Best Super Bowl 2015 Ads

Last night’s Super Bowl XLIX Seahawks-Patriots match up was definitely one for the ages. Ratings were up 4% (total viewers to be announced later today) from last year which had a record breaking audience of 111.5 million viewers. Super Bowl commercials are among the most expensive mainly due to the mass audience they attract. According to The Wall Street Journal, brands shelled out a record breaking $4.5 million this year for a basic 30-second Super Bowl XLIX ad. The true value of the overall exposure includes online views, brand recall, social media leverage, wide spread media coverage, and positive PR associated with the game.

This year’s ads were focused on heartfelt emotions (from the powerful ads like NFL’s domestic violence, Dove’s Fathers are hero’s to Dodge’s 100 year life lessons) to off-putting (Nationwide childhood death which was very depressing). Most effective Super Bowl ads use animals, babies/kids, humor (which we didn’t see much of this year with a few exceptions like the Snicker’s ad), surprise endings, celebrities, and longer storytelling.

According to YouTube Trends Dashboard the “Lost Dog” ad by Budweiser was one of the most viewed videos in the last 24 hours (20.8M views) since uploaded on January 28th. Super Bowl 2015 Chart ranked “Lost Dog” #1 with 2.1M shares across Facebook, Twitter and blogs in the last 30 days. This ad has also taken top dog honors among several media outlets including USA Today Ad Meter, Hulu, Denver Post and Shift Communications tally of online and ad sharing. Emotions were definitely riding high with this ad and were used successfully to engage consumers with the Budweiser brand.

“The Brady Bunch” ad by Snickers was ranked #2 by Super Bowl 2015 Chart with 187,237 shares in the last 30 days. This spot was clever and very funny and had it not had a puppy or baby in it, it might have taken the top slot. “The Brady Bunch” ad has been one of the most shared videos on Facebook & Twitter in the last 24 hours including 8.1M views on YouTube. One of Snicker’s successes outside of the humor they used was in launching their ad early with their teaser campaign. Their teaser ad generated 3.35M views alone. Launching before the Super Bowl game is ultimately the way to be a part of the larger conversation, engaging with consumers longer.

The keys to a successful commercial are:

1. Attention: The ad needs to grab consumer’s attention.
2. Distinction: The ad needs to be different, distinct so it stands out from the competition.
3. Positioning: Your ad needs to deliver your brands benefit in order to be memorable to your consumers.
4. Likable/Effective: Your ad needs to be liked, inspiring conversation in a positive way, engaging both consumer and brand.
5. Net Equity: The ad has to be consistent with the overall brand.