgan
 
HERNDON, VA – Volkswagen of America, Inc. announced today a new campaign called “Punch Dub,” an update on the classic Punch Buggy game, designed to increase model awareness and familiarity by reminding consumers of all the Volkswagens on the road.  The “Punch Dub” campaign is based on the classic game that kids used to play back in the original Beetle’s heyday called “Punch Buggy” (or “Slug Bug”), where the first person to see a Beetle would yell, “Punch Bug” and playfully slug his or her friend.  Volkswagen will debut the “Punch Dub” (as in VEE-Dub) campaign in a 30-second ad during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLIV and through a new online campaign. The ad, which includes a special cameo by actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, will show a variety of people in different driving situations gently slugging others in the arm every time they spot a Routan, Tiguan, CC or any other Volkswagen model. 
 
“Punch Dub is a fun, engaging way to reintroduce Volkswagen and its growing product family to millions of Americans during one of the most watched television events of the year, the Super Bowl,” said Tim Ellis, Vice President of Marketing, Volkswagen of America.  “The campaign is a modern twist on a classic game that has been played on America’s highways for generations and will help consumers gain a new perspective on the breadth of our vehicle offerings, quality, performance and value.”
 
“Volkswagen is one of the most beloved brands in this country, but people have a misperception that it only sell cars for the young. We needed to find a way to let people know that Volkswagen makes thirteen different models, in a way that still felt right for the brand,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO/Chief Creative Officer of Deutsch LA. “Changing the game of ‘Punch Bug’ to the game of ‘Punch Dub’ and making it about all Volkswagen is the perfect way to do that. It tells you something nobody knows in a way that everyone can relate to.”
 
Volkswagen is also revealing that it has found the creator of the original game, Charlie “Sluggy” Patterson.  Fans can interact with Sluggy beginning today with a special blog and Twitter feed (www.sluggy.posterous.com and www.twitter.com/sluggypatterson) and in a series of videos on You Tube (www.youtube.com/vw).
 
An online version of “Punch Dub” (www.facebook.com/vw) will launch on Super Bowl Sunday and will engage people with the entire Volkswagen product family and encourage people to dole out virtual “slugs” to friends and family. Players will simply pick any one of thirteen Volkswagen vehicles, customize their punch and choose a Facebook friend.  An online guide will help players develop and hone their punching techniques.  The more friends you punch, the better your chances are of winning a weekly prize (6-month leases on specific vehicles listed online) and the Grand Prize: a new Volkswagen CC.
 
The Super Bowl spot and “Punch Dub” campaign were developed for Volkswagen by its new creative agency, Deutsch LA.  For more information on Volkswagen and “Punch Dub”, visit www.media.vw.com.
 
About Volkswagen of America, Inc. 
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Golf, GTI, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Eos, Passat, Passat Wagon, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and Routan through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. All 2010 Volkswagens come standard-equipped with Electronic Stabilization Program. This is important because the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of America online at www.vw.com or www.media.vw.com to learn more.

HERNDON, VA — Volkswagen of America, Inc. announced today it will premiere a 30-second spot during the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl XLIV.  The spot will debut a new approach to the Das Auto tagline and positioning, and is the first step in a much larger multi-faceted campaign to increase model awareness and familiarity by reminding consumers of all the new Volkswagen products on the road. This marks the first time in nine years that Volkswagen has advertised during the Super Bowl.

“With its size and reach, the Super Bowl is the ideal stage for Volkswagen to debut the new campaign to nearly 100 million viewers,” said Tim Ellis, Vice President, Marketing, Volkswagen of America.  “As an iconic brand that has achieved pop cultural status in America, people think they are familiar with all there is to know about Volkswagen.  This campaign gives consumers a reason to take another look at the brand and gain new  perspective on the breadth of our vehicle offerings, quality, performance and value.”

Immediately following the Super Bowl, Volkswagen will kick off a two-month campaign that will run extensively throughout February and March to support its national sales event. The push will include TV, Online, Outdoor, Radio and Newspaper, and every Volkswagen retail facility nationwide. A digital and social media program will engage consumers with the entire Volkswagen product family. Max the Beetle, who helped to establish “Das Auto” in the U.S. market in 2009, will not appear in the new campaign.

In phase two, the campaign will more clearly define what goes into a Volkswagen today.  Leveraging the tagline, “Das Auto,” the campaign will promote the innovative features and benefits of modern-day Volkswagen products.  The spots will define how Volkswagen is delivering German Engineering at a great value in the often playful yet direct Volkswagen tone.

The Super Bowl spot is the first work created for Volkswagen by its new creative agency, Deutsch LA.

For more information on Volkswagen, visit www.media.vw.com

About Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Volkswagen of America, Inc. recently announced Electronic Stability Program (ESP) as standard equipment on all its 2009 vehicles. As a result, Volkswagen is one of the only original equipment manufacturers to offer an electronic stability control system on their entire product line – ahead of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) deadline requiring vehicles in the 2012 model year to include stability control systems. Volkswagen’s ESP technology works in conjunction with anti-lock brakes and helps reduce loss of control.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen Group of America is headquartered in Herndon, Va. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, GLI, Passat, Passat Wagon, CC, Eos, Routan, Tiguan and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers.  Visit Volkswagen of America online at www.vw.com.

via testpattern.msnbc.msn.com

by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Are you ready for some football? Or, more importantly, are you ready for some Super Bowl ads? As I mentioned last week, I’ll be blogging about the big game’s commercials right here, and invite you to join in via the comment field. Note that we’re talking ads only here, leaving the rah-rah rooting and reviews of the on-field action to others. And I may not get to every single ad, so if I skip one and you want to chat about it, bring it up in the comments.

If you’re more interested in the gridiron action than the ads, check out my colleague, Sunny Wu’s, blog of the on-field action. He may dip into our territory too, mentioning certain commercials as the ads appeal to him.

And our business section has set up a NCAA-tourney style bracket of the ads, which promises to be a lot of fun, too. Check that out here.

FIRST HALF:

JESSICA SIMPSON FOR PIZZA HUT
Wait, was that a Super Bowl ad? They almost slipped that right past me, it was so ordinary. Was there anything in that commercial that you couldn’t see in any random ad the rest of the year? Cheesy Bites indeed, emphasis on the “cheesy.” And I hear a rumor this is just part of a series. Oh, yay.

BUD: ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
So they play Rock, Paper, Scissors with real rocks and paper. Rock wins. As a friend of mine says, “It IS a rock, after all. Should beat anything.” But I’m not actually even sure what beer was being advertised, which you’d think is the point.

DORITOS READER-SUBMITTED AD
We’ve certainly heard a lot about these. Can regular folks make ads any better than Madison Avenue? Based on this one, where people smash into a bunch of things because they’re Doritos-happy, my guess is “no.” Reminds me of the VW ads where you start closing your eyes early because the accidents are kind of upsetting.

BLOCKBUSTER PET STORE
Animated animals are usually pretty cute. But the “clicking and dragging” of the real mouse? Yeah, just came across as mean to me. PETA no doubt has Blockbuster on speed dial. From your comments, though, I’m the only one who thought it wasn’t hilarious.

SIERRA MIST BEARD COMBOVER
Yuck, although perhaps not that far from what Donald Trump may be trying for his next hairdo. At first I thought this was the Geico caveman trying a new gig. It also reminds me of today’s “Ask the Ethicist” in the NY Times, in which a teacher isn’t hired simply because he has a beard. The Ethicist, as usual, is no help.

SALESGENIE.COM
Just…what? Is it 1970 all of a sudden? Slick salesman with the red sportscar impressing the ladies? Oh, I don’t know. And I have no idea what the site even does.

SIERRA MIST MARTIAL ARTS
OK, kind of funny. Am I the only one out there who thinks “Sierra Mist” is one clunky name for a soft drink? I mean, I guess a two-word name works fine for “Mountain Dew,” but “Sierra Mist” comes off to me like a Safeway house brand, or something. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of that product tonight, though.

TOYOTA TUNDRA
Truck races through a steel door, stops at the edge of a cliff. What is it with these ads creeping me out? Not that we haven’t seen this in every sci-fi movie, but you have to wonder if they ever didn’t make it through the door in rehearsal. Reminds me of “SNL”: “Bring in the stunt baby!”

MOON OFFICE
Heh, I like the floating dog. What is this ad for? Oh, “Firefly.” Er, I mean, FedEx. My favorite ad so far.

BUD LIGHT AUCTIONEER WEDDING
Who couldn’t use that guy at a wedding every once in a while? Let’s cruise through the ceremony and get to the buffet, already. Not bad.

SNICKERS MEN MAKE OUT
Stupidest. Ad. Ever. My friend Andy checked out the Web site listed, and notes that there are four endings to this commercials and viewers are supposed to vote on the one they like best. How about I vote that this commercial be sealed in Kryptonite and buried at the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again by anyone? How about that?

CHEVYS MAKE EVERYONE SING
It took me a second to get this, but I guess the pitch was based on “there are a lot of popular songs that mention Chevy.” Got it? I do like hearing the music, though.

BUD LIGHT LANGUAGE CLASS
Were all beer ads written by people who were already drunk on the product? I tell ya.

LETTERMAN-OPRAH
Really a promo, not a commercial, but I’ll post about it here since people are bound to love it. And Oprah living in Chicago and Dave being from Indy, it even works in that regard. Somehow I think Dave and Oprah would be pretty fun to watch the game with. You just know they’d have something smart to say about that stupid Snickers ad. Oprah would deliver a smart lecture on how it’s really OK for men to kiss and Dave would rip off Paul Schaffer’s chest hair, or something.

Did I lose the coin flip, or something? Who knew that covering the commercials would be boring, and the game itself would actually be full of tricks and treats? Hey Sunny, want to trade jobs?

GO DADDY MARKETING BABES
Yeah, no women watch the Super Bowl, or use your Web site, whatever it is. Don’t worry, we’re not in the least bit offended when we’re shown as being sprayed down with hoses for the enjoyment of men. Keep right on appealing to the brain-free. What did Bill Cosby have his characters say? “Russell, you’re like school in summer. No class.”

COKE AND COMPUTER-GENERATED PEOPLE
I thought this was an ad for “The Sims” until the last second there. Although I guess it more closely resembled “Grand Theft Auto.” Is this a game Coke, with their relentlessly family-friendly, perky image, really wants to be down with?

BUD: HUNGRY DOGGY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
My new favorite ad. Hungry, lost mongrel gets splashed with mud, can now pass for a firetruck Dalmatian and is accepted up onto beauty queen’s lap. Awwww. Good use of “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” too.

GARMIN JAPANESE MONSTER MOVIE
Wow, that was either really stupid or loopily wonderful. I need a second to decide.

MEN RUN FROM TRAINING SEMINAR: CAREER BUILDER
I am sensing a theme here: Let’s only appeal to men. Only men watch football. Only men buy products. Only men need Web sites. Or maybe: Only men make the ads?

DORITOS VIEWER-MADE AD: CASHIER GETS FLIRTY
This is what Doritos picked out of X zillion viewer-made submissions? Maybe we should leave the commercial-making to the pros. Except that pros apparently made the Snickers commercial, so perhaps there is a flaw in my theory.

MEN STRIP FOR CHEVY
How do parents watch this game with their kids? I mean, seriously: They have to explain to them that this is supposed to be funny?

BUD: SLAPPING REPLACES FIST-BUMPING
Sometimes you start to wonder: Is it me? Does everyone else think this is funny except for me? How did this ad get past a zillion focus groups and ad execs? Am I a humorless prude out of touch with modern America? Or does the emperor have no clothes? And right now I’m thinking: Hey, that emperor, he is NEKKID.

PEOPLE DRESSED UP LIKE DISEASES/CONDITIONS ATTACK A HEART
What?

GM: ASSEMBLY LINE ROBOT DREAMS OF SUICIDE
This is much funnier, only not in a way GM ever intended, if you read “Rivethead.” Or saw “Roger and Me,” where one scene focuses on the short-lived theme park AutoWorld, where a robotic autoworker sings a love song to the robot replacing him on the line. Also, some folks are questioning the suicide element of the ad, both for sheer taste issues and because the robot was so darn cute kids worried he might actually jump.

COKE: BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Not that we’re not big fans of Rosa Parks, but Coke pretty much phoned that in. Show the product, show some incredible phrases about history, hope viewers associate the two. Phoned it in.

The latest from the sports desk: Game blogger Sunny Wu is refusing to swap jobs with me. Seems he prefers this lively, close game to these not-so-lively ads. Also, reader revolt is forming in the comments because I am a “Negative Nancy” who does not like enough of the ads.

SPRINT: CONNECTILE DYSFUNCTION
Nope, that one’s not going to help me shed the “Negative Nancy” label, either.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER PROMO
It’s not a real commercial, but I have to comment on the “How I Met Your Mother” promo in which the characters go to great lengths to try and get through the day after the Super Bowl without learning who won. Heh. I kind of appreciate that because it feels almost impossible to do in this day and age — as we at MSNBC.com discover when we receive angry emails after almost every major sporting event or TV show from people who are furious that we spoiled the result for them.

DORITOS: BLACK HISTORY, TAKE TWO
That one worked better for me than the Coke ad: Doritos (I mistyped as ”Coke” at first) shows little snippets of people, mostly African-Americans, watching the game. Obviously going for the Black History Month angle, but in a more subtle way.

COKE: MR. HADLEY GETS DARING
Not a bad ad, here, but overall, I’m missing something…missing the great Super Bowl ads of the past, like herding cats and Mean Joe Greene…the ads you really talk about the next day. Mr. Hadley isn’t awful, but neither is he especially memorable. Unlike, say, this game.

GEICO: THE CAVEMAN IS BACK
Readers loved these furry-faced guys in our summer commercial contest, and it’s fun to see them back. I also like ads that rely on images and music rather than BRAYING AND SCREAMING THE PRODUCT NAME, so I liked it. Welcome back, Cave Guy!

HALFTIME QUICK RECAP:
BEST AD: Budweiser stray dog gets mud splashed on him, becomes a star
WORST AD: Snickers is grossed out by men kissing, but not by chest-hair ripping.

Short version: Budweiser’s stray dog turned Dalmatian is very cute. He’s about the only ad that’s received resoundingly positive comments, and we haven’t even seen a Clydesdale-starring ad yet.

Just a note: If anyone sees a regional ad that they think is worth commenting on, feel free to describe it in the comments, since we all see different ones at certain times. Here in Seattle we just saw a Washington Mutual ad that I am guessing is regional. It involved a bunch of old naked bankers who were thrilled because they can bank online without getting dressed. Yeah, that’s about it. I had to TiVo it and watch it again to see if I was missing the point, but…no. Uh, those were some pale and scrawny naked legs, there.

My colleague Sunny Wu continues to refuse to swap blogs with me. Thanks a lot, pal. Obviously, he knows a good thing when he sees it, and he has the far more interesting subject matter this year.

ETRADE: BANK ROBBERY
Yes, we do feel our banks rob us.

COKE: RUBE GOLDBERG-ESQUE MACHINE
Cute. This feels more like a real Super Bowl ad to me. It looks like it took some time to prepare, and it reminds me of the old “Mousetrap” game. Someone has commented that the Coke ads have all been shown in movie theaters. Remember when there were no commercials in movie theaters? Seems like 100 years ago.

BUD LIGHT: MONKEYING AROUND
I’m a sucker for the animals. I liked this one. Wait, what’d ya say?

SHERYL CROW COLORS HER HAIR
Sheryl Crow colors her hair: Film at 11! Tom in Manhattan wants to know if I’m happy now, what with my earlier ranting about how the ads are all aimed at beer-swilling “Animal House” types. Happy? Not until she pours a pitcher of water on her shirt! Oh, OK, just kidding. I give you this: That ad was definitely not aimed at “Animal House” types.

OFFICE TYPES GO ‘GLADIATOR’ FOR CAREER BUILDER
Heh, I liked this one more than their other ad. Thumbs-up for the Post-It-Note suit and the three-ring binder-heads.

TACO BELL LIONS
It’s no Budweiser muddy puppy, but it’s fun anyway. They’ve saved the better ads for the second half, I guess — or at least the funny animal ads.

VAN HEUSEN SHIRTS
No one can say this one didn’t appeal to the women, what with the shirtless stud doffing his VanHeusen shirt.

TUNDRA: TRUCK STOPS ON A RAMP
If I want a truck that I can drive in “Fear Factor,” this is it.

EMERALD NUTS: ROBERT GOULET MESSES WITH YOUR STUFF
Robert Goulet channels Michael Scott from “The Office.” I am pretty sure I have never heard of this snack brand.

SIR CHARLES AND DWYANE WADE: T-MOBILE
“Is this your dad?” Is this an old ad, or just similar to one I’ve seen before? It reminds me of seeing an interview with Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Borat, where he says he was thrilled to see “Ashton Kutcher and his mom Demi Moore” at his movie premiere, or some such.

DON’T JUDGE BY OUR NAME: FED EX GROUND
This reminded me of those jokes we loved in grade school: What do you call a guy in the ocean with no arms and legs? Bob! Ha ha…ha?

K-FED FOR NATIONWIDE
The most talked-about ad before the game: K-Fed working the fryer. If only it were true, but instead K-Fed is turning down $25 million as not enough to support his lifestyle.

HITCHHIKER WITH AN AXE: BUD LIGHT
At first I thought that was the Geico caveman, but it was just a crazy simulation. But I liked this one for its broad humor and the shock in the voice of Axe Man as he spots Leatherface’s chainsaw-toting kin. Also, I just watched the original “Hitcher,” so I am not offering a ride to anyone.

ACURA: HELPING PEOPLE ADVANCE
We were supposed to have hovercraft! They promised us hovercraft!

JACK IN THE BOX: JACK’S KID WANTS TO BE A VEGETARIAN
Is this national or regional? We didn’t have Jack in the Box fast fooderies in Minnesota where I used to live, but even if this isn’t national, it’s pretty funny. The son of the Jack in the Box clown gives a school speech saying he wants to be a vegetarian, but it turns out he means “veterinarian.” Reminds me of the 1980s song “Cause I’m a Blonde,” where Julie Brown sing-says “I just want to say that being chosen as this month’s Miss August is like, a compliment I’ll remember for as long as I can. Right now I’m a freshman in my fourth year at UCLA, but my goal is to become a veterinarian, ’cause I love children.”

CRABS BOW DOWN TO BUDWEISER
Animal ads. Hard to lose with animal ads, I’m tellin’ ya. My pal Sunny makes the joke that had to be made: “The beach … crabs … Budweiser — sounds like a bad spring break I had during college.”

PRUDENTIAL: ROCKS HAVE MANY PURPOSES
Reminds me of a project in a class I took where we had to create an ad campaign for a regular ol’ rock. I marketed mine as a pesticide-free insect repellent. However, readers have a more-modern interpretation, as several comments refer to the fact that “a rock” sounded to them like “Iraq.”

ELVIS HAS BURNING LOVE FOR THE CR-V
The car ads are just all running together for me, but I like the song.

AMERICAN CHOPPER GUYS FOR HP
This just reminds me I used to really like “American Chopper.” And now I don’t even know if it’s still on.

IZOD SNOW GLOBE/BEACH
Izod is still around? Do they still have the little alligators and the popped collars? They pretty much owned every high school hallway in the 1980s, even for those of us who were as far from preppy as you could be.

JAY-Z AND DON SHULA: FUTURISTIC FOOTBALL-CHESS FOR BUD
Bud is just flooding the zone with ads. I’m not sure where they were going with this one, except to make people say “Huh, Jay-Z and Don Shula, wouldn’t have pegged them for chess players.”

FLOMAX
That was great of “Saturday Night Live” to let them slip in a parody ad there, considering “SNL” runs on a different network and all. Wait, what? It’s not?

ONE FINGER IS VERY POWERFUL: ETRADE
They forgot one powerful use of a single finger: If you are a Mooninite, you can shut down Boston. I liked this ad, though: Save Holland! And as someone in the comments noted, it sure did look like the Geico caveman was the accused murderer.

CAREER BUILDER GUYS STILL RE-ENACTING ‘SURVIVOR’
Those binder clips on the guy’s chest looked pretty darn painful. I wouldn’t have expected this ad campaign to be a series, but I think the ads are improving as the game goes on. Or maybe I’m just getting woozy.

HONDA CARS SWERVE AROUND TRAFFIC CONES
See what I mean? The car ads are just all running together. That could have been any car model out there, and unless I’m going to be driving around traffic cones in the desert, the visuals don’t make me want to buy a car.

GO DADDY MARKETING RERUN
Hey, why not start rerunning them? We might have missed the subtle nuances the first time around.

GREEN TEA SNAPPLE: WHAT IS EGCG?
Still don’t know what EGCG is, still don’t really care.

NFL: RECOVERING FROM FOOTBALL
Oh yeah, you’re laughing, but this is a pretty apt depiction of how many football fans are about to feel in about a half-hour. Liked the jazz funeral music. Hey, Brett Favre. There’s a guy who needs a new agent — he can just never seem to get any publicity. You never hear or read about what he might be doing.

AND…GAME!
What, no Clydesdales?

>via testpattern.msnbc.msn.com

http://media.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,7550,644743,00.html

Only Britney Spears and a comic monkey stood out from the crowd of ad spots in this week’s Super Bowl

Stefano Hatfield 

It’s an hour after the Super Bowl, and I am struggling to remember more than a couple of the ads that had been so hyped all month. It was the event that sport reclaimed, as the New England Patriots beat the hot favourites, the St Louis Rams, 20-17 with the last kick of a thrilling game.

If the game and the impressive half-time performance from U2 for once lived up to all expectations, the “ad bowl” was decidedly unremarkable. The notable exception was Pepsi, which produced a series of BBDO-produced commercials starring Britney Spears acting out Pepsi spots from the past four decades.

Directed by the ageless Joe Pytka, they were fun and inventive. The first 90-second spot featured Britney through the decades, the second was the “1958″ spot that viewers had voted as their favourite in an online poll taken before the game itself. In its self-confidence, ambition, humour and relevance to its target audience, the Britney spot was by far the most successful of the show.

The only real competition this year appeared to come from E-Trade, which again featured its famous comic monkey in a Busby Berkeley spoof that announced E-Trade’s changed structure. Once again there was a self-referential moment as E-trade’s CEO appeared at the end to berate the monkey for the choice of a musical.

Other notable spots included Rudy Giuliani saying thank you to America (courtesy of Monster.com), Kevin Bacon hamming his way through a lame Visa commercial, Danny de Vito and a host of mutinous puppets in an inventive ad for Lipton’s Brisk.

There were a couple of anti-drug commercials directed by Britain’s Tony Kaye, which were startling because they linked buying drugs with supporting terrorism.

There was a fun Levi’s spot “crazy legs” and then a series of curious teaser commercials for something named “mlife” (the new AT & T Digital service) which stood out but were absolutely mystifying.

Budweiser, the “winner” of the ad bowl for the past three years, had a quiet game despite having multiple slots. A reprise of the New Jersey boys “How you doin’?” spot and the klutzy Cedric for Bud Light were the highlights in a series of quiet chuckles from DDB Chicago.

However, Budweiser’s other agency, Hill Holliday, also produced what was arguably the most excruciatingly schmaltzy spot of the show: the brewer’s famous Clydesdale horses approaching a twin towers-less New York in confusion before genuflecting silently before the Statue of Liberty. I suppose we should be grateful that there were not more ads referring to September 11.

There were seven car advertisers in the game – Cadillac, Mercedes, Mercury, Honda, Jeep, Dodge and VW. Between them they must have spent over $20m (the average cost of a spot this year was $1.9m for 30-seconds of Fox airtime), and not one of them could create an ad memorable an hour after the game’s conclusion.

And there were terrible – really terrible – ads from Taco Bell, Burger King and AOL, but the rest weren’t even interesting enough to be terrible. They proved merely to be expensive wallpaper.

The tedium was enough to make one hanker after the wacky creativity of the “dot-bowl” of 2000. Only three brands were brave enough to put a dot.com at the end of their names – FedEx, Monster and HotJobs.

There were no particularly deep or profound commercials this year, nor, with the exception of Pepsi, Brisk and E-Trade, particularly lavish commercials. Instead, cliches were paraded everywhere, and when in doubt they rolled out animals for the cuteness factor (Budweiser, Blockbuster, E-Trade and others).

In fact the ad bowl was an accurate reflection of the state of the industry itself: cautious, conservative, low-key, relying on cliches and lacking in subtlety, and, most of all, confidence.

When you’re left feeling grateful for Britney Spears and the E-Trade monkey, then there’s not really any further comment to make.

· Stefano Hatfield is editorial director of Ad Age Global and Creativity magazines

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020131/bs_usatoday/3816968

Michael McCarthy USA TODAY

There’s a grudge match between giants this winter: the Olympics vs. the Super Bowl.

The two mega-sports events are going mano a mano for the real gold: big ad bucks that only major advertisers are willing to spend for the visibility and audience such premier events offer.

The worst fall-off in overall ad spending since World War II ramped up the stakes, as tight budgets forced even many big marketers to choose between the two. And making the competition more intense, the September terrorist attacks pushed back Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans to Feb. 3, just five days before opening ceremonies for the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

“This is like an eclipse,” says Rob Apatoff, chief marketing officer for Allstate Insurance. “They’re both such important events, they are competing for ad dollars.” The Good Hands people will advertise in the Olympics, but not the Super Bowl.

U.S. media spending dropped 6.8% in 2001, according to forecaster Jack Myers. “You won’t see many advertisers in both. They are both huge, expensive commitments,” says Stacey Lynn Koerner, director of broadcast research at Initiative Media North America.

Both offer huge TV audiences. The Super Bowl is annually the most watched, most expensive TV program, attracting 130 million to 140 million total viewers in the USA. The audience for the average Olympics program is much smaller, but adds up. The last U.S. Olympics, the 1996 Games in Atlanta, attracted 210 million viewers over two weeks.

A year ago, the Super Bowl looked to be the clear favorite for the ad gold.

In a survey of their most important TV events this year, consumers ranked the Super Bowl first, regular programming second and the Winter Olympics third, according to Initiative Media North America.

Four of the 10 highest-rated TV shows of all time are Super Bowls, according to Nielsen research. One Winter Olympics event does show up in that list, but it was a special case: the dramatic 1994 figure skating showdown between U.S. women Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding in Lillehammer, Norway.

The Salt Lake Games have been touched by scandal. It was revealed that Utah boosters had dished out more than $1 million in cash, gifts and services to Olympic committee delegates to gain votes for selection.

Olympic organizers and broadcasters privately feared the Games no longer had the juice to take on the Super Bowl. Last January’s game thumped the average 2000 Olympics broadcast from Sydney by 354% in Nielsen household ratings (40.4 vs. 8.9) and 530% in average viewers (84.4 million vs. 13.4 million).

While the Olympics might have been hurt because the time difference caused much programming to be taped, Super Bowl viewership is undercounted because many watch in such places as bars and dorms, notes Bill Cella, chairman of Magna Global USA.

But that was last year, and as rival TV networks — NBC for the Olympics and Fox with the Super Bowl — competed for sales, the Winter Olympics gained an edge.

Last week, Fox had sold 90% of its in-game spots. By Wednesday, that was at 95%, spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said. The price of a 30-second ad is down 9% to around $2 million from a high of $2.2 million in 2000.

Meanwhile, NBC had sold 97% of Winter Games ad time last week and was at 98% on Wednesday, with 10 days left before the opening ceremonies, NBC president Randy Falco said.

It expects to collect $720 million in ad sales for 375.5 hours of programming on the NBC, MSNBC and CNBC networks, and turn an estimated profit of $65 million to $75 million. It shelled out $545 million for the rights to the Salt Lake Games, part of a $3.5 billion package of five Olympic Games from 2000 through 2008.

Fox might not be sold out, but forget any fire sale, according to the network. That would cheapen Super Bowl spots for years to come. “You don’t want to be giving away Super Bowl spots for free — not if you want to be employed,” says Jon Nesvig, Fox president of sales.

Instead, Fox is sweetening the pot by offering “enhancements,” such as deals on other programs, that don’t compromise Super Bowl prices. “If we wanted to drop our prices, we’d have the game sold out in a minute,” says D’Ermilio.

It’s not unusual for a network to enter the last week with a handful of unsold spots, he adds. Fox didn’t sell its last ad for Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999 until the Thursday before kickoff, he points out. And Fox still expects to reap a healthy $200 million from nine hours of Super Sunday programming.

But the shadow cast by the Olympic rings is hurting business, D’Ermilio admits. “Would we be better off if there was not a U.S. Olympics starting within days of the Super Bowl? Common sense says yes. But we’re moving forward and continuing to write business.”

Path to change

So what happened?

The Super Bowl has become an unofficial American holiday. But a surge in patriotism for the war on terrorism is proving to be a windfall for the Olympics. In audience research, four of five consumers say they will tune in. “There’s a new sense of national pride. The Olympics are resonating more this time around,” says Steve Tihanyi, director of marketing alliances for General Motors, which is one of a few advertisers on both events.

Also, conspicuous consumption is out because of the recession. Some advertisers worry that paying the well-publicized tab for 30 seconds of Super Bowl glory would appear unseemly when companies are struggling and thousands of workers have lost jobs. Thirty seconds of prime ad time during the Olympics costs roughly $600,000 vs. the $2 million for a Super Bowl spot.

Olympic buyers can tout their cost-consciousness and patriotism, even though they might spend more in total over the two weeks.

“The reason (the) Super Bowl is not as hot a property as years past is the high visibility associated with the cost of participating. Advertisers are being cautious about the signals they send,” notes Jerry Dow, director of worldwide marketing for United Airlines, which is skipping the Super Bowl for an Olympic sponsorship.

As the tricky maneuvering goes down to the wire, here’s what some big marketers have decided about the two big events:

* Buy both. A few advertisers have the funds and the savvy to advertise in both properties. Anheuser-Busch is one.

A-B is the biggest Super Bowl advertiser this year, with 5 minutes of commercial time.

It’s also a sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team and is the exclusive malt beverage sponsor of the Salt Lake Games. The brewer will air more than 100 Olympic commercials.

“Our strategy is clear-cut. We like the big, high-profile sporting events. And we like to own them,” says Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing. For A-B, the two events are not competing — they’re an opportunity. “We see it as a monthlong period where we have a dominant presence.”

GM is also in both. It has a minute of Super Bowl time in addition to a major marketing effort for Cadillac built around the game. It’s also an Olympic sponsor and the biggest advertiser during the Games, with roughly 200 commercials, half for Chevrolet.

The automaker wants to reach consumers through “fewer, bigger properties,” Tihanyi explains. “We want to go into things that really have an impact.”

Visa is another double, with a Super Bowl minute and 100 Olympic spots. Liz Silver, senior vice president of brand management, agrees with Ponturo that the close timing is great for marketers with the money for both. “The fact they are so close together gives us an opportunity to make some impact.”

* Go for the rings. EDS made a big Super Bowl splash the past two years with its special-effects-heavy “Cat Herders” and “Running of the Squirrels” commercials from ad agency Fallon.

But the technology company made a “strategic decision” to bypass the game this year, says Don Uzzi, senior vice president of global advertising. “The Olympics work better for us this year. And I emphasize this year. If there were no Olympics, we would be on the Super Bowl.”

EDS will air 58 Olympic commercials.

Super Bowl rookie Volkswagen roared into the game last year with three ads and status as the “exclusive” automotive advertiser. But VW feels the “Olympics is an even greater opportunity,” says spokesman Tony Fouladpour.

“People feel a greater sense of pride at being an American. They will watch it with even more interest.”

Did tight budgets play a part? “It doesn’t make as much business sense to do both this year.”

* Connect the dots. Office Depot will try to make the two events work together. It’s buying a Super Bowl spot in the cheaper pregame show and using it to unveil the first of its Olympic ads.

Playing a part in any advertiser’s choice between the two events is the difference in audience. Women make up 57% of Winter Olympic viewers, while the Super Bowl is 57% male.

Both events, however, are extremely “broad reach” as they say on Madison Avenue. “Most sports are 70% male. So the Super Bowl actually attracts more women than other sports,” notes Tom McGovern, director of research for ad buyer OMD USA. “The typical prime-time show is 60% female. So the Olympics are more male than typical prime-time stuff.”

Economic ripples

The economy hurt the Super Bowl beyond tighter ad budgets, says Cella. The Super Bowl is an ideal launch pad to hawk a new company, a new product or a name change. But that activity is way down as the economy struggles.

“The Super Bowl is a one-day extravaganza; the Olympics is a 17-day extravaganza,” Cella says. “If you want a one-day blowout to introduce a new brand, you go to the Super Bowl. If you want a patriotic, 17-day event, you go to the Olympics.”

The Olympics vs. Super Bowl shootout also is indicative of a wider free-for-all, says Ponturo. The U.S. media market is glutted with more sports and entertainment properties than there is ad money to go around.

Says Ponturo: “They’re competing against each other. But they’re also competing against all the other events: entertainment, Golden Globes, February sweeps. Everyone is trying to get their piece of the pie.”