My 4 Takeaways from this year's Superbowl ads + the night's biggest loser and best in show

Another Superbowl. Another class of the 'best commercials of the year'. This is supposedly brand marketing at its best. So while I do enjoy a good football game, I can't get enough of world-class branding on the biggest stage possible. But was this really the best we can do?

Here are my 4 takeaways from yesterday's Superbowl commercials, including my favorite and least favorite of them all:

1. More of the same? Again?

More babies acting like adults. More funny yet obnoxious goats. More throwbacks to 15-30 year old pop culture references (Breaking bad, Scrubs, Kiss, Ozzy, Clueless, Grease Lightning, you get it).

What do all these obvious moves mean? Well, when your CFO somehow OK's spending this much money on one ad, you don't get second chances. Which means you go with what already works. Leverage nostalgia. Reboot tried and true campaigns. Play with the pre-tested gimmicks. The only catch is - you're just another one of the brands that reused that thing when the whole point was to be remembered for being uniquely you.

2. Be in on the joke. (AKA ads shouldn't advertise)

When everyone watching your ad knows you're trying to manipulate their emotions to connect with your brand and eventually buy your product - lean into it. Mess around with the awkward situation you're in. It'll show viewers you respect their intellect and you're not here to play silly mind games.

My favorites were (a) Uber One's tagline at the end of their P-Diddy ad - "Get that stuck in your head". That's the point of running an ad, isn't it? That's leaning in.

(b) Even better was Blue Moon's ad that mocked the ridiculous nature of Superbowl ads while simultaneously poking fun at their big competitors' need to one-up each other. The payoff at the end was sharp. Well done. I'll remember that one.

3. The best ability is relatability.

Pringles did a great job using a simple human experience everyone can relate to to get everyone on their side. Something many would even consider a flaw in their product - getting your hand stuck in the Pringles can. When you find yourself saying "OMG that's exactly what happens to me" while watching an ad, you know they did a good job. Of course they also stuck in the ridiculous celebrity cameos, because, y'know, it's the Superbowl so you need Meghan Trainer in your ad or else people won't remember it. I'll allow it. But just this once.

4. Less crypto, more B2B.

The absence of crypto is very explainable - the whole FTX thing made crypto Superbowl commercials kind of a sore subject. But I love how more B2B companies (looking at you Crowdstrike and Workday) are seeing large-scale brand awareness as a major contributor to their business. This is not a given, since only a few years ago, and every single year before that, you couldn't find a handful of B2B TV ads, let alone a single Superbowl ad. Gong paved the way a couple years back. So there's precedent. But it takes a bold B2B brand to go this big. More of this please!

Who did it best... and worst.

The Biggest Loser:

T-Mobile

Where to begin. Over the past month or so, Mint Mobile, owned by marketing ninja Ryan Reynolds, ran a string of ads playing with the idea that, as a smaller cellular provider, they have a smaller marketing budget than the big networks. One such ad featured Ryan and his mom. Just hanging out. The concept was cute, funny, and tastefully done - because Ryan Reynolds. And because Mint Mobile actually is a smaller network and actually has a smaller budget than, say, T-Mobile.

Last night, T-Mobile ran a huge Superbowl ad playing with the idea of using Bradley Cooper and his mom to read the prompts for their commercial. It was just Bradley's mom being a mom, and Bradley laughing hysterically at her mildly humorous mom-ness.

It was impossible not to think of this as T-Mobile's attempt to be a cool, unscripted, underdog even though they are a big, scripted, corporation. It felt forced. Tone deaf. And it didn't work.

Best in show:

TurboTax

This had so many good things going for it I'm scared I'll accidentally skip one.

The messaging is short, clever, and amazingly catchy - "Come to TurboTax and... don't do your taxes." It's perfect as far as a tagline goes.

It's 45 straight seconds of an older man in a 2-piece jogging suit dancing by a public sprinkler park. That's the whole ad.

His dancing is the perfect combination of socially unaware and irrationally confident. His moves are barely good enough to believe he has moves, but just ridiculous enough to make it impossible to look away.

Relatable (we all know this guy). Real (we might run into this guy later today). Funny (dancing old people = comedy gold). But not forced.

Perfect tagline. Tasteful use of nostalgic music. Vibrant colors.

I actually felt a genuine human feeling that a tax service understood me. That they get what cool is. A tax service!

It's simplicity is its superpower. Turbotax - you win.

Thanks for the laughs, Superbowl commercials. Even if most of them were at you, not with you. See you next year.