Writing reviews for each and every Super Bowl commercial that aired Sunday night will take ages to do. Instead I have created a summary of each commercial that I found particularly interesting due to its greatness or its lack thereof. Lets start with the quality filled ones.
In short, I loved this commercial. We got to see the history of how this amazing technology came to be through a small portion of the people who contributed an aspect that we take for granted each and everyday. This ad made me want to keep watching to see where this was going to go and just before it started to feel like the introduction to a documentary on the history of the cell phone, Best Buy hit us with a quality joke bringing us back a couple of weeks. I very much enjoyed how they tied the commercial up with that fact that all of the great technology in the single device can be bought and can be yours if you go to Best Buy. 9 out 10
M&M:
Being a junior in high school, one can safely assume that I enjoyed this ad. It was funny and the ~5 million people on YouTube that watched this commercial will back me up on that. It appealed to my age group especially but M&M succeeded with not making it too age specific so that any age could find this commercial hilarious. Next time I go to CVS to buy some M&Ms I will be singing this song in my head all the way to the cash register. 10 out of 10
Chevy Silverado:
Without any narrator talking over the 60 seconds worth of video, we can easily form adjectives for this truck. Dependable, strong, long-lasting, all words that a consumer wants to think when buying their next truck. On top of that the poke at everyone’s secret fear that the world will end this year only added to the relatability that this ad offered up. The part that made this ad better than the rest was the stab at Ford for having a worse truck in terms of durability. 9 out of 10
Etrade:
This has been and will always be my favorite commercial series. I have never seen a bad ad in this series and this particular ad was no exception. The balance between injecting Etrade’s services and the comical aspect was perfect. The viewer learned enough about the company while getting a good laugh in at the end. It is very hard to go wrong when putting a funny baby in a commercial. 9 out of 10
-Now for the other half of the spectrum.
Volkswagen Bug:
Although this ad was not as good as the ones above, it is still a decent commercial for a couple of reasons. It had a great story that all dog lovers who were watching the game loved. The story that VW thought up was very creative with the idea of a dog making itself work out without the owner making the dog do so. The problem comes in because I want to know what happened at the end. Does the dog catch the Beetle? Is there a dog in the car that the main dog wants to be with? Also if the dog is able to catch up with the car, it can’t be very ‘power’ful as their slogan leads you to believe.
And don’t let me forget the ending of this double ad. I liked the idea of bringing last years commercial back but the way they did it was poor. Most people who I talked with could not understand it and were ultimately left with a bad taste in their mouths. The idea was good but the execution could have been better. 5 out of 10
Chevy Camaro:
While their Silverado ad is excellent, I think Chevy skimped out when putting this commercial together. The concept of the graduate getting a brand new car and then being as excited as he was is a decent one. The problem comes in when the parents show him his real gift, which is the refrigerator. Why would parents give their child a refrigerator outside next to a seemingly brand new car? Regardless, the commercial put a smile on my face but I was nowhere near laughing as I should have been with this ad. 3 out of 10
Budweiser:
The story of prohibition was a great idea to go with not only because they are a beer company but because it is a time in our history that we don’t talk about. Budweiser earned some points for creativity there but on the other hand, the amount of time, energy and money that they spent on this commercial far outweighs the end result. I saw a behind-the-scenes on a news show (I unfortunately cannot find the video on YouTube to link you to, I apologize) and I was amazed at how much work was done to make an OK ad. The quality of the commercial was great but the push to make a consumer buy their product was not there. 5 out of 10
-Included in the bad category are the two contest winners that we saw during the breaks in the big game.
Pizza Hut:
I really enjoyed the ad which promoted this contest before the game but the winner was not as good as it. The song that this artist was rapping was a good one but the fact that he was rapping narrowed Pizza Hut’s market by a large percentage. David (the rapper) was standing in front of turntables but he didn’t even use them while he was rapping, which renders them useless and makes the commercial look dumb. It was an interesting move going with the rap song but it did not work out in Pizza Hut’s favor. 5 out of 10
Doritos:
The Doritos commercial I am talking about is the Baby Sling one. I understand that it was made by a person who entered the contest and not by Doritos themselves but Doritos should have picked a commercial of higher quality. It was very corny with the grandma’s acting, the CGI of the baby flying through the air were very unrealistic and I did not enjoy watching this for one reason or another. Even when the baby was reaching out for the bag, he didn’t even seem close enough to the older boy to even grab the bag. Comparing this to last year, it was a huge letdown. 3 out of 10
I hope you enjoyed this years Super Bowl Commercial Round Up!
-Adam
