CR Blog
Super Bowl Ad Round-up
Posted by Eliza Williams, 7 February 2011, 14:00 Permalink Comments (19)
The Super Bowl is a rare thing in today's advertising landscape: a TV event with a massive guaranteed audience. Brands and agencies therefore pull out all the stops for the show's ad breaks, and pay handsomely for the privilege of appearing in them: a 30-second spot cost $3 million this year, apparently. Here's CR's round up of the best ads shown during yesterday's game.
The game's ad slots were dominated by certain types of brands. Car ads featured heavily (too heavily for many Twitter observers, who complained loudly of car overload), alongside Super Bowl regulars such as Budweiser, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Celebrity endorsement was a common trait, from the awkward, such as Adrien Brody playing a jazz crooner for Stella Artois, to the truly bizarre: a half-naked Joan Rivers for GoDaddy.com.
Volkswagen: The Force, by Deutsch
While the main medium for the ads shown may be TV, most brands are hoping that the Super Bowl exposure will also lead to a longer life online for their expensive spots. Volkswagen has already achieved this with its cute spot The Force, which was released online ahead of the game, and has already received over 15 million views on YouTube.
Doritos: The Best Part, by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Doritos used humour to get its message across in a series of ads, including The Best Part, above, where a man reveals that his love for Doritos has reached gross-out levels, and Pug Attack, where another man foolishly taunts a pup with the snack.
Best Buy: Ozzy Vs. Bieber, by Crispin, Porter & Bogusky
Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber send themselves up for Best Buy in this spot from CP&B.
Budweiser: Wild West, by Anomaly
A cowboy has a surprising change of mood after drinking a Budweiser in this spot from Anomaly ad agency.
Bud Light: Hack Job, by Cannonball
Bud Light sends up home makeover shows in one of a series of humorous spots from the beer brand that showed during the game.
Coca-Cola: Siege, by Wieden + Kennedy
Coke returned to the Super Bowl with a new animated epic, shown above, as well as a simple but charming spot featuring border guards. Both preach the Coke-makes-you-happy mantra, an approach in marked contrast to the Pepsi Max spots, which were surprisingly violent (in a supposedly humorous way, of course).
Kia: One Epic Ride, by David & Goliath
Back to the car ads now, which came in a multitude of forms. Kia went for epic special effects...
Hyundai: Deprogramming, by Innocean
...while Hyundai went for pretty kaleidoscope graphics. This is one of series of Hyundai spots that ran during the Super Bowl, which also included Anachronistic City, shown on the CR blog a couple of weeks ago.
Chrysler: Born of Fire, by Wieden + Kennedy/Universal McCann
Chrysler went epic in a different kind of way, with a two-minute spot starring Eminem that addressed Detroit's heritage in the US car industry.
Motorola: Empower The People, by Anomaly
We finish this year's Super Bowl round-up with a spot for the new Motorola Xoom (the first Android tablet), which was trailed online in the run-up to the game to help build hype. The finished spot turns Apple's classic ad 1984 (which also premiered during the Super Bowl) back on itself, presenting Apple as the drone-like establishment brand, and Motorola as the one to smash it.
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19 Comments
Frankly, I'm disappointed.
2011-02-07 14:38:00
I am a huge fan of the Super Bowl adverts, especially the Bud Light and Doritos ones. But I have to say by far away the best add this year is the one you lead with - the little boy in the Volkswagen advert just stole my heart. It uses iconic imagery with just a touch of humor to create a classic add.
2011-02-07 14:48:33
The Motorola advert seems slightly ironic in as much as they're releasing a product purely because Apple already has.
2011-02-07 14:57:00
I thought the top 3 are
VW The Force
Coke's Border http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueZnlF883-M
Snicker's Logging http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO_uJVL8KkA
2011-02-07 15:24:00
One of my favorite parts about superbowl is to see how creative the agencies are. Doritos with the licking finger, volkswagen, and Detroit motor city were the best. The rest was just horrible in terms of creativity of ideas not design. Creative agencies gotta pick up your game. Come on
2011-02-07 15:43:57
There is always someone who is 'dissapointed'. Frankly I think you're just bored. What a great selection of adverts for such a huge audience. Nice post.
2011-02-07 15:57:44
Hmm, have we all lost our critical faculties? Some were ok, but surely:
VW - cringeworthy cutesy-pie
Coke - a complete mess (and mangled Handel)
Doritos was fun though!
2011-02-07 18:00:00
Maybe msome of them spent most of the budget on the $3 million slots.
VW is clever though.
2011-02-07 18:14:03
What were they on when they dreamed up that ridiculous Kia ad? And as for Motorola, irony doesn't touch it. What a pathetic attempt to sideswipe Apple, and it really doesn't work, either.
THe VW ad however is so brilliantly simple, and beautifully shot. The simplest of the lot, and the best by miles
2011-02-07 23:32:44
You left out the one with the chimps? There's always room for chimps!
2011-02-08 10:21:52
I adore VW "the force", simple and clever.
Chrysler is definitely a mover, though I am not the target ref.
2011-02-08 14:18:06
Doritos pug attack - if only because it pleases me to see animals getting their own back on humans.
2011-02-08 14:26:29
Purleese 'The Tablet to Create a Better World" Gimme a break.
2011-02-08 14:41:02
Boring Boring Boring. What a phenomenal waste of money and hype on uncreative, safe, sterile ideas. Move to Europe and get a life, designers.
2011-02-08 18:38:49
:) well, we just enjoyed them all. We are a small regional-based studio living at the ends of the earth, and we live with regional Television and lots of really badly made farming & community ads, so our perspective is one of fairly broad delight in anything that has been lavished with 'thought'. A really nice bunch. I liked the 4, 5, and 6 G ad. "What's a Beiber?" has got to be one of the best lines in the line up. :) Old rockers never really stop rockin do they!. Thanks CR.
2011-02-08 22:45:53
Doritos was funny
VW was nice, cute
Best buy made me chuckle
Chrysler I liked but not sure about its ott ending
The rest, nothing to write home about. Plus Coke special mention. All well and good having amazing cgi, but that ad was rubbish.
A
2011-02-09 00:07:44
Chrysler and Bud are the best and i love american advertising!
2011-02-09 06:25:30
VW ad, the best by far, VW have a really distinctive style and tone of voice.
I quite liked the Chrysler commercial, and the Budweiser and Bud light ads did make me laugh.
With the over-the-topness the Super Bowl brings I think some of the agencies get carried away with making over-the-top adverts that miss the point slightly. The Coke advert was a good example of this, amazing cgi but did not fit Coke's tone of voice and was just a bit sh*t.
2011-02-16 13:10:06
LIke the way all these failed creatives comment how shit the ads are and waste of money but at the same time wish they'd made a Superbowl spot.
2011-10-29 20:01:16
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