rodmoose Super Bowl Ad Poll - One For The Record Books
I polled my 129,000+ followers on Twitter https://twitter/rodmoose for their real time votes to identify this year’s most popular Super Bowl ads. The winners are unconventional and broke through in completely new ways.
The polling was done real time for each ad block and also overall to determine how ads truly performed across the spectrum. Additionally, I also polled to see how popular the Half Time Show was, given it was an Ad for Pepsi Zero, if this was the greatest come back in Super Bowl history, which would make the overall experience even more memorable over time, and their thoughts on Jonathan Kraft, the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who became a new meme sensation just before a key turning point in the game.
The results are interesting to say the least, because many of this year’s biggest winners didn’t follow the traditional formula for winning Super Bowl viewer favor, namely humor, animals and little children. Many of the top performers this year were politically charged and it will be interesting to see how the final outcome of their messages pay off for them.
Here’s a quick round up as things stood following the big game.
The most popular Super Bowl commercial from my poll was politically charged and focused on immigration.
84 Lumber’s ad portrayed a Latino mother and daughter traveling across a desert on foot to the United States. When they reached the border, they found a giant wall. As they looked along the wall they found a big set of wooden doors in the middle of it. They pushed the doors open and came through the wall, as the camera cut to the back of a construction truck carrying building supplies, insinuating the driver built the door. A super came on the screen that read, “THE WILL TO SUCCEED IS ALWAYS WELCOME HERE.”
This spot was a big bet and calculated risk by 84 Lumber that paid off in a few ways. Yes, it was and will be talked about and debated over in the press for some time. But it also plays well to Latinos, a significant portion of the construction industry in states where construction is robust. You can view the spot here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W4GXs-J9Oo#action=share
Kia scored big with humor and a subtle political message with Melissa McCarthy finishing second in popularity. Melissa strives to save the eco world in “Heroes Journey” as she runs into hilarious difficulties saving whales, trees, ice caps and rhinos. The voice over notes at the end of the ad, “it’s hard to be an eco warrior, but it’s easy to drive like one. Introducing the most fuel efficient cross over, a Kia Niro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQ9a5EFZeI
Airbnb took third place overall with a political message of acceptance. A spot that resonates exceptionally well with their millennial audience. Faces transition and merge and meld together as the supers read, “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love, or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept. #weaccept – Airbnb.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yetFk7QoSck
Honda ranked fourth with a spot that would have typically been a contender for the top spot in a different political climate, using a mix of humor and special effects to bring celebrity yearbook pictures to life to support the power of dreams.
The spot opens a yearbook as you see Tina Fey’s senior picture that comes to life and speaks to you in her voice as she says, “When you start out, you might not know where you’re going, or what you’re doing, or why you’re carrying this red rose with you,” referring to a rose in her senior picture.
The ad then jumps to other celebrities offering insights including Robert Redford, Amy Adams, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Steve Carell, Missy Elliott, Stan Lee, Jimmy Kimmel and finally Viola Davis, who shares, “all dreams are within reach.”
The voice over closes noting, "here’s to chasing dreams and all the amazing places they lead. The all new CRV from Honda." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f06ng5cII8o
What’s interesting about polling in real time is finding out which spots win their time block. Sure everybody wants to have one of the most popular ads. But winning a time block can be just as effective in building recognition.
Many spots performed well against some of the very most popular spots. The first block of commercials was led by comedy and came out strong with Skittles – Romance The Rainbow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djEl5iRol4E taking a slight lead over Avocados From Mexico in a close second parodying the Illuminati, mocking popular Illuminating discussion that's prevalent on the Internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VneoEvAJX0g .
Bai Antioxidant drink came in a close second to the Honda Yearbook in their time slot. The spot features Christopher Walken quoting the NSync song, “Bye, Bye, Bye,” to Justin Timberlake, building name recognition for Bai. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvU2CdzPQf8
Turbo Tax was unrivaled in the second half of the second quarter block with a humorous, Monty Python-esque “Humpty Hospital,” that drove home their smart phone app with features that can help you identify more tax deductions and answer your tax prep questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5i-p1miRNw
Lady Gaga took the stage for the Pepsi Zero Half Time Show and received an 86% approval that she, “killed it!” She opened with “God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land” from the outside roof of the stadium and then entered by cable to sing short versions of, “ The Edge Of Glory,” “Poker Face,” “Born This Way,” “Stop Calling,” “Just Dance,” “Million Reasons” in which she said, "hi Dad and Mom," and closed with “Bad Romance.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txXwg712zw4
Two spots that performed well against this year’s champ 84 Lumber during the half time slot included National Geographic and the NFL.
National Geographic TV’s spot for the TV series “Genius,” featured Albert Einstein playing Lady Gaga’s bad romance on the violin just seconds after she performed it at the half time show. The spot rated well in the poll and was easily the most strategically placed ad in the Super Bowl, extending the half time entertainment in a highly memorable way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TooG66nuEAw
The NFL’s, “Super Bowl Legends Inspire Super Bowl Babies” was also very likeable and performed well at Half Time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9csH_Hy-7A4
Justin Bieber dominates in the Twitterverse and received significant favor for T-Mobile’s new unlimited plan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEJrPyFx_E
The overwhelming majority participating in the poll agreed this was the greatest come back in Super Bowl history, it was also a record setter in many ways. Here’s how it played out;
The Super Bowl game itself was a record breaker. There was surprisingly no scoring until the second quarter when Atlanta went on a 21-0 tear. Atlanta scored again in the 3rd quarter making it 28-0. Then an odd thing took place after the commercial break that magically turned the game around for the Patriots.
The camera zoomed in on Patriots owner Robert Kraft as announcer Joe Buck mentioned him and called out his son Jonathan Kraft who was close by. He noted Jonathan was a key member on the executive team. As the camera zoomed closer on Jonathan, he became occupied with his nose. Suddenly the Internet was buzzing with Patriot haters calling out Jonathan for picking his nose.
I asked in my poll if people felt bad for Jonathan Kraft being caught on TV picking his nose. A resounding 78% said they did not. One of the folks who responded to my poll tweeted back – “fine em a draft pick.”
New England came back scoring a field goal making it 28-3. Then the Patriots took a turnover and turned it into a touchdown, but missed the extra point, making the score 28-9. The Falcons could not move the ball on their next series. The Patriots once again marched within striking distance to score a second field goal making the score 28-12 with 9:48 left in the game.
The Falcons fumbled on the next drive and the Patriots recovered with 8:31 left in the game. They drove the field to score a touchdown and completed a two point conversion making the score Falcons 28, Patriots 20 with 5:56 remaining.
The Falcons turned the ball over once again and the Patriots followed up on a long drive to score again with the score Falcons 28, Patriots 26. The Patriots then successfully completed a second two point conversion tying the game with :57 left. The Falcons could not move the ball as game time expired, leading to the first overtime in Super Bowl history.
The Patriots got first possession and scored winning the game 34 to 28 in the largest point comeback in Super Bowl history.
The game itself is one for the record books with the largest comeback, the first overtime, the most Super Bowl MVPs won by a single player, Tom Brady who now has four, the most Super Bowl wins by a quarterback, Tom Brady and a Coach, Bill Belichick.
It’s also quite possible that a hateful Internet meme and politically charged ads had an odd kismet link to a continuing global stream of insurmountable turnarounds with surprise endings.
Super Bowl 51 was shocking and exciting as the Patriots and advertisers alike broke into untapped territories to win in new ways.
It just doesn’t get any better than that. Unless of course your home team is in the Super Bowl winning in a blow out.
Rodney Mason, CEO
Nurture Ranch www.nurtureranch.com,
Follow me on Twitter https://twitter/rodmoose and join the discussion.