As an owner of a fiercely independent advertising agency that specializes in working with challenger brands, I used to look at the Super Bowl as an opportunity for brands to break through. It’s a high risk, high reward strategy and in the early days of when the madness of Super Bowl commercials began, there was more opportunity to strike it rich or strike out. The stakes were high in those days.
How I wish those days were still here. Now, most ads are previewed or teased well in advance and the surprise factor has pretty much made the Super Bowl ad madness an activity that we still think is important, but at the end of the day, doesn’t really deliver on the hype. It seems each year, especially in the last few years, the disappointment factor is high and our industry bemoans the lack of creativity. The Super Bowl of ads has pretty much become the Pro Bowl. We have to do it, but no one is really into it except for the brands who think this stuff is still important.
In regards to creativity, I think we are somewhere in the middle on this. It’s all about perception. The whole Super Bowl ad phenomenon just doesn’t seem to be what it once was, and I don’t think the quality of work has suffered, but we think it has, because it just doesn’t feel so important.
How did this happen? I think it’s much like our society today. We want immediacy. Now. We can’t wait until the game because we won’t have the attention span to really wait. We have a compulsion to get online and take a look at the ads or the previews, and who cares if we ruin the surprise! As a young Super Bowl watcher, I remembered watching them for the first time on game day with eagerness. Today, my kids (12 and 15) can’t be bothered and they probably already saw them on Snapchat or Instagram.
So where are we with the ads this year? I purposely watched them for the first time during the game and here’s some of my thoughts:
Overall Observations
Sentimental seemed to be the theme this year. Do all the creative directors for all the advertisers get together and say “this is the theme” this year? Some played this card better than others. However, at the end of the day, the humor won out.
What I Believe Worked
- Kia- I loved this ad, for the funniest of selling the big idea (Kia is a car for “do-gooders”) and great casting of Melissa McCarthy
- I love the Budweiser ad featuring August Busch, only because it’s different than anything they have done before.
- Ford had one of their best one in years early in the game with their “Move Through Life” ad with the look at people being stuck. Funny, and sentimental. Just very well done.
- Busch – for a bad beer, they had a great ad. Loved it.
- Buick – the Cam Newton ad was very entertaining, especially after a boring quarter.
- T-Mobile – considering Justin Bieber was in it, this was a miracle, but this was well done– a fun storyline that got the big idea across. I loved the second ad with Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart and the third ad was great too.
- Bai – anything with Christopher Walken in it is going to be good. Justin Timberlake was icing on the cake.
- Squarespace – John Malkovich did this one justice. Very well done for a challenger brand.
What Could Have Worked
- H&R Block with Jon Hamm had a a chance to really make an impact but the story put us all to sleep even though the message was strong.
- GoDaddy tried too hard. They were onto something but they just didn’t close the loop at the end.
- Tide – loved the casting with Terry Bradshaw and Jeffrey Tambor. The ad took too long.
- Alfa Romeo – this is a case of where the media buy would have made this ad better. Earlier in the game this would have worked better and seemed more original. A better version of the the H&R Block idea.
What Didn’t Work
- Google Home – Been there. Done that.
- Michelin – See Google home.
- Mobile Strike – cliché
- Skittles – really?
- Airbnb – you’ve done better.
- WeatherTech – their first Super Bowl ad and they did that?
- Febreze – what were you thinking? Cringe-worthy.
- Michelob Ultra – queue the popular song and happy people. Have we seen this before?
- Alfa Romeo – second half ad felt like they didn’t know who they were advertising to.
The Missed Opportunity
- Honda ‘Yearbooks’ – love the originality, and could have been the top ad, but missed slightly, in the fact that it didn’t quite pay off sooner.
Overall, the ads this year were better than last year. We had some really good ones, some horrendous misses but a bunch that had a lot of potential, but ultimately couldn’t deliver on the biggest stage.
My verdict:
- Big Winner (like the Patriots) – Hyundai ad at the end of the game wins. Innovation, creativity and human emotion all in one.
- Runner-Up – T-Mobile – three out of four ads were excellent (the last one was not), but they were all unique, different and were right on brand.
- Loser (like the Falcons) – Alfa Romeo – I feel like you need to know you aren’t selling cars in Europe, you are selling them in the U.S. What works there, isn’t going to fly here.
- Our Challenger Brand (David vs. Goliath award) – goes to Kia. What a great ad!
Dennis Franczak is the CEO of Fuseideas, a Boston based advertising and interactive marketing agency.
