Leo Burnett

While there’s certainly no shortage of places online to go watch, rate and vote on the ads from Super Bowl XLIV, we thought we’d open a poll of our own to get a sense of what those of us at Leo Burnett thought about this year’s selection.

The results turned out a bit differently than those of the USA Today Ad Meter.  And that’s likely because we used our HumanKind scale, the standard Leo Burnett employs to evaluate our creative product worldwide.  It’s a challenging set of criteria: At the top, a 10, is an idea that “Changes the world.” At the opposite end, a 1, is something deemed “Destructive.”  A 7 is the benchmark of great work: “An inspiring idea, beautifully crafted.”

In our poll, “Paris” for Google took top honors, scoring a 7.1.  At the low end of that spectrum was GoDaddy’s “Danica Patrick – Too Hot For TV,” which scored a 3.3.

Here were our top-scoring ads:

1. Google “Paris” 7.1
2. Audi A3 TDI “Green Police” 6.2
3. Mars Snickers “Betty White” 6.1
4. Coca-Cola “Hard Times” 5.9
5. Volkswagen “Punch Dub” 5.8
6. Unilever Dove’s Men Care “The Journey to Comfort” 5.7
   Dodge “Man’s Last Stand” 5.7
7. Frito-Lay Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl – House Rules” 5.5
   Cars.com “Timothy Richman” 5.5
   Budweiser “Teamwork – Bridge Building” 5.5
   CareerBuilder “Casual Friday”
8. Hyundai Sonata “10 Years/Brett Favre” 5.4
   Denny’s “Grand Slam Promotion – Chicken” 5.4
   Coca-Cola “Sleepwalker” 5.4
   NFL “Takeoff” 5.4
9. Hyundai Sonata “Paint” 5.3
   Bud Light “Island Castaways – Lost Spoof” 5.3
   FloTV “Will.I.Am – My Generation 5.3
   E*Trade “Milkaholic” 5.3
10. Hyundai Sonata “Quote Us” 5.2
    Bud Light “Beer Can House 5.2

In addition to the poll, we asked a collection of people from the agency – across a range of departments – to contribute some thoughts on the spots.  These by no means intended to represent the official view of Leo Burnett; we just tried to tap a diverse group of voices to provide some professional between-the-game commentary.  Enjoy… and feel free to chime in with thoughts of your own.

Arielle Brustein, Assistant Account Executive

Google was original; Snickers was funny; and Audi was creative. But the Super Bowl ad that impressed me the most was the one that never ran: Pepsi’s.

In an effort to be more socially responsible, Pepsi opted out of advertising in this year’s Super Bowl. They instead reallocated their Super Bowl budget to a “Refresheverything” campaign in which $20 million will fund projects in categories including health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. Talk about scoring high on the HumanKind scale.

Adfreak.com recently ran an interesting post, “Spend that $2.6 million on something useful,” showing 15 other ways $2.6 million could be spent. While some were totally ridiculous – like 694,104 golf balls with the faces of Tiger Woods’ mistresses on them – others made you realize just how far $2.6 million can actually go, like for example, a full year’s wages for 6,500 Haitians. And that’s just 30 seconds worth of ad time…

In today’s world of economic uncertainty, I’m not sure that spending $2.6 million on a 30-second spot is the best way to promote your brand. Perhaps if you’re launching a new product or you’re a less well-known company, the Super Bowl still has the best bang-for-your buck. However, the days when mass-market media was the sole vehicle to reach an audience are over. To some extent, advertisers are realizing that – it was interesting to see how many ads this year attempted to extend their exposure by encouraging people to visit their websites.

In any case, I think what we can all learn from Pepsi is that we need to seriously consider the purpose of our brand when choosing where to place it, and the message purchasing such expensive ad space sends. It wouldn’t have seemed appropriate for Pepsi’s philanthropic campaign to be promoted with a commercial that cost nearly $3 million just to air. I get that the Super Bowl ads are all about entertainment, but I think a large number of consumers are really tired of seeing wasteful spending.

Whether or not you see value in Super Bowl advertising to meet your business needs, it’s the message in doing so that can have harmful repercussions, particularly if extravagance or wasteful spending conflicts with your brand’s purpose. On the contrary, socially responsible marketing is often rewarded with enhanced reputation, competitive advantages, and a stronger bottom line. As advertisers, we need to realize that socially responsible marketing isn’t just about the content of our ads, but their placement –and in some cases, lack thereof.

One of the biggest spenders this year for sure was Anheuser-Busch with 9 spots, nearly 5 minutes of ad time. So my question to you is: does watching another Clydesdale ad change your perception of Budweiser or make you want to switch from drinking Miller to Bud? Probably not. But had Anheuser-Busch made a similar announcement to that of Pepsi’s, reallocating their Super Bowl ad budget to – let’s say – the earthquake victims in Haiti, then that just might have changed purchase behavior. I, for one, would serve exclusively Budweiser at my Super Bowl party.

two reasons i’m kind of not embarrassed to be in advertising today.
bob winter, executive creative director

one, snickers.  and two, google.

snickers, because it’s everything i want in a super bowl commercial.  great visual comedy.  betty white in a sexy sweater.  surprise abe vigoda ending.  come on, that’s just funny.  in my book anyway.  plus, and maybe i’m over-analyzing it, but it made me think differently about snickers.  when you’re low on energy you perform like betty white.  nice.  i get it.  and i’ll remember it.

and google, because it was brave enough to be the exact opposite.  no visual gags, no snappy dialogue.  zero abe vigoda endings.  and yet, in my opinion anyway, completely engaging.  it completely stood out from the rest of the commercials for all the right reasons and in ways that only google could.  for a big, monster company to act like a friend and tell a simple, charming story with only google searches made me like them even more than i already do.  if there are other search engines vying for my attention these days they can forget it, i’m with google.

there may be 42 reasons i could be ashamed to be in advertising today.  at least three commercials with men in no pants, the national embarrassment that is go daddy, a horrible remake of our beloved super bowl shuffle, but i choose to ignore those.  we got a great game, some cool lasers at halftime and a couple of really great examples of how we can still connect with people in surprising and meaningful ways.  let’s ride that positivity.

at least for today…

Football, Ceviche and some ads.
Pepe Funegra, Associate Creative Director, Lápiz

I don’t care about football. I discovered the names of the teams a few minutes before the game. I don’t like football and I don’t know anything about “touchdowns” and why the quarterbacks look angry. Maybe you’re going to think that’s because I’m from South America, but I don’t like soccer either. Actually, I hate it. How I can love soccer if my country’s team hasn’t gone to the World Cup in 30 years?  We are not Argentina or Brazil, we are not good at soccer, but if there happens to exist a Ceviche World Cup some day, I’m sure we’d be the world championship. But sadly, it doesn’t exist.

Well, enough digression. This is about advertising, isn’t it?

And this year I think we didn’t reach the glory. Animals, midgets, babies, almost naked guys, old rock stars, some entertaining stuff, a few funny ads and just a couple of good ideas. Just as usual.

The losers:

Godaddy.com, Papa John’s, Dr Pepper, Motorola

The semi-losers:

Doritos, Hyundai, Bud Light with a bunch of funny ads without a good idea behind them, Denny’s with the worst animatronic of the year, Bridgestone, Taco Bell

The winners?

Snickers “Betty White” – Great human insight applied with a wacky sense of humor. Goal!

Google “Paris” – Fantastic story telling. A simple idea focused on the product.

Career Builder “Casual Fridays” “Job Fairy” – Funny, but I really missed something breakthrough like “Tips” from the last year. As a rule.

Audi “Green Police” – Entertaining and solid. It’s refreshing in a category really thirsty of intelligent ideas.

Coke “Hard Times” – Nice idea, but maybe not enough. Why they didn’t use Homer or Bart doing something?

Dove Men “Journey to the comfort” – Finally something rooted in a human truth. An excellent execution with a superb use of music.

Volkswagen “Punch Dub” – Popular, simple and insightful. I like Grizzly Bear.

P.D: If you want to try the best Ceviche on earth, please feel free to contact me.

Tackling Gender
Fernanda Burgel, Production Artist, Lápiz

I had no idea life was so hard for guys. Does life suck this much for every guy out there, or are the people creating the ads just more miserable than the rest of America? Judging from the Super Bowl ads from last night, being a man blows, and it gets worse if you try to have a woman in your life.

I’ll start by talking about what to me was the saddest of them all, the Dodge spot. It scares me to think that men secretly hate their lives as much as this commercial shows. The men in this particular spot look at the camera with the most numbed faces anyone can think of, as the voiceover slowly describes their daily routine. The routine is described with things that most of us have to do (walking the dog, eating fruit) but that quickly develops into an open complaint about being in a relationship (which apparently involves lots of vampire show watching and lip balm carrying). All of that, made worse by 2-hour-long work meetings and in-laws, and at the end of the day, if you’re lucky, you’re driving a Dodge? That Dodge? Now that sucks.

And who would have thought that men were so stupid and women were so boring? That’s what Bud Light brings us with their Book Club spot. According to this ad, men can only really enjoy sports and beer, have no idea who Louisa May Alcott is and hit on their wives’ girlfriends right in front of them. All of this going on and all I can find myself thinking is “It could be worse; they could have been reading Twilight”.

And then we hit rock bottom with the FloTV “Girlfriend Removed Spine” spot. Yes, I have actually met guys who behave just like the idiot onscreen. I met guys who never stood up for themselves and who did go shopping with their wives, as the game was on, and suggest they get Lavender candles instead of Vanilla, and that, in the end, foot the bill for the candles. And every time I saw them behave like that, my one and only thought had always been: they deserve it. They deserve a woman who wants to walk all over them and they deserve to have a footprint on their faces. And they deserve to miss the game, not have technology that supports their pansy lifestyle.

At this point, you might be thinking that I am one of those bitter women who have no sense of humor. It’s not the case. I truly enjoyed the Dove spot, for instance. It shows the hardships of being a man in their entirety, not just as relationships are concerned. Being a man in the Dove spot is lightheartedly difficult. And because the ad touches on the pressures of becoming who people expect you to be (“be good at sports, always look cool”), it happens to mirror “Evolution”, becoming its masculine, funny counterpart.

All of these spots were made for guys, probably by guys. I understand that. They aired during a football game, which, unlike most other sports, has no women’s league. But women were watching. This is the Super Bowl, of course women were watching. Most of the women I was with were watching the Super Bowl specifically to see the ads. These are also women who drink beer and buy cars. And if the ads were right, and women are these controlling, needy, pissed-off creatures, don’t you think you might have upset them just a little bit?

El Super Tazón
Eduardo Tua, Creative Director, Lápiz

As always the Super Bowl delivered everything it promised: a nail-biting game and a great half-time show.  And while I write these lines listening to “Baba O’Riley” I cannot get my mind off some of the good, the bad and the ugly ads I’ve seen tonight.

But before talking about those, I just want to say I don’t fully understand American humor.  Maybe you will disagree with me on some of my comments and maybe an ad that was totally relevant to you, wasn’t for me. I only ask you to please keep something in mind: I’m a foreigner.

For me, a good idea has to be good in any language.  So when you take an ad and strip it down from the puns, slang and I-am-T-Pain fads, it still needs to be simple and touching on some human truths.

I’m a little confused with the Bud Light and Budweiser ads.  Which one is which?  Take for example Budweiser’s “Human Bridge”. Couldn’t that one easily be a Bud Light ad? Or couldn’t the house made of Bud Lights be a Budweiser one? Wasssssupppp with that A+B?  Maybe my English really sucks or I missed something, but I couldn’t see the idea behind those.

What about all those slapstick Doritos ads? I want to say that I laughed my ass off when the poor dog got his revenge or when that Ninja Dorito-Star hit the guy’s neck, but I didn’t. I did, however enjoyed the kid’s slap and the “Keep your hands off my mama and keep your hands off my Doritos” line.  And although the Doritos ads were a little self-serving for my taste (no pun intended), I do understand now that “Doritos are irresistible and somewhat hard to share.”

There were also some spots that I could relate to, like the one that describes exactly the fear of buying a car from Cars.com or the one that reminds us that in spite of this down economy, we can still laugh and enjoy the simple pleasure of having a Coke.

But there where two ads that stood from the rest and made it worth seeing four quarters of a sport I hardly understand.  One of them was for Snickers.  Great and simple execution and a perfect closing line: “You’re not you when you’re hungry”. It’s so true!

The other one was for Google.  This one touched me in a very special way, and I supposed that is because 12 years ago I did a similar search.  The only difference being it wasn’t Paris but Chicago.

Entertainment-Schmentertainment.
Dave Loew, SVP, Creative Director

Forget entertainment. I love Super Bowl commercials because I can learn about exciting new products. Like Shape-Ups shoes (by Skechers) that will improve my posture and make my buttocks as firm as Joe Montana’s. Or at the start of the game, a friendly couple sitting on a couch told me that at Pizza Hut, I can get any size pizza, any topping for $10!

Such a deal!

But I guess people like to be “entertained” while they watch the Super Bowl so let’s look at the ads through that peculiar lens.

Best Ad of the Game: Snickers “Betty White.” Hilarious demo of Snickers’ energy-giving powers. Though Abe Vigoda makes a nice cameo, I’m still not sure if he’s alive.

Other Top Spots:

The Simpsons ad where evil billionaire Montgomery Burns loses his fortune was a nice little surprise when revealed it was from Coke. Funny at the start, sweet at the end.

Environmental awareness messaging can sometimes come off a bit shrill. But Audi “Green Police” was fun, smart and gave their new A3 diesel green street cred.

Career Builder “Casual Friday” featured pasty, out of shape folks in their undies, creating an unbearable work environment. Outrageous but still dry.

While brands like Doritos screamed to get my attention, Google got it by whispering.

Monster.com spot featuring a fiddle-playing beaver was nicely random though I would have preferred a capybara playing an oboe.

My favorite beer spot: Miller High Life ad starring actual small business owners. Quirky but with a scrappy “pull up your bootstrap” messaging that felt in-sync with the mood of the country.

Speaking of beer, “House Made of Bud Light” was pretty funny but other spots like “Book Club” make Bud Light’s male drinkers look just stoopid. But the Light ad where guys talk to each other with an “Auto-tune” effect and T-Pain asks to “pass the guacamole” was fun.

A well-done Dodge Charger spot played on the emasculation of the American male and ended with a strong payoff line: “Man’s Last Stand.”  Great voiceover from Michael C. Hall, who plays America’s favorite serial killer on “Dexter.”

Judging from this ad and some of the Bud Light spots, the intelligent American male is an endangered species. Now if you’ll excuse me, my wife just told me I have to change the potpourri.

Jen Pecorella, Associate Producer

I’m sorry, are we moving forward or stuck in the past?

This year I saw a good amount of innovation, but I also wonder what the fascination is with remaking what worked in the past.  What about this year’s Super Bowl makes the 1985 Chicago Bears Shuffle relevant?  How many times have we seen the dramatic chipmunk?

Only a handful of brands, that I saw tonight, knew how to move their ideas forward.  We talk a lot about HumanKind these days.  Acts not ads.  I didn’t expect to see too much of it tonight, and I didn’t, but of those that did, this one stood out to my surprise.  CBS.  They had a simple yet effective message. “Call Barney Stinson” Of course there was a real phone number and I called it and Barney answered:

“That, Lebron, is how you shoot a free throw. Hey, Barney Stinson speaking. A recording? No, this is really me! Anyway, glad you called ’cause you sound really special. Let’s get to know each other. What are your hobbies? Oh my god, I like that too! Wow, I’m really feeling a connection here. You know, I never do this but what the heck. Let’s meet up at MacLaren’s Bar at oh, say, 3:45 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, 2016. I can’t wait to meet you. I love you.”

Barney Stinson is a character on “How I Met Your Mother” which airs on CBS. I’m thinking there will be a follow up to this in their next episode.  They were successfully one of the few ads that kept me wanting more.  I probably will watch the show tomorrow to see what their follow up will be all about!

Doritos has executed a revolutionary campaign.  Having their fans compete for the best script not only brings Doritos a large pool of ideas but it gives their fans a way to participate with the brand.  This isn’t their first year with the “Crash the Super Bowl” campaign, but it’s getting bigger and better every year.  “House Rules” will be one of the most remembered spots of the game.  The sassy son’s slap and quick-witted rules were funny while relating back to the brand.  “Keep your hands off my momma, keep your hands off my Doritos”

There were a couple ads that used online media to create buzz for their ads tonight.  Advertising for advertising; does it work?  I’m not sure yet but I don’t think it hurts.  Kia Motors used online banners on CNN.com’s homepage to promote their Super Bowl ad.  There was one catch. You couldn’t watch the ad directly on the banners.  Clicking on the “sneak peek” call to action button pushed you straight through to Kia’s Facebook page.  Here you could obviously watch the spot, but also, become a fan. I found this to be an interesting way to get users to them before the commercial ever even aired.  I found myself looking for it on game night.

The other commercial I had seen online before tonight was Google’s “Parisian Love”.  I don’t know if this was intentional, in fact, I doubt it was.  This spot’s charm made such an impact online that I think it gave them the confidence they needed to step out of their comfort zone and step out into the promotional limelight.  They shined.  With its familiar search page and graceful music and sound effects, they took us on a life journey with a person we can’t even see, yet we felt so connected to him.  Google found that you don’t need a lot of production dollars to make people feel something; you just need a great idea.

OK, and some media money.

Super Bowl Commercials, 2010 “Here We Go”…Again.
Lauren Gibbs, Acct Supervisor

(“Favorites” – if you can call them that – in bold):

Snickers: Betty.White.Is.Genius. Even more genius? Abe.Vigoda.

Focus On The Family: I’ll avoid getting political and instead focus on how TERRIBLE this spot is. 1) I hate the Gators (irrelevant, but whatever). 2) Why is Tim “Cry Me A River” Tebow tackling his mom? What does that have to do with abortion? 3) Gonna go out on a limb and call this the worst of the worst 10 minutes in.

Hyundai: Spots are kind of snoozey. Feel like I’ve seen them before (maybe I have?) Either way, they dropped a pretty penny on the media budget. This is the second spot I’ve seen and we’re not even out of the first quarter. And also, Jeff Bridges is R I C H.

Boost Mobile: Ditka! What the spot lacks in production quality it makes up for in high power ex-football talent.

Doritos: Consumer-generated spot #1: I kind of like the idea of dogs turning the tables on their owners with those awful shock boxes, but I can’t help but feel like this one could have been funnier. I’ll give it a C+.

Bud Light: “Here we go”. Hmm. Where, exactly, are we going? To Stales-ville? Cause if that’s the destination, we’re already there. The house made of beer and the nerd NASA party felt expected. And not particularly interesting. Our Bud friends need some new tricks.

The Simpsons and Coke: Kind of great. Not as great as an actual episode of the show, but still. Must have been a logistical NIGHTMARE to negotiate.

Go Daddy: Guess they’re going to stick with beating this horse to a gluey pulp. Snooze.

Doritos: Coffin full of Doritos is disturbing. Reminds me of when Marlena was buried alive on “Days of Our Lives.” Scared the crap out of me. D.

Bud Light: Now “HERE WE GO”. Anything with T-Pain & the mocking of Autotune I am 100% on board with.

Bridgestone: FAIL. Trying, unsuccessfully, to take a piece of “The Hangover” pie, a couple of guys drive around with a whale in the bed of their truck. Sorry, but nothing can top the tiger and Tyson.

Budweiser: The human “Bridges of Madison County” was lame. As was the Bud Light “Lost” redo. The show is going off the air this year. Feels a bit day late/dollar short.

CareerBulider: For a split second I pictured my own office participating in this version of “casual Friday.” And I was horrified. Mission accomplished.

Docker’s:  Hmm…Not sure the placement right after the no pants CareerBuilder spot was ideal for this one, but if this is the brand’s way of revamping their image, I’m intrigued.

Dove:  Skin care for men. I’m curious as to whether or not this line of products will take off. I’m pretty sure the only guys who will be using this product will be men who live with women who buy Dove for themselves. In which case, I would assume that said men are currently using their wife’s Dove. Which begs the question…Why bother?

Dodge Charger: Wow. I guess women are NOT the target for this particular vehicle. Additional insight: Whomever wrote that spot is not happily married.

Teleflora: Here’s a story: Women like getting flowers. Doesn’t matter how they arrive.

Papa Johns: Thinly veiled dig at Domino’s latest (‘we’re changing’) campaign. I like this one better as they’re not trying nearly as hard. This opinion is only moderately influenced by the fact that I enjoy Papa John’s WAY more than Dominos.

Dr. Pepper: KISS? Little people? Really? Pretty sure we’ve seen this before. But, given that The Who is performing at halftime, perhaps we are in a time warp and what’s old is new again.

Intel: I don’t get what a core processor is. Or why I might want one. Is it like an iPad? Having said that, I do love that “bum bum bum bum”. Great little jingle.

Flo TV: Am I the only one who thought this was a Pepsi spot? Anyway, the only Flo I know is the Progressive lady, but this spot is my favorite so far. I’m a sucker for vintage footage. Despite my disdain for Will.I.Am, this one gave me the chills.

Motorola: Megan “poor man’s Angelina” Fox in a bathtub. Sight gags featuring distracted men being dumb. SUPER original.

VW: I feel like there’s a joke I’m not getting with all of the punching. Either way, they gave us our first shot to the crotch. Did love the Stevie Wonder “sight” gag. Never gets old. P.S. Is that Grizzly Bear in the background? Hipsters unite.

HomeAway.com: I have no idea what you are, but I’m intrigued. Having said that, I feel like the Lampoon reunion could have been hilarious. And it wasn’t. Missed opportunity.

Bridgestone: I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but they’re an official sponsor of the NFL. And also, I don’t get the space age spot.

E*Trade: I so desperately don’t want to like these spots, but I can’t help myself. Them babies sure is cute! You could argue they’ve sucked the life out of this concept, but as we all know, us simple folk will ever tire of babies. Or puppies.

Census: I appreciate (I guess) that the powers that be are trying to make the census cool. More interested in how many of my tax dollars contributed to paying Ed Begley Jr. for his time.

Google: Taking a stab at the Apple technique. I liked it. Made me feel something without seeing anyone. Could have done without the fake baby cooing at the end though.

Miller High Life: Their usual delivery-guy spokesman announces they’re donating the air time to every day business owners who can’t afford a Super Bowl spot. Not sure I care enough to learn more at the URL. Wait – I take that back – I’m certain I don’t care enough.

Vizio: Beyonce + Chipmunk from Caddyshack + Chocolate Rain guy (wow, he’s milked that) = super pricey spot that will likely not move the proverbial needle even a little.

Audi: “Green Police”…clever. Fun way to tout their “Green Car of the Year” award. Taking a stance as a brand. I like it.

Doritos: Spot #3: Really? DoritoMan using chips as a weapon? F.

Bud Light: Guy crashing the book club made me giggle. “Do you like Little Women? Yeah I’m not too picky.” Good one. Or maybe I’ve just lowered the bar after 3 hours of average work?

Hyundai: Though none of their spots so far tonight have stood out, as a collective, they’re making an impact. Might just be Jeff “Crazy Heart” Bridges’ achingly sweet voice, but the spots are starting to grow on me. This one about their team’s quality control is boring, but the story they’ve been building all night is starting to stick.

Shape Ups/Go Daddy/Denny’s: I believe it’s safe to say, we’ve hit a low “pod” for the evening. HEY-OHHHHH.

Net-Net: The Saints win was FOR SURE the high point of the last 3 hours. Gotta love a good underdog story.

David Brot, SVP/Account Director

My big concern is when I will be able to use the bathroom; as a huge football fan I can’t miss the game and as a huge advertising fan, I can’t miss the commercials.  My 9 year old son pointed out that I should TiVo the game and get over it.  Thanks, Daniel.  In addition to Daniel, I’m watching with son Joshua, 12, my wife Ilene and her parents, Harvey and Sherry.  All comments will be attributed.

In the pregame I was intrigued by the typical ads geared at women that paid a premium – Quilted Northern and L’Oreal, talk to your media agency.

E*Trade – Weak. Where are the talking babies?  Where is the insight?  Can’t you make me rich, easily?  Or do an act?  Like first trade free? Or Wednesday is free trading day?

Rogaine – Good media buy, bad creative.

Calllaway – I want to buy the driver and I’m impressed by the tech.  Media buy props as getting the right info to the right people. But the spot was cold.

Hyundai – Why sponsor the pregame show with creative like that?  Impress me, for goodness sake. Your brand doesn’t.  Neither do your products.  Or talk Assurance, a great act.

Bud Light “Can House” – Funny ad, fun brand, just what I expect.

Snickers “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” – AWESOME INSIGHT. Guy insight, true to the product, football-relevant and I run like Betty White when I’m tired. Plus an Abe Vigoda joke. Well done.

Focus on the Family – If I didn’t know this was an anti-abortion spot, I would have thought it was just a waste of time.  As it is, I thought it was an annoying if not offensive waste of time. Keep politics and religion out of the game.

Hyundai Sonata – Sonata references – Now you are at least branding your product.  Still did nothing for me, but better.

Boost Mobile – Now that’s derivative done right.  And I get it — $50 for unlimited.  Killer retro reference plus a thong.  Best spot so far?

Dorito’s Bark Collar – Hilarious.  Shows me that it is always funny to have smart animals and guys in pain.  Demonstrated what lengths people (or dogs) will go for delicious Doritos.

Robin Hood, Wolfman, Alice, Prince of Persia — Movie commercials don’t count.

Doritos – Little Kid and Boyfriend.  Designed to surprise.  Give me pain jokes instead.  Family thought it was funnier than I did.  Should they have donated $2MM in food to Haiti instead of running this?

Bud Light – The world is ending, so we’re going to party.  Good idea, mildly funny.  Would love to have seen focus group reactions.  Betty from Cheyenne said it wasn’t funny to make a joke about the end of the world.

Cocat Cola Simpsons – OMG, Simpsons are doing ads?  Very cool.  Rich guy loses everything – very contemporary.  But he’s made happy by Coke?  I did enjoy watching the characters and guessing about the payoff.

Go Daddy – Sex jokes are old.  But pretty girls are interesting.  So what do I think?  Can I have these 30 seconds back? If Go Daddy has any tech value, these spots aren’t selling it.

Doritos It’s a Miracle – Are inappropriate dead jokes ok for a chip brand?  You betcha. Football appropriate to boot. Loved it.  All you need to live for a week are Doritos and football.  And a nice friend as well.

Bud Light – Sound of a good time.  Everyone has a vocoder.  Like a Saturday Night Live skit, a funny joke that was just long.

Beavers – Cute way to bring to life Monster.com.  Again, huge opportunity for an act. Could they give away free job counseling to help with the economy we’re in?  Or show more empathy than a violin-playing beaver who ends up with a hottie?

Bridgestone whale – Surprise ending. Cute.  Demonstrated the product.  Needed some better writing.  Great idea at storyboard phase that just did not close the deal and demonstrate why I need Bridgestone tires vs. any others.

Skechers Shapeups – Is this a local spot?  Bad production value.  Account people, tell your clients when to spend.  Brand damaging. Worst spot of the day.

Cars.com – Timothy Richmond.  A long run for a short slide. Nice insight that even really competent people struggle to buy a car.  Really good insight, in fact. The spot let me down.

Budweiser “Bridge” – All American, over the top, funny.  Felt like a Lassie episode.  Reminded me that Budweiser is the King of Beers.  Oddly enjoyable.

Mark Sanchez – Hearbeat – Yes, a PSA but very compelling for women’s heart disease.  Skerchers, see what you can do with no budget?  A second- rate NFL celeb and $3 of sound effects.

Expose Yourself to Something Better – CareerBuilder  An entire spot of people in tighty whities to show that your job sucks.  Brilliant.  I guffawed out loud.  The whole family loved it.  Creatives and  account people, way to persuade the client to take a risk and show real people, including unfit men and women in their skivvies.  Shocking, but tied up with perfect writing.  This is in first place for me.

Wear No Pants – Go to Dockers for a free pair of pants.  As soon as the game comes back on, I’m going there. Effective promotion. But only if you already like Dockers.  Odd having two spots in a row with tighty whities.

Brett Farve spot – 10 Years in the Future – Sonata. Finally, a memorable ad.  Way to go.  Football appropriate, and a “Star Wars” hologram image.  Demonstrated the benefit of a 10-year warranty.  Maybe I won’t buy another Toyota.

Bud Light Lost – Whenever, wherever you have Bud Light, it’s a party. Even when a plane crashes on a desert island.  The best of the series yet.

Dove – Isn’t it time for comfortable skin?   It could have been time sooner, but I like the whole life of a man thing.

I Will .. Drive the Car I want to drive.  Man’s Last Stand – Good positioning for the Dodge Charger.  I totally related to the man.

Papa John’s – You could have done something that made me care.  Sad.  Listen to your agency.  They might have mentioned this was a Super Bowl. Giving out pizzas to groundskeepers is just not relevant.

Dr Pepper Cherry Little Kiss – Love the fact that the joke pays off the little kiss of flavor.  Made me pay attention. Really liked the spot.  Makes me want to rock and roll all night and party every day.

Harry Potter’s World at Universal – Interesting for my boys.  Very straightforward. Feels like a movie trailer.

Spine Removal – FloTV – Appeals effectively to harried male.  Hey, not that funny but rooted in insight and I learned about a new product.

Intel Core Processors – Hurts a robot’s feelings.  Very interesting way to introduce a boring chip.

Volkswagen – Slug bug – A crotch punch and a Stevie Wonder appearance.  I don’t know anything about Volkswagen other than they have a whole new lineup.  Maybe that’s enough

Denny’s Chicken Vacation  6 a.m. – 2 p.m. = free Grand Slam.  Major act.  And introduced in a funny way – with a warning to chickens everywhere.  Could have been introduced with creative executed in a better way, but charming and effective.

Ultra – If Lance Armstrong lives in a mansion and drinks this beer, so should I?  Well, no. Another Bud Light ad, please?

Life not Wife Bridgestone – A guy would rather keep his tires than his wife?  Very funny idea.

E*Trade – Talking babies. Now that makes me want to use E*Trade.  In campaign and with a nice punchline.  Much better than the first effort

Census – Huh?

Google – A story through words.  Brilliant.

Kia Sorento – Well thanks for answering the question if stuffed animals can dream.  Would have made a better Vegas spot.

Round Up – Again, this is the Super Bowl.  Your account team failed.

Lightest Beer in the World – Clear, nice use of ELO. Average.

Walgreen’s  Personal Gift Advisors.  An act, who knew? I’m tempted to use the advisor. Straightforward.

High Life – Great idea.  Cool act.  Poor execution. A shame. Could have been brilliant.

Vizio TV Apps – Hard to follow.

Nuts ad with people doing dolphin trick.  Funny, but not that funny.

Fences – Why not air this one earlier, bud?  Smart animals.  All American.  Nothing comes between friends.  This one killed in groups, especially in Iowa.  Thanks for not giving me another Bud Light ad.

Denny’s, Part Deux. Great day to be an American, bad day to be a chicken.  Good second spot.

Audi Green Police – Great music.  Great premise. Good spot.

Taco Bell – Charles Barkley rapping.  Another good idea, poorly executed.

Doritos Gym – Weirdly good.  A guy dying in a gym of a thrown Dorito.  The kids loved it and who eats Doritos?  Kids.  And Dave Kuta, of course.

Bud Light Book Club – Very Relatable.  Almost believeable.  Bud Light makes everything more fun. I think this may be the best Bud Light spot of the day.

Sonata – Rerun from earlier in the game.  Average. I would have re run the musical ones.

E*Trade – More babies. Ok. But it is the fourth quarter.

Grand Slam, part 3.  A :15, but I got it right away. The chickens again.

Best non commercial commercial: Gatorade.

Top 5, with number 1 as favorite:

5.  Doritos (Dog Collar)
4    Boost Mobile  (Super Bowl Shuffle)
3    Google     (French Romance)
2    Snickers  (Betty White)
1.  Career Builders  (Tighty Whities)

I hope someone reads this.  If you do, please tell Dave Kuta I mocked him.  Way to go Saints!!

Purely Scientific Super Bowl Ad Thoughts, by Alan and Shana
Alan Shen, Copywriter
Shana Ault, Copywriter

He’s a writer in the Energy Pool. So is she. In their free time, they enjoy listening to “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire on repeat, walking around with no pants, and using internet memes to prove their sense of humor. Ok, that’s not true, that’s just how it felt while watching the Super Bowl for four hours. Find out what the kids have to say from the ol’ yellow corner of the Leo Burnett Building…

Snickers – You’re not you when you’re hungry

Shana: If you put a national treasure like Betty White in a commercial, it’s gonna be funny. So yes, this was one of my favorites of the night. But what I appreciated was this spot had an actual concept, and they wrote her in for a reason (and that reason wasn’t just “Hilarious punchline because Betty White is an old lady!”).

Alan: Old people: turns out they are good for more than racking up medical bills and dying. Turns out they are hilarious too. At first I thought this was for a new prune flavored Snickers bar, but the tag line set me straight. I am with you Shana, one of my faves.

Any one of the GoDaddy.com Commercials

Alan: You know what comprises 97% of the internet? Well let me tell you, Go Daddy, it’s porn. You might be trying to titillate us with your cliffhanger strip tease ending, but come on. Do you know how hard it is not to see a naked woman on the internet? I am looking at no less than six right now, and I’m on CNN.com. Thoughts, Shana?

Shana: Controversy, controversy! Water cooler, water cooler. Sexy. Outrage, sexuality, gratuitous. (Did I get that right, GoDaddy?)

Coke – The Simpsons

Alan: By all rational logic I shouldn’t like this commercial. The Simpsons have been hawking everything from videogames to Butterfingers for years. And I paid American dollars to see that movie. So the way I see it, Groening owes me. But despite all this, Burns going broke melted my cold heart, and made me want to buy the world a Coke.

Shana: I’ve been holding firm on my Simpsons fatigue since about 1993. But I will say this: One of my few actual LOLs of the night came from Milhouse’s nasally “Sorry, Coke!” at the end. Millhouse for Senator!

Bud Light – Auto Tune

Shana: Definitely the spot everyone will be talking about the next day. Look, I’m doing it right now. Made me laugh out loud. Take note, lesser commercials — this is how you use pop culture the right way.

Alan: This was my favorite of the night. It was funny, current. Made me like the brand more. I just feel bad for kids born after 2007, they’ll probably think that black people just sound this way when they sing.

Dodge Charger- Man’s Last Stand

Shana: Yeahh, I have to be that lady for a moment, the one nobody wants at their Super Bowl party. I found it sexist, yes. But I will give them this: It was completely compelling. My lab partner, Alan, and I were silent the entire commercial, curious to see where it led. Which makes it a success in my book, even if we ladies are nagging hags who make you take your socks off before bed.

Alan: You know why I like this spot? They don’t show the car until the last six seconds. This must have made the account people so nervous. There were probably so many meetings, emails and phone calls about it. Other than that, I like the man anthem copy too. I’m a man, I hate vampire TV shows. Don’t be surprised if you see me waving at you from my Charger next week.

In sum, overall we were sorely disappointed. Disappointed nobody’s crotch slammed into the camera at halftime. Alas, back to the nudes on CNN.

Super Bowl Live XLIV Running Diary
Mike Quan, Associate Account Planner

We’re coming at you live from Casa de Liz y Jon! We’ve got a good crowd gathered here and plenty of good eats and drinks to go around! The spread includes plenty of nachos, guac, quesadillas, chili and those great puff pastry-wrapped mini hotdogs! I’m rocking the Reggie Bush #25 and drinking Abita so obviously you know where my rooting interest lies. Who dat say dey gunna beat them Saints?

This is my first stab at live blogging so hoping for the best – food, beer and bio breaks not withstanding. For a look at the ads sans commentary head on over to http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/. Now on to the show…

Pre-game

The Callaway spot generates the first round of Tiger jokes. Good times!

Hyundai – Have a feeling that we’ll be seeing a lot of these during the game. It’s a car commercial: been there, done that. Next.

1st Quarter

Bud Light: Light House (1) – The A-B onslaught begins with a less than stellar crowd reaction: “that kinda sucked” and “beer ads are usually funny”.

Snickers: Betty White – Everyone loves a goofy Super Bowl ad and throwing in random celeb cameos makes everything better. Betty White and Abe Vagoda? Fughetaboutit. This garnered the first DVR moment of the evening. Looks like Snickers captured some of Ms. White’s most recent 15-minutes of fame. For those of you who don’t know, Ms. White was recently awarded a SAG lifetime achievement award and has become part of an internet meme with a Facebook group (75,000+ strong) calling for her to host Saturday Night Live.

Focus on Family: Tim Tebow – This is what everyone was up in arms about? This was 30 seconds of “aw shucks, golly gee” with a call to action to visit a website. I think the conversation leading up to the ad was more interesting and provoking than the spot itself. But a good tactical decision by the CBS media team to run a network promo here. I’d be angry if I was any brand that had the media buy post Tebow.

Hyundai: New Car – Talking about the Sonata’s paint job set to classical music provides me with nary a sense of Assurance, excitement or desire to get one.

Boost Mobile: SuperBowl Shuffle – This high-concept gag played well to this contingent of mostly Bears fans, but was just a reminder of how horrible the current Monsters of the Midway actually are. And deep down everyone knew the spot was just an Onion article from 1998 come to life. For those interested in an inspired take on Jim McMahon, et al check out this The Hood Internet vs. Chicago mashup of Kayne + the 85 Bears vs Wilco.

Doritios: Dog (1) – The first of many “fan-generated Doritios spots, I feel this one is going to be a favorite for a lot of people: Can’t go wrong with dogs and bumbling men.

What really caught my attention in these spots was the glamour URL (www.snackstrongproductions.com) that brought me to a Doritos/EA Sports collab that allows you to see the rest of the spots and vote on who will be the coverboy for next season’s Madden: 11. My money is on Drew Brees over Reggie Wayne and Jared Allen in a landslide.

NOTE: I will not be commenting on any movie trailers during this post.

Doritos: Play Nice (2): Precocious little Jalen gives his moms date a five across the face “Keep your hands off my momma and keep your hands off my Doritios.” If anything, this year’s running theme seems to be slap happiness.

Bud Light: Observatory (2) – The guy from Lost, hijinx and some making out: a pretty typical light beer ad, but with scientists! We only laugh because we’re supposed to laugh at the beer ones.

Coke: Simpsons: “Another billionaire is broke [LOLs]” Coke plays with America’s general sense of schadenfreude targeted at Monty Burns (in reality the CEOs of every big-time company that required a billion dollar bailout), but in the end shows that Coke can bring everyone together. Midway through the ad, my very astute friend summed it up best, “Even when broke you can enjoy a Coke.”

Go Daddy: Massage – Danica Patrick half naked getting a massage. Check out the website for the “NSFW” version. Gotta say something for top of mind awareneness: since Go Daddy’s first SB spot in 2006, the company’s market share has risen to 32%.

Doritios: Funeral (3) – It makes sense that Doritos and Bud Light are running their ads back to back. The line between beer humor and Doritos humor has blurred. Needs more Jalen from the previous “slap” spot. The bigger question is how long will Doritios continue with user-generated ideas. I wonder if this is the type of crowdsourcing the brilliant minds at BBH were writing about.

Bud Light: Autotune (3) – What percentage of America actually knows who T-Pain is?

Monster: Beavers – Career Builder has monkeys, Monster has beavers??? Which is really sad because their 1999 “When I grow up” is one the best commercials I’ve ever seen. Heck, even the Meyocks Group’s spoofed ad version is funnier than Beavers.

Bridgestone: Killer Whale – We bought into the premise of three dudes driving along with a killer whale in the back of their hatchback, but the fact that this was for Bridgestone tires and not a 90s Volkswagon-esque car commercial really soured us. Clever surprises are good. WTF surprises just don’t make sense.

Cars.com: Growing Up – I wanted to like this one, I really did. The strategy behind it is really simple and it makes a lot sense: “Buying your first car is confusing and scary. Cars.com makes that easy.” Unfortunately, this 60-second spot just seemed confusing. The creative was simply trying to be too cute and didn’t hit on the life moments that we all could relate to that made last year’s spot so good.

2nd Quarter

Budweiser: Body Bridge (1) – “Wait where are the Clydesdales?”

Mark Sanchez: NFL Cares – And now one for the ladies. That Sanchize sure is dreamy….

FloTV: Spine – The only cure for emasculation is being able to watch sports at all times. Ignoring this continued theme throughout the spots being shown and the fact that any football fan worth his weight wouldn’t be caught dead on a shopping spree during the big game, this is all about FloTV getting its name out. And with more and more people turning to entertainment on the go, this is a solid gamble.

Career Builder: Casual Friday – Just like Doritos this ad was based on a contest of audience submissions for ideas. Unlike Doritos, it was kinda funny.

Dockers – Doh! Who OKed the idea to run two men in underwear ads back to back?

Hyundai: Brett Farve 2020 – People are so sick of Brett Farve that this one got tuned out completely. I knew it wasn’t Wranglers, but could have been for Best Buy.

Late Show: Leno, Oprah, Letterman – Wow what is Jay doing on a CBS ad? I thought they hated each other? How much money did those three get? Wonder what Conan thought?

Bud Light: Survior (4) – Beer ads are typically the saving grace of Super Bowls, but this year’s crop has been especially lackluster. Good thing the season premiere of “Lost” is so fresh in everyone’s mind to carry this one.

Dove: For Men – On second watch this ad makes a lot of sense to me. 1) It’s nice to see a SB spot that doesn’t paint men as bumbling idiots and instead celebrates them as heroes. 2) I don’t know any self-respecting man that consciously uses Axe, Lynx or any other brand of body wash targeted at horny teenagers. I’m really curious to see if this is part of a sustained effort coming from a brand that at times has been the voice of women.

Dodge Charger: Guys face/Monologue – Taking a page out of Miller Lite’s book and continuing the degenerating men. The (mono)tone was right and some of the statements rang true, but overall it was just too obvious and too much. Perhaps if the angst wasn’t so overtly directed at women things could have turned out better. Instead this positioned the Charger as a wannabe midlife crisis waiting to happen.

Papa John’s – I think this was a direct attack at Domino’s and their Better Pizza campaign. Either way it got everyone asking if anyone in the room has tried the new Domino’s.

HALFTIME

FloTV Talking Bout My Generation – It worked for Pepsi and it worked for Obama, but I’m still not sure if this Will.I.Am remix showcasing historic moments was a hit for FloTV. I do like that Flo is taking a stand on how people are consuming information/entertainment (on the go) and playing off the powerful statement “where were you?” Unfortunately, I think Flo misses the point that people aren’t just seeking out mobile content and that the bigger concept is that they want it on their terms (free).

The Who’s performance aka one giant ad for Flomax/Levitra/Benafiber

3rd Quarter

Motorola: Megan Fox – So you’re going to pay Megan Fox to appear in your ad and then waste her “talents” by situating her in a bathtub where can see her shoulders? Oh and then you’ll continue the general slap happiness of this SB.

VW: Punch Buggy –Not the most amazing VW spot, but they’re searching for a new voice amongst a big agency shift. Personally I hope they can get things working. Overall, this was a good example of knowing your audience and playing along with them versus talking at them i.e. screaming “you punch someone when you see a VW”. But in the end, groin punches always get a laugh. Oh, and also was that the kid from our Tampax ads?

How I Met Your Mother: 1-877-987-6401

Anyone try calling Barney aka @ActuallyNPH from HIMYM? Line is busy now, but here’s what he had to say: http://tinyurl.com/ykdddhs

NOTE: This is where things get a bit fuzzy. The Abitas are kicking and this point I’ve received texts from three separate people complaining to me about the state of the Super Bowl ads.

KDG: Sumo – this got the first big LOL moment of the night. Don’t know anyone who’d actually use the service as those who most likely would are likely to have smart phones already.

4th Quarter

E*trade: Baby – Last year called, it wants it gag back. The new baby just doesn’t cut it. Not that he’s not cute, but the spot wasn’t.

2010 Census: Snapshot of America – YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!

Google: French translation – My pick for best ad of the game gets absolutely no love from the crowd. Makes sense though: a slow moving spot with no SFX save a few baubles of French and soft music. An ad that you actually have to pay attention to. My bet is that this ad also gets more credit in replay as you have to really watch it to get “it”. Also no one wants to say that one of the horrific Bud Light ads was their favorite.

Kia: Sock Monkey – “the robot is doing the robot!” This was fun. This ad, also more than any other one made me feel old. The fun trappings of youth have become nostalgia fodder for my generation as we’re hitting the transitional stage of life filled with coupledom, kids and the dreaded sports wagon.

Budweiser: Clydesdale – The weakest Clydesdale ad I can remember. At least the girls in the room seemed to like it. But considering that this ad was one of the few non-misogynistic ads in the mix that isn’t saying much.

Taco Bell: Barkley – My thoughts:

“What’s the over/under on the amount of weigh Chuck gains through the course of this campaign?”

“We see Lamar Odom, but no Khloe Kardashian?!?!”

General Reaction:

• Saints win! Great game,“meh” commercials.
• Pierre Gacon won me $23 for scoring a TD!
• CBS banned a gay dating ad, but OKed a dozen that said men can’t stand being around women.
• The Saints have an emo kicker.
• The SB logo looks a lot like the stickers you get at the supermarket for oversized items.
• The best ad of the day belonged to an internet search engine that only featured classical music and the French language.
• Where was Bourbon Street? Where was Kim Kardashian? I wanted booty and debauchery!

Four from production split their assignments by quarter:

Mary Cheney, Content Architect
First Quarter

Bud Light – House
A little disappointing for the first ad of the game.  The environmental comment was the funniest bit although I’m sure most guys got a laugh from the shower scene.  It did, however, play right to its intended audience.

Snickers
This ad upped the comedy a bit.  Old people getting sacked is funny.  It was also an interesting take on how hunger can slow you down.

Focus on the Family
It’s actually true that the Evangelical Right has more money than God.  Not much to say about this mom on white sych ad.  For some reason old people getting tackled just isn’t as funny when it’s the Heisman winner tackling his mom.

Hyundai
Interesting in that I had no idea how cars bodies where painted.  But other than being pretty not much to it.

Boost Mobile
Okay, for any Chicagoan this ad is so wrong and so right.  Getting the boys back together for one last shuffle or scoot as the case may be.  The way it was filmed was odd.  I can’t remember the original Shuffle video, but was it filmed through a haze of smoke?

Doritos – Dog
I can only assume that this spot was produced by a viewer for a competition.  The concept was funny especially if you are a dog lover/idiot hater.  The production values weren’t great, but if it was viewer generated it looked pretty good.

Doritos – Date
Eh, not as funny as the dog spot by a long shot.  Kid slapping the date didn’t even get a laugh.  Also not composed as well as the dog spot.

Bud Light Asteroid
This is much more what you expect from Bud Light.  Funny, silly and slightly stupid, but fun.

Coke – Simpsons
Great ad.  Well in keeping with Coke’s “happiness” campaign.  Didn’t overdo the whole Simpsons thing, but used it to its best advantage.

Go Daddy – Girl
Yes, it is possible for a skanky Go Daddy Girl ad to disappoint.  There was nothing relevant or funny about this ad and who actually cares that the online content is “unrated”.  Ugghh

Doritos – Funeral
Okay, this ad was pretty funny.  The production value and acting were both pretty good.

Bud Light – Vox
Huh?

Monster – Beaver
Double Huh?  While you can fiddle on a violin, I wouldn’t call the job description “violinist”.  Also why is it a beaver?  And where did he get the computer?  These and other burning questions were not answered by this ad.

Bridgestone – Whale
Funny ad, great use of the product.  The acting left a little to be desired, but the production values and the concept were both spot on.

Cars.com – Timothy Richmond
A very nicely produced spot.  Not whiz bang, but fun in an understated way.

Ken Gilberg, Content Architect
Second Quarter

The first quarter ended with the Saints down and a miserable ad for Sketchers. How quickly things can turn around. I think the most underrated ad of the Super Bowl was the Cars.com spot called “Timothy Richman.” Focused on an easy-to-get idea that no matter how confident you may be, buying a car can be an intimidating process. Cars.com can help simplify it. The spot is wonderfully cast and beautifully photographed. The effects fit nicely with the fantasy tone of the spot, slightly reminiscent of a Limony Snicket film. I found the music track to be less-than-stellar, but otherwise the spot left me with a good feeling about the brand and cars.com burned into my memory.

Another winner was the bridge building spot for Anheuser-Busch. While clearly not the best ad of the night, the idea was razor sharp—people will do anything for a Bud Light. In this case, the music track, which was straight out of a 1950’s movie musical, gave a great comic underscore to this larger-than-life scene of people working together like ants to form a human bridge so that their deliveries of Bud Light would continue uninterrupted. The casting was great, especially the disbelieving truck drivers, whose reactions could easily have been completely over-the-top, but who gave it just the right degree of skepticism. The effects were seamless and wonderful.

“Shutter Island” was clearly the best of the movie promos because unlike Alice in Wonderland, it clearly is a scary, suspenseful film. It amazed me how every single movie promo shown at the Super Bowl, regardless of the film’s actual subject matter, was edited and scored to feel like “Top Gun” meets “The Mummy.”

CareerBuilder gets points for clearly communicating its brand message: if your job sucks, there’s a place to find a new one. The casting was great, and while it was hard to keep eating the guacamole and chips as I stared at the naked, but oh-so-not-buff bodies, the spot was really amusing.

The next spot left me scratching my head. Yes, men are expected to “wear the pants,” but this ode to Benny Hill (thanks, Tony Wallace, for the observation) did nothing to motivate me to check out this always-fashion-deficient brand.

The Hyndai Brett Favre spot was intelligently made and focused squarely on its football-loving audience. While the possibilities of Brett Favre still playing in ten years are a bit of a stretch, your Hyundai’s warrantee will still be valid. Simple and straight to the point.

Getting stuck on an island sucks, but hey, with a beverage cart stocked with cold Bud Light, maybe it’s not so bad. The “Lost” spoof was overplayed in a way that Bud Light continues to make its own, but in a good way. Bud Light has regained its footing, concentrating on what the brand stands for, fun, and not the product’s attributes. Who needs yet another tired beer pour shot? Everyone knows what beer looks like. And this beer certainly is not one that can claim taste superiority with a straight face.

Dove created a new category and made it OK for guys to care about their skin. They successfully boiled down into one TV ad what is expected of a man today and made us realize that with all that’s expected of us, you need to take some time out to take care of the only skin you’ll ever have. It took the weighty subject of what it means to be a man and injected humor into it. Great production values and wonderful copywriting. While I can’t say that this is as good as the Campaign for Real Beauty, it handles the subject of men’s skincare in a way that could actually get men to buy the product.

I’m on the fence about “Man’s Last Stand.” While I think it does a good job to capture the frustrations of what a man has to give up to get along with his mate/boss/society, it made me scream out, “Snap out of it” at the TV. It was too winey and self-serving. I really can’t see a Dodge Charger being the last best chance of Man, the endangered species. In the end, I think it was well produced, but missed the mark.

The Teleflora spot clearly communicated the idea—sending flowers to your sweetheart in a box is tacky, but not much else. I felt nothing for the woman receiving the flowers. She was nasty anyway and deserved what she got. I didn’t care much for the casting or much else.

Papa John’s—boring. Yet another CEO trying to make himself a star. There’s nothing interesting about this guy. Nothing interesting about the spot. The slap at Domino’s recent reformulation doesn’t tell me anything about a Papa John’s pizza. Stick a camera in the face of a person on the street and you’re bound to find one or two that will say good things about your product. This chain needs to get a real campaign and the CEO should stick to running the company.

Alice in Wonderland—kudos go to the editor who managed to take a fairy tale and turn it into an action film. This trailer was persuasive enough to get even the crustiest of dads into the theater with his little girl.

Little Kiss for Dr. Pepper Cherry. Yeah, I got it, eventually. A huge waste of a big production budget and celebrity endorsements. Right up there with the Shuffle revisited, and Sketchers as the worst ads and worst use of celebrities. I have no idea where this brand is supposed to live.

Tru TV was amusing, but I still don’t know what Tru TV does. I also thought the effects weren’t all that well done.

I liked Injury Report. While it was yet another spot to tackle what it’s like to be a man, it didn’t take anything too seriously. It pointed out that you can take the big game with you, even while you’re out shopping for scented candles with your honey. Jim Nantz’s sarcastic tone hit just right—below the belt.

Will.I.am’s take on FloTV was really well done. It didn’t seem to be as popular as I thought it should have been. But maybe it’s because I’ve lived through all of the events that were featured in the stock footage in the spot and realized what it would have been like it I could have seen all of that happening live with a single device in my pocket. The editing was amazing and this was one song, “My Generation” that was worth every penny the advertising paid for it.

And rounding out the second quarter was “Lunch Room” for Intel. I didn’t find it engaging and really didn’t understand what the brand was about. I thought it was Sony that was making robots, not Intel. Oh, it was a joke! Not that funny. And how much are they paying in residual payments every time that chorus comes on at the end of the spot? Now THAT is a huge waste of coin.

Tom Keramidas, Content Architect
Third Quarter

Motorola “Megan Fox”
This spot is about something called “Moto-Blur” which Megan Fox explains to us.  From her bathtub. You get the entire explanation in the first 5 seconds of the commercial. If you missed it, you were left with a vague idea that the visual gags that followed were somehow related to her hotness. Funny spot, but I still couldn’t tell you what “Moto-Blur” does (other than short-circuit men of all ages and persuasions).

VW  “Punch Buggy”
The joke got tired around 10 seconds in. And the Stevie Wonder/Tracy Morgan button wasn’t special. Worst of all, it felt kind of ordinary for VW.

Denny’s  “Free Grand Slam Breakfast”
The chickens were kind of jerky, in that charming animatronic way. But their facial expressions were probably done CG, and they delivered the message. One niggle: the terrified end reactions would have suggested Denny’s was giving away free wings, not free scrambled eggs.

Michelob Ultra “Lance Armstrong”
Lance Armstrong running, stair climbing, and pedaling away, then relaxing with some of his peeps in a bar at the top of some mountain. This commercial suffered from a bad audio mix, as I couldn’t tell what the announcer was saying at times when the music was peaking. And speaking of that, Blur’s “Song 2″ (which they’re using for this campaign) seemed way too big for the “mellowing out” visuals at the end. This felt like a gratuitous celeb endorser spot to me.

Homeaway.com “The Griswalds”
And to think, I was really looking forward to seeing Clark and Ellen Griswald again, along with the family Truckster. Silly me. Unfortunately, the few times this spot achieved a mild chuckle (valet guy, front desk guy) had nothing to do with Chevy. They spend 27 seconds trying to make Chevy funny, and literally the last 3 seconds hastily explaining (over the end graphic) what this service actually does. And poor Beverly D’Angelo didn’t even get to deliver a line on camera.

KGB “Sumo Wrestler”
I thought  this was a pretty amusing spot, but it probably would have worked better as a :45 (not enough gas for a :60, though). Once again, like Motorola’s “moto-blur”, the setup is served too quickly in a mad rush to get to the physical humor. Because as everyone knows, Sumo wrestlers equal comedy. And the sooner we get to the Sumo guy, the better!

Coke “Sleepwalker”
Beautifully crafted spot. This one really feels like a Super Bowl ad. Ravel’s “Bolero” is an inspired choice of music. Effective blend of photo-real CG, visual effects and gorgeous cinematography. A great piece of visual storytelling: no copy necessary.

E-trade “Girlfriend”
I had been getting tired of this campaign (seeing last year’s kid spit up and all…), but I must admit this spot won me over. A clever development in the storyline with the addition of a girlfriend, duplicity, wolf imitations, etc. Great application of mouth CG on the toddlers and perfect voice casting. Very well-written spot. Am I really listening to the stuff about portfolio diversification and marketplace volatility? Of course not. But these kids are damn funny.

Census “Snapshot”
Director Christopher Guest has been directing this series of spots. They’re done in his improvisational style, using a script as a rough outline only, then letting his troupe take off on their own. This one wants to be funnier than it is, and the end line left me flat.

Google “Paris”
Elegant, simple and effective. Who says you have to spend a ton of money on a super bowl spot? This commercial is almost hypnotic in its ability to methodically trace the development of a relationship through a progression of Google searches. Wonderful piece of music, as well. Just wish he had clicked the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button once.

Kia “Toys’ Fantasy”
There’s nothing wrong with this spot. It’s nicely shot and edited and all, and even makes an effort to occasionally involve the Kia in the story. But I feel like this idea has been done to death, starting with “Toy Story”.

Roundup “Dandelion Death”
OK, why now? Roundup is spending x million dollars to remind us to kill our driveway weeds in early February? I guess the cowboy track and the withering CG dandelions were OK. And I know some people in the south have weed issues all year ’round, but still…

Bud 55 “Don’t Bring Me Down”
Light beer. Apparently the “lightest beer in the world”, and ELO singing “Don’t Bring Me Down”. I get it. A begrudging nod of approval because I love that song.

NFL “Thanks”
We’ve been seeing a lot of the HD Red “phantom” camera lately. It’s an ultra high speed camera, which yields ultra slomo images, as seen in the footage of Reggie Bush in this spot. On it’s own, the shots can be pretty amazing. But in the hands of the NFL spotmakers, the footage seems…… i  n  t  e  r  m  i  n  a  b  l e……

The NFL is thanking us fans at the end of this spot, apparently for our patience. You’re welcome.

Mercedes “Museum”
This car would look amazing covered in pigeon poop under the el tracks, but that’s an aside. What we get here is a beautifully filmed series of running shots in all kinds of picturesque environs, juxtaposed with scenes of classic cars in a stylized Mercedes museum. Big, expensive production values. Just like the car.

Denis Giroux, Content Architect
Fourth Quarter

Vizio Internet TV. While this spot had some very nice visual EFX, and the production was very well executed, the message was a little overwhelmed by the visuals. Overall a good spot.

Emerald Nuts “Human Dolphins”. I’ve seen this spot before. Guy jumps out of pool for a filet of fish from McDonald’s. Might work for fish… But not quite sure that it works for nuts and popcorn. This one misses the mark for me. Not very creative.

Dante’s Inferno video game. Great visuals, looks like an awesome game. But, not so sure about the song choice. May loose the target audience because of it. Overall, an OK spot. Just looks like they polished the game footage and threw it on the air.

Budweiser “Steer”. This really disappointed me. Years ago Bud did a similar spot with two Dalmatian puppies growing up. That spot at least told a good story and had a funny ending. This spot fell flat in the third scene. Did we really need to be told by the two wranglers at the end what just happened? Bad.

Honda “Crosstour” Squirrel. Wow, I don’t know what to say. The style of animation with the live action of the car almost looked like two different spots. Do I really care that a squirrel loads the car up with different stuff. Not good.

Denny’s “Screaming chicken”. Ok, that’s kind of funny, who can’t laugh at a stuffed chicken.

Audi A3 “Green Police”. Well they sure spent a lot of money on this spot. Nice production value, well executed. The spot for me was underwhelming. Do I care that it’s an environment friendly car that much?

Taco Bell “Charles Barkley”. Holy ____! Did Charles Barkley even care that he was on the set. This spot was horrible.

Doritos “Tim”. I liked this spot, it made me laugh, and it made my kids laugh. I remembered it more than most of the Ads. Not great, but good and funny.

Budlight “Bookclub”. Ok, I get the joke of the contrast between the stupid guy who only wants beer and a cheap date. Its been done, over and over and over again. I smiled, for about a second.

E*TRADE “Crying babies”. Another spot that was great at its inception but please stop hitting me over the head with it. Yes, talking babies are cute, but for how long.

Sketchers. Seriously???

Go Daddy “Too hot for TV”. What can I say, what guy doesn’t like this spot. But what about everyone else. Well shot, well produced.

Denny’s Birthday candle” Not so good. Not so funny. Shot really cheaply. But, who cares it’s a screaming chicken.