Super Bowl 45 - 2011 Ad Review

So this year, instead of creating the epic Super Bowl Ad spoiler as I've done in the past, this year I went in, with no knowledge (ok, a tiny bit - it's hard to avoid) of what I was going to see. The test was to see if I was less cynical of the ads. Here's what we saw.

1st Quarter:
Bud Lite - Hack Jobs - Putting Bud Light on a counter is an easy way to fix a kitchen. Ok, so what is new here? Nothing. C’mon Bud Light..can we try for a change? This ad was like something an intern did. And that’s not a slam at interns...it’s a slam at ad people who are doing ad work of freshies.

Doritos - Check This Out - Dog goes running for chips after guy teases dog. Dog goes running at him and hits the glass door, knocking if off hinges and hurting man. Meh. Fitting in with the typical animal/man getting hurt scenario. How about trying something original?

Audi A8 - Release the Hounds - Upper crusties try to escape prison with a Mercedes slam. Points for Kenny G - although do most people know who he is anymore?

Doritos - Finger - Mmm cheesy. Creepy. But funniest Doritos spot in whole bowl.

Chevy Cruize Eco - Misunderstanding - Old people can’t hear so they say other things about the 42 MPG. Way to patronize old people Chevy. Good idea to be offensive to an entire demographic. I guess maybe you figure they are too old to drive anyway. Epic Fail. Hope you have a good PR team.

Pepsi Max - Love Hurts- Girlfriend lets guy drink it after taking away his other snacks. Sits on bench with him, he ogles woman, girlfriend throws pepsi at him, he ducks, she hits the girl...they run off together. Meh. More people getting hurt. Also, interesting with the ethnicities. Could have been better if they had a mixed couple. Racist? Could be.

Bud Lite - Product Placement - Decent. Think this was their best spot of the night.

Chevy Silverado HD - Tommy - Spoofing Lassie. Very cute and funny. Humorous, clean, epic. Win.

Universal - Fast and Furious Five

Pepsi Max - Button - Preppy guys give doofy guy a hard time. Button on cooler lobs cans at guys head and crotch. More guys getting hurt. Meh.

Doritos - Housesitting- Roommate to take care of friend’s fish and plant...feeds both Doritos. Knocks over urn of grandpa, brings him back with Doritos. Ok. Passable.

Hyundai Elantra - Hypnotized - One word. Forgettable.

Cowboys & Aliens Movie

Kia Optima - One Epic Ride - People cuffed to police bike, copy drives their car - picked up by helicopter - taken to man’s boat, Poseidon checks it out, aliens take it. Trying a bit hard to be epic. Good CGI work though.

Brisk Iced Tea - Eminem - Who knew they still did that campaign? Bit surprised it had Eminem in it. Doesn’t seem his style to do advertising or be a shill. Maybe he owes Kim money.

2nd Quarter:
Bridgestone - Reply All - For drivers who want to get most out of cars. Ok. But what did that have to do with sending a reply all email? Like the idea but don’t get connection to product/brand.

Chevy Volt - History - Ok. See where they were going but, felt like it was missing something.

Go Daddy - New Girl/Joan Rivers - Joan Rivers in skimpy clothing? EWWWWWW! Someone please stop them. Please. I beg of you.

LOCAL AD: Sleepy’s/Seely's- Afterglow- Couples in bed - it’s better on springs. Spicy.

Budweiser - Wild West/Tiny Dancer - Cowboy goes into saloon asking for Bud, then starts singing Tiny Dancer. Interesting how they were pretty subtle with working in the Clydesdales. Not sure if I’d rather have seen a pure Clydesdale spot or not. Decent.

Teleflora - Faith Hill - Ok. So Teleflora thinks guys are schmucks. Lovely. Insult your target audience. Interesting tactic.

Transformers Movie

BMW X3 - Made in America - So it’s a German car made in the US. “We’re American, really.” Meh. Not sure the Super Bowl is a good place for this type of feel good ad. Although I understand why with the viewership. But still.

Motorola Xoom - Apple Drones - Thought this was an Apple spot at first, so I think that’s good. If that’s what they intended to do.

BMW Clean Advanced Diesel - Changes - Point taken. Didn't need to be beaten over the head about it. Really don’t have much else to say about this one.

Coca Cola - Dragon - After drinking a Coca Cola, the fire breathing dragon shoots fireworks? What? Didn’t get the connection to Open Happiness.

Thor the Movie

VW - Vader - Cute but not amazing. Only commenting on the version that aired during game. Heard there is a longer version. Not seen that yet. But you can see it here. ;)

Snickers - Lumberjack - Featuring Richard Lewis and Roseanne. Ha. Nice extension. Betty White still wins though.

Career Builder - Parking Chimps - Chimps. Chimps. I swear I’ve seen this one before. Lame.

Super 8 Movie

Chevy Cruze -Facebook - Meh. Tech is cool to read Facebook for you. Decent but not super memorable. Also, are you so addicted to the internet that you can’t wait until you stop driving to check your phone to see what’s posted on Facebook?

Captain America

Castrol Edge - Football tie-in with Steelers.

Carmax - Feels Like - Analogies. Ha. Cute, although who would say “feel like customer at a CarMax”?

LOCAL Ads

3rd Quarter:

Cars.com - Learn from experiences of others - Ok. Not special.

e-Trade - Enzo the Tailor - Talking babies. Kill me. Kill them. Stop it please!

Best Buy - Technology Moves Fast/Ozzy Osborn and Justin Bieber - WOW. Not in a good way. Oh, and please stop using Ozzy in your Super Bowl spots people. Or if you do, have him bite someone’s head off. Kthanxbi.

Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

Mini Cooper Countryman - Cram It In The Boot - Ok. Attempt to be British-esque with the humour, but I think they failed.

Homeaway.com - Detourism - Um...ok. Better than last years by a little. They are learning I guess. Although I could have done without the stunt baby joke.

Hyundai Elantra - Hypnotized - What? Why? Who? Sorry that won’t make me buy your car.

Groupon - Tibet - Timothy Hutton spoofs a PSA? Um, ok, huh? Didn't someone tell them that the Tibet thing is a serious deal. Free Tibet!

Coca Cola - Border Guards - Two border guards Open Happiness together. Nice. Great humanity in this spot. It’s a winner.

Stella Artois - Singer/Adrien Brody - Male take on the typical Parisian female singer, but he’s singing to the beer, not the ladies. Is that an actor I can’t think of there? Yup, ‘tis Adrien Brody. It’s good, but they’ve done better. Still best beer spot of the night. Show Bud/Bud Lite how it's done.

CarMax - Service Station - Old school service station is nice metaphor. Wish there were places like that still. Decent. Ok.

Chrysler 200- Detroit - Eminem stars again. “Imported from Detroit” line works for this. Good. Likeable.

NFL - Best Fans Ever - So they aired an ad about football using footage from popular tv shows. Lazy but decent for the heritage/culture route.

Local Ads

4th Quarter:

Rango Movie

Cars.com - Car Reviews - "Sheila looks great topless." Oooh, look how edgy! Talking cars? Ok, although is it Super Bowl worthy?

Bud Lite - Dog Sitting - Dots as waiters, chefs, etc. Ok, so animal abuse? Wha?

Hyundai Sonata Hybrid - Settle - Decent spot. Like the nods to the old tech, but not sure it’s breakthrough enough to be a highly remembered spot in this setting.

Pepsi Max - Thoughts - I will admit I found this one funny. Best Pepsi one so far. Although video quality was pretty crappy.

Rio Movie

Bridgestone - Beaver - Driver and beaver have a “bro” moment. Ok. Maybe I missed something.

Go Daddy - Jillian Michaels & Danica Patrick Strip Down - Boo. Stop please. You and the e-Trade babies need to lose your ad budgets for a while. #brandbowl #sb45 #SBads

VW Beetle - Racer - Like the mantises that stop to watch him go by. Cute teaser spot. Nice animation work.

Mercedes Benz - Welcome/Best or Nothing - Um, the Janis Joplin song (wonder if she’d like this if she was still alive) and Diddy. Sorry think you were outclassed by VW and Audi. Whoops.

House - Mean Joe Green Spoof - Funny stuff.

Chevy Camero - Brainstorming - Ad people talking about what the ad should be...this has been done before. Shot well at least. Bet you will either love it or hate it. Few will be in the middle.

Verizon - iPhone ad - not new. No comment.

Sketchers Shape Ups - Bye Bye Trainer/ Kim Kardashian - “Look at me and how sexy I am, even though everyone knows that me and my family are a horrible waste of resources.” Seriously? Ugh. Bring back X-tina. Or something.

Chevrolet & Paramount Pictures - Al's Chevy Dealership - Fun.

Well, that was the show. So, even after not seeing the ads before hand, I still felt a bit disappointed overall. The spots that seemed to stand out the most and be of Super Bowl quality (in no particular order) were Coca Cola - Border Guards, Silverado - Tommy, Stella Artois - Singer/Adrien Brody, Chrysler 200- Detroit, Audi A8 - Release the Hounds and VW - Beetle Racer.

Fail awards go to Sketchers Shape Ups - Bye Bye Trainer/ Kim Kardashian, Chevy Cruize Eco - Misunderstanding, Pepsi Max - Love Hurts, Go Daddy - New Girl/Joan Rivers, and Groupon - Tibet.

Too many advertisers went down the stereotypical path of the expected with animals, celebrities (both A and B-list folks), guys getting hurt, guys being stupid...did people forget that it's not just guys who watch the game? Don't we think it's time to get past this crap and move on to using some new tactics? I do. src="adland.tv/ud-light-hack-job-2011-30-usa">Bud Lite - Hack Jobs - Putting Bud Light on a counter is an easy way to fix a kitchen. Ok, so what is new here? Nothing. C’mon Bud Light..can we try for a change? This ad was like something an intern did. And that’s not a slam at interns...it’s a slam at ad people who are doing ad work of freshies.

Doritos - Check This Out - Dog goes running for chips after guy teases dog. Dog goes running at him and hits the glass door, knocking if off hinges and hurting man. Meh. Fitting in with the typical animal/man getting hurt scenario. How about trying something original?

Audi A8 - Release the Hounds - Upper crusties try to escape prison with a Mercedes slam. Points for Kenny G - although do most people know who he is anymore?

Doritos - Finger - Mmm cheesy. Creepy. But funniest Doritos spot in whole bowl.

Chevy Cruize Eco - Misunderstanding - Old people can’t hear so they say other things about the 42 MPG. Way to patronize old people Chevy. Good idea to be offensive to an entire demographic. I guess maybe you figure they are too old to drive anyway. Epic Fail. Hope you have a good PR team.

Pepsi Max - Love Hurts- Girlfriend lets guy drink it after taking away his other snacks. Sits on bench with him, he ogles woman, girlfriend throws pepsi at him, he ducks, she hits the girl...they run off together. Meh. More people getting hurt. Also, interesting with the ethnicities. Could have been better if they had a mixed couple. Racist? Could be.

Bud Lite - Product Placement - Decent. Think this was their best spot of the night.

Chevy Silverado HD - Tommy - Spoofing Lassie. Very cute and funny. Humorous, clean, epic. Win.

Universal - Fast and Furious Five

Pepsi Max - Button - Preppy guys give doofy guy a hard time. Button on cooler lobs cans at guys head and crotch. More guys getting hurt. Meh.

Doritos - Housesitting- Roommate to take care of friend’s fish and plant...feeds both Doritos. Knocks over urn of grandpa, brings him back with Doritos. Ok. Passable.

Hyundai Elantra - Hypnotized - One word. Forgettable.

Cowboys & Aliens Movie

Kia Optima - One Epic Ride - People cuffed to police bike, copy drives their car - picked up by helicopter - taken to man’s boat, Poseidon checks it out, aliens take it. Trying a bit hard to be epic. Good CGI work though.

Brisk Iced Tea - Eminem - Who knew they still did that campaign? Bit surprised it had Eminem in it. Doesn’t seem his style to do advertising or be a shill. Maybe he owes Kim money.

2nd Quarter:
Bridgestone - Reply All - For drivers who want to get most out of cars. Ok. But what did that have to do with sending a reply all email? Like the idea but don’t get connection to product/brand.

Chevy Volt - History - Ok. See where they were going but, felt like it was missing something.

Go Daddy - New Girl/Joan Rivers - Joan Rivers in skimpy clothing? EWWWWWW! Someone please stop them. Please. I beg of you.

LOCAL AD: Sleepy’s/Seely's- Afterglow- Couples in bed - it’s better on springs. Spicy.

Budweiser - Wild West/Tiny Dancer - Cowboy goes into saloon asking for Bud, then starts singing Tiny Dancer. Interesting how they were pretty subtle with working in the Clydesdales. Not sure if I’d rather have seen a pure Clydesdale spot or not. Decent.

Teleflora - Faith Hill - Ok. So Teleflora thinks guys are schmucks. Lovely. Insult your target audience. Interesting tactic.

Transformers Movie

BMW X3 - Made in America - So it’s a German car made in the US. “We’re American, really.” Meh. Not sure the Super Bowl is a good place for this type of feel good ad. Although I understand why with the viewership. But still.

Motorola Xoom - Apple Drones - Thought this was an Apple spot at first, so I think that’s good. If that’s what they intended to do.

BMW Clean Advanced Diesel - Changes - Point taken. Didn't need to be beaten over the head about it. Really don’t have much else to say about this one.

Coca Cola - Dragon - After drinking a Coca Cola, the fire breathing dragon shoots fireworks? What? Didn’t get the connection to Open Happiness.

Thor the Movie

VW - Vader - Cute but not amazing. Only commenting on the version that aired during game. Heard there is a longer version. Not seen that yet. But you can see it here. ;)

Snickers - Lumberjack - Featuring Richard Lewis and Roseanne. Ha. Nice extension. Betty White still wins though.

Career Builder - Parking Chimps - Chimps. Chimps. I swear I’ve seen this one before. Lame.

Super 8 Movie

Chevy Cruze -Facebook - Meh. Tech is cool to read Facebook for you. Decent but not super memorable. Also, are you so addicted to the internet that you can’t wait until you stop driving to check your phone to see what’s posted on Facebook?

Captain America

Castrol Edge - Football tie-in with Steelers.

Carmax - Feels Like - Analogies. Ha. Cute, although who would say “feel like customer at a CarMax”?

LOCAL Ads

3rd Quarter:

Cars.com - Learn from experiences of others - Ok. Not special.

e-Trade - Enzo the Tailor - Talking babies. Kill me. Kill them. Stop it please!

Best Buy - Technology Moves Fast/Ozzy Osborn and Justin Bieber - WOW. Not in a good way. Oh, and please stop using Ozzy in your Super Bowl spots people. Or if you do, have him bite someone’s head off. Kthanxbi.

Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

Mini Cooper Countryman - Cram It In The Boot - Ok. Attempt to be British-esque with the humour, but I think they failed.

Homeaway.com - Detourism - Um...ok. Better than last years by a little. They are learning I guess. Although I could have done without the stunt baby joke.

Hyundai Elantra - Hypnotized - What? Why? Who? Sorry that won’t make me buy your car.

Groupon - Tibet - Timothy Hutton spoofs a PSA? Um, ok, huh? Didn't someone tell them that the Tibet thing is a serious deal. Free Tibet!

Coca Cola - Border Guards - Two border guards Open Happiness together. Nice. Great humanity in this spot. It’s a winner.

Stella Artois - Singer/Adrien Brody - Male take on the typical Parisian female singer, but he’s singing to the beer, not the ladies. Is that an actor I can’t think of there? Yup, ‘tis Adrien Brody. It’s good, but they’ve done better. Still best beer spot of the night. Show Bud/Bud Lite how it's done.

CarMax - Service Station - Old school service station is nice metaphor. Wish there were places like that still. Decent. Ok.

Chrysler 200- Detroit - Eminem stars again. “Imported from Detroit” line works for this. Good. Likeable.

NFL - Best Fans Ever - So they aired an ad about football using footage from popular tv shows. Lazy but decent for the heritage/culture route.

Local Ads

4th Quarter:

Rango Movie

Cars.com - Car Reviews - "Sheila looks great topless." Oooh, look how edgy! Talking cars? Ok, although is it Super Bowl worthy?

Bud Lite - Dog Sitting - Dots as waiters, chefs, etc. Ok, so animal abuse? Wha?

Hyundai Sonata Hybrid - Settle - Decent spot. Like the nods to the old tech, but not sure it’s breakthrough enough to be a highly remembered spot in this setting.

Pepsi Max - Thoughts - I will admit I found this one funny. Best Pepsi one so far. Although video quality was pretty crappy.

Rio Movie

Bridgestone - Beaver - Driver and beaver have a “bro” moment. Ok. Maybe I missed something.

Go Daddy - Jillian Michaels & Danica Patrick Strip Down - Boo. Stop please. You and the e-Trade babies need to lose your ad budgets for a while. #brandbowl #sb45 #SBads

VW Beetle - Racer - Like the mantises that stop to watch him go by. Cute teaser spot. Nice animation work.

Mercedes Benz - Welcome/Best or Nothing - Um, the Janis Joplin song (wonder if she’d like this if she was still alive) and Diddy. Sorry think you were outclassed by VW and Audi. Whoops.

House - Mean Joe Green Spoof - Funny stuff.

Chevy Camero - Brainstorming - Ad people talking about what the ad should be...this has been done before. Shot well at least. Bet you will either love it or hate it. Few will be in the middle.

Verizon - iPhone ad - not new. No comment.

Sketchers Shape Ups - Bye Bye Trainer/ Kim Kardashian - “Look at me and how sexy I am, even though everyone knows that me and my family are a horrible waste of resources.” Seriously? Ugh. Bring back X-tina. Or something.

Chevrolet & Paramount Pictures - Al's Chevy Dealership - Fun.

Well, that was the show. So, even after not seeing the ads before hand, I still felt a bit disappointed overall. The spots that seemed to stand out the most and be of Super Bowl quality (in no particular order) were Coca Cola - Border Guards, Silverado - Tommy, Stella Artois - Singer/Adrien Brody, Chrysler 200- Detroit, Audi A8 - Release the Hounds and VW - Beetle Racer.

Fail awards go to Sketchers Shape Ups - Bye Bye Trainer/ Kim Kardashian, Chevy Cruize Eco - Misunderstanding, Pepsi Max - Love Hurts, Go Daddy - New Girl/Joan Rivers, and Groupon - Tibet.

Too many advertisers went down the stereotypical path of the expected with animals, celebrities (both A and B-list folks), guys getting hurt, guys being stupid...did people forget that it's not just guys who watch the game? Don't we think it's time to get past this crap and move on to using some new tactics? I do.