Super Ad Letdown

Super snooze bowl of commercials today.  The biggest game of the year in advertising terms and all the teams went for the safety instead of a touchdown.  In this age of mobile ads and diminishing TV viewership, the Super Bowl is THE chance for TV advertising to showcase its magic and make people believe.  Instead it was underwhelming and largely uninspiring.

Want to see for yourself how bad it was?  Here’s a test that we do when we evaluate commercials in focus groups.  The moderator will show a commercial block and then see what people recall, what was the main message, what did they take away.  The more impactful the spot, the more you’ll remember and hopefully be inspired to take action.

It’s your turn to be the respondent.  Quickly write down the commercials you recall from Super Bowl 50 that are top of mind – the ones you remember without having to think about it.

Here’s my (short) list...

1. Puppy Monkey Baby. Weird Disturbing Absurd. Yet I remember it.  Mtn Dew’s Kickstart – 3 great things together – dew, juice, and caffeine.  I remembered it in some good detail so it’s a winner in terms of recall.

1. Helen Mirren telling us not to be a pillock – so don’t drink and drive. And yes this was for Budweiser. Liked seeing them take a responsible approach, like Helen Mirren and hope that continues. #GiveaDamn

Beyond that, it seemed there was a stampede of animal commercials…. Singing sheep.  Dorito dogs. Running hot dogs.  Dogs driving cars. A camping marmot. The Hulk and Ant Man (what was the point of that Coke Mini spot?). Enough with the animals already.  Animals tug at the heart strings but they need to serve a purpose beyond getting you to coo and say, “awwww, how cute”.

How about the collection of ‘mature’ stars 'selling out'?  Anthony Hopkins (with a knowing joke within the spot about it). Steven Tyler (my favorite of them all).

Steven Tyler's portrait in Skittles. And it sings too!

Willem Defoe (Snickers isn’t satisfying with that campaign anymore, time to retire it). Christopher Walken.  Alec Baldwin.  Liam Neeson for LG OLED was watchable even though the ad didn’t make much sense.  Imagine if we could get them all into one ad together.

And Seal?  I was cringing watching those short set-up spots about the increase in births in the winning city 9 months after the Super Bowl, but when that full spot came on I was dumbfounded.  And disappointed.

The gaggle of Republican presidential candidates must have been salivating at the return to “American values” of procreation and home ownership.  I mentioned the NFL spot with Seal and a chorus of singing Super Bowl babies from the past 50 years.  Apparently people are so overcome with joy at their team’s victory that they need to consummate their relationship and have a baby.  This was all under the umbrella of NFL is Family – yes, many families bond on Sundays (and Mondays and Thursdays) but did we really need this pro-creation message?

“Cringeworthy” is how one friend described the experience of watching the spot with her pre-pubescent son.  I’m sure there are many conversations unexpectedly happening tonight (and tomorrow at school).  “I shouldn’t have to teach sex ed while watching commercials during a football game,” my friend continued.

Missed opportunity: an ad for Trojan or KY lubricants to run in the adjacent spot to this.

Heads-up Hallmark and Russell Stover: perhaps you can re-purpose this NFL spot next week with Valentine’s Day?  Or how about the Weather Channel to make people feel better about the next blizzard barreling down on your town?

A re-ignition of the American Dream of home ownership and subsequent pursuit of material goods was shared with us by Quicken Loans’ “Rocket Mortgage”.  Anyone can get a home, everyone should own a home.  Rocket Mortgage can get you the loan for your home. And then everyone should fill their home with goods -- paid for with money they don’t have.  Buying these goods would, in turn, support the American manufacturing economy. (Check the country of origin on your household items, it most likely was made everywhere but the United States).  And as the camera zooms into outer space showing Earth with the United States as its center (isn’t it?), I was waiting for Donald Trump to appear.  Was Wall Street behind this spot?

I’m curious to see which of these campaigns have legs in the coming months.  At $5 million a pop, plus production and creative costs, this was an expensive collection of unmemorable.

What ads do you recall?    All I know is that I shouldn’t be a pillock and get behind the wheel after drinking a Kickstart.  Puppy Monkey Baby.

-Rob