 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
2005 Super Bowl Ads... Winners and Losers
Well, Super Bowl XXXIX is history. Too bad for the folks who consider themselves the always-pullin'-for-the-underdog type. The Bandwagon team won. But, as far as Super Bowls go, the losers played well. For those who care, the Eagles actually covered the 7-point spread. T.O. is the deal, too. At least on the field, anyway. They had a chance late in the game, but poor field position and bad clock management did them in. Scoring from 95 yards out with 48 seconds left? That's a tall order. So is getting/maintaining ad recall 48 hours after the final gun. Whose $80,000 per second ad was worth it? Who would've done better by writing me a fat check for $2.4 million? Read on, and find out. True to school yard rules: Suckers Walk. Losers are up first. Losers: Sorry, Donovan, but your three picks lands you in with GoDaddy.com, Quizno's, and Silestone. I don't care if you were ill. GoDaddy.com had a decent concept that quickly went bad. OK. Boopsie talking to a Senate subcommittee on C-SPAN about indecency. Good start- if they cut out any hint to last year's halftime debacle. But... they couldn't resist. So the buxom wench wearing a GoDaddy.com t-shirt has a near wardrobe malfunction. One of the craggy senators has to hit the oxygen mask. This ad was supposed to run again, but Fox pulled it mid- game. Good idea. I bet their stomachs were in as many knots as Donovan McNabb's. The Quizno's ad was mediocre at best. This talking baby concept is tiresome. As cliché as it may be, it's still 80% less annoying than those whack rodents in pirate hats from a couple of years ago. The one stinky Bud Light ad was one that the ESPN crowd really dug - the parachute-less pilot heading out the door for the six of Diet Bud. Dumb. The desert island one with Cedric the Entertainer was iffy, too. Speaking of stinky... what was up with Napster's ad? Ugh! It could wind up doing more to shut them down than the Supreme Court. This bad concept was in stark difference to their introductory spots featuring Flash animation based around their logo. Those were well-designed and entertaining. This one was as fat and ugly as the seven shirtless blops they decided to show with a letter on each of their overdeveloped beer guts to spell N-A-P-S-T-E-R. It was done in house and, boy, did it show. The manufactured "reality" of the game and its atmosphere was lame and no one bought it. An ad taking place at the Super Bowl should be IN the Super Bowl- done real time. And... trying to take on Apple's iTunes on price? That was the second dumbest decision of this ad. No wonder it finished dead last in likability and recognition. Now... Silestone. Valiant effort of an ad featuring Chicago sports legends. Voice over was good. It was shot nicely. But, it was a little too jumpy in the cuts to get the whole picture the first time through. The quick cut style hurt the name recognition of the line of counter tops. Silestone and Diana Pearl are not exactly household names. And Dennis Rodman slurred his line. It sounded like "Dinah Pearl, rather than, "Diana Pearl." I'm sure the director or writer got dissed when they said, "Uh, Worm... it's 'Di-A- na'." "Sure. Dinah." As a side note, why were only Chicago Bears in it until Dennis Rodman at the end? No Scottie Pippen or Slammin' Sammy? On to the good 'uns... Winners: This year, the game was nearly as good as the ads, as there were a surprisingly good number of breaking spots. Leading the pack was Career Builder, FedEx, Mastercard, and Anheuser-Busch. FedEx likes to make ads relating to advertising on advertising's biggest stage. They did it again - patching together 10 "tried and true" Super bowl ad conventions to great results. Career Builder put a great spin on a stale category with the best work since Monster's "I Wanna Be..." [a brown noser, forced into retirement, etc.] from '98. Three ads featuring a hapless chump working for chimps managed to put their name into mind share largely dominated by two others. MasterCard got a bunch of animated branded food icons together for a meal and a nice touch of nostalgia. Ad fans and agency folks dug this one. A-B hit emotional hot buttons with a near-public service ad saluting troops retuning home. Yes, they were real military - not actors. Their uniforms just did not have any insignias, so the common soldier would be represented. For their light beer category, the ad with the head on the wall and the designated driver spot were the best for Bud Light. Pepsi's second year of an iTunes promotion kicked off well. They ran a humorous spot featuring people opening winning bottles for a free song. When the bottles were opened, a song reflecting the drinker's taste in music would play. Although the spot was humorous and worked, Pepsi could've really hit a home run by involving the older "authority figure" more into the ad. But, keeping with brand tradition, they kept the focus young. AmeriQuest had two entertaining spots revolving around the themes of misunderstanding and jumping to conclusions. Their message was, "We don't prejudge." The ad featuring spaghetti sauce, a cat, and knife will certainly make some 'Best Of" reels this year. Decent work also included Honda's new pickup/SUV product introduction. Good detail with benefit highlights. Left the "Honda" out until the end. Cadillac and Volvo had solid ads. Volvo should have bought another ad, if not two, as many people missed the early run. The audience also may have missed the details on their unique contest. But they did follow up with some net portal ads the day after. Ford's F-150 Biker spot was OK. Their line that "it makes YOU tough," really undercut the effectiveness.~ John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his web site http://www.brandedbetter.com Speaking with both agency and in-house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a business is its brand.
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Radio Interview 101 Different Types of Station ContactReaching radio hosts (for the purpose of trying to get booked for an interview) can take on various forms, depending on the type of station the show is done at. What's best? All of them at the same time, of course. 7 Questions to Ask Before You Advertise Most business owners and managers keep a fairly close eye on their marketing budgets.And nothing throws a budget out of whack faster than advertising. Why Hire an Advertising/Marketing Consultant? As a business owner, you have the option of taking several different approaches to handling your Marketing and Advertising. You may choose to handle the responsibility yourself, with the idea that no one understands your business quite the way you do. If You Lost 70% of Your New Customers, Would You Notice? Buyers Don't Rely on the Yellow Pages Like They Used toCustomers' buying behavior has changed - for good. If your business depends on most categories in the Yellow Pages to attract new customers, you've probably seen a decline. The Secrets To Successful Radio Advertising Ask some businesses about radio advertising and they'll tell you it's the greatest investment they ever made while others will tell you it was a complete waste of time and money. So why does radio work for some and not for others? What's the secret to successful radio advertising?Know this: Radio can be a major player in your advertising mix if you know how to do it and I'm about to give you the secrets to successful radio advertising so read on. Should Your Small Business Hire an Advertising Agency? So, you own a small business, sales are down and you've come to the conclusion you need to start advertising. Questions: Where do I advertise, how much do I spend and do I need the help of an advertising agency?The answer to this question is really very simple. How To Write Super-Effective Ads and Sales Letters! "The more things change, the more they stay the same". That saying couldn't be more true, especially when it comes to writing ads and sales letters. Ten Ways To Sell Advertising Space Fast 1. Give your customers a discount when they spend over a certain dollar amount for ad space. Go Ahead Im Listening In today's fast paced environment, interaction with family and friends is often relegated to a few left over minutes here and there, leaving many people feeling isolated.Radio fills the gap. Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell? We're surrounded by advertisements that desperately compete for our attention. Everywhere we look, we find ourselves inevitably drawn to images of scantily clad attractive men and women that are supposed to somehow inspire us to purchase products they endorse. Advertising Your Holistic Business The most basic answer is the same answer as to the question, how does advertising work? Advertising works through repetition, and Holistic Hometown offers you that repetition.What all successful companies know is that advertising it a process. What the Newspaper Ad Person Won't Tell You Newspapers are considered the PRIMARY advertising medium by 99.4% of all retailers. Send em to the White Pages Your business is listed in the Yellow Pages whether you buy an ad or not. Your business is listed in the Yellow Book and the other phone books, too, no purchase necessary. Wheres Me Pot of Gold and Lucky Charms? We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place. Secrets of Getting Free Advertising The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them. Is Your Advertising... Sexy? Ever hear the term 'sexy' advertising? It's not necessarily what you think. Sure, some people's idea of sexy advertising is hot babes in bikinis spraying beer all over each other, but that's overtly sexual and not what we're about to discuss here. How to Make Your Claims Believable When you hear claims like??Best Lawnmower in the country?Absolute Lowest Prices In Existence?Leaves your hair cleaner than any other shampoo?do you believe them?Or is there a certain degree of doubt in your mind about their credibility? Or whether they are 'hyped up'?Think about it. Everybody expects advertisers to exaggerate their claims. Where To Call For Free Advertising And Free Business Advice Believe it or not, there are plenty of opportunities out there for you to get your written materials free of charge, for free advertising space, and free business advice. For free advertising space, many publications will write an article about you or your product if you purchase advertising space with them. Do Your Radio Ads Work? Most small businesses don't have a high powered advertising agency to produce selling radio commercials for them and end up with something akin to a high school play, or with the business owner reading tired copy.The radio salesperson knows that by suggesting the owner be the star, visions of Dave from Wendys or that guy with the talking dog who says "roll that beautiful bean footage" come to mind. Unlock The Power Of Online Groups Yahoo Groups: I see countless marketers on shoestring budges turn to traffic exchanges for free traffic. If they would spend the time creating online groups rather than clicking for traffic they would see much more quality traffic.
|
 |