All this week people have been reflecting on and discussing their favorite Super Bowl ads from last Sunday’s showcase. Now it is my turn. First of all, I think it is important to determine a criteria of standards for what constitutes a great commercial. Although this is a very subjective topic, I am going to take a stab at it. I think that a great commercial is one that is memorable, it has to have mass appeal and really resonate with the majority of its viewers. It also has to communicate its message clearly and effectively. Even though these are 30 second spots, an advertiser needs to get to the heart of the message and get the main point across. A consumer should be able to sum that point up by the end of the commercial and in discussing it there should be a consensus as to what it is about. At its most basic principles, this sums up the definition of a great ad. With that being said, here are my top two best and worst Super Bowl ads of 2011 starting with the worst.
1) The worst Super Bowl ad of 2011 was the Go Daddy commercial. I get what their style is and I get what they were trying to do, introduce the .co domain name, but it did not work for me. They hyped up their Go Daddy.Co girl pick and it turned out to be Joan Rivers, a big let down if you ask me. She is not a relevant person to pick for this role. It may have made for a surprising reveal, but in a really bad way. Then there’s the fact that they can never finish a commercial without sending you online to see the rest of it. Why not tie in the incentive to go online while finishing the commercial? Last time I checked there are ways of doing that.
2) Stella Artois fell flat and looked dated. Their choice of setting appeared to be 1960′s Paris, and choosing Adrien Brody as the main singer and character did not say much about Stella Artois. There is no doubt that Adrien Brody has a singing voice, just not a very interesting one. The whole thing was a sleepy effort that was easily forgettable. They may have been trying to come off as suave and sophisticated. If they were, it did not work.
Now for the top two.
2) Volkswagen takes my second spot because it was charming and not boring like a lot of other car ads we saw that day. The little toddler thinking he had the force when really it was the remote start feature? A clever way to introduce a new option for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat. Perhaps the only downside was that the Star Wars and ‘the force’ themes going on had me thinking perhaps it also had more power. However, it is a 5 cylinder engine and the previous was a four-cylinder turbo engine. It is hard to beat a turbo engine, even with an extra cylinder. They also failed to elude to how spacious it is inside. Yet, for having to choose only one focal point to get creative with they made the best choice.
1) Finally my favorite ad is…Doritos. I do not eat Doritos and this ad was clever, funny and tempting. The office nerd who is a Doritos fanatic got the point across that Doritos are good. Simple as that. Just when you thought you saw perhaps the weirdest but funniest part, him licking Doritos off his coworker’s finger, they took it up a notch with him stealing his coworkers pants just to get a whiff of Doritos crumbs. A true Doritos fanatic’s commercial but also one that caught everyone else’s attention.
There you have it, my take on the worst of the worst and the best of the best from this year’s Super Bowl ad extravaganza. Overall, it was not the best or the worst and some people really need to step it up next year. For example, Budweiser’s frogs made more of an impression on me than any commercial Budweiser put out this year. One can only hope that next year is a bigger and better year for all involved.
Super Bowl Top Two Best and Worst Ads
Tags: Adrien Brody, Doritos Super Bowl ad, Go Daddy, Go Daddy Super Bowl ad, Joan Rivers, old vs new Super Bowl ads, Star Wars Volkswagen ad, Stella Artois, Stella Artois Super Bowl ad, Super Bowl 2011 ads, Super Bowl 2011 commercials, Super Bowl XLV, Super Bowl XLV ads, Super Bowl XLV commercials, Volkswagen 2012 Passat, Volkswagen Super Bowl ad
All this week people have been reflecting on and discussing their favorite Super Bowl ads from last Sunday’s showcase. Now it is my turn. First of all, I think it is important to determine a criteria of standards for what constitutes a great commercial. Although this is a very subjective topic, I am going to take a stab at it. I think that a great commercial is one that is memorable, it has to have mass appeal and really resonate with the majority of its viewers. It also has to communicate its message clearly and effectively. Even though these are 30 second spots, an advertiser needs to get to the heart of the message and get the main point across. A consumer should be able to sum that point up by the end of the commercial and in discussing it there should be a consensus as to what it is about. At its most basic principles, this sums up the definition of a great ad. With that being said, here are my top two best and worst Super Bowl ads of 2011 starting with the worst.
1) The worst Super Bowl ad of 2011 was the Go Daddy commercial. I get what their style is and I get what they were trying to do, introduce the .co domain name, but it did not work for me. They hyped up their Go Daddy.Co girl pick and it turned out to be Joan Rivers, a big let down if you ask me. She is not a relevant person to pick for this role. It may have made for a surprising reveal, but in a really bad way. Then there’s the fact that they can never finish a commercial without sending you online to see the rest of it. Why not tie in the incentive to go online while finishing the commercial? Last time I checked there are ways of doing that.
2) Stella Artois fell flat and looked dated. Their choice of setting appeared to be 1960′s Paris, and choosing Adrien Brody as the main singer and character did not say much about Stella Artois. There is no doubt that Adrien Brody has a singing voice, just not a very interesting one. The whole thing was a sleepy effort that was easily forgettable. They may have been trying to come off as suave and sophisticated. If they were, it did not work.
Now for the top two.
2) Volkswagen takes my second spot because it was charming and not boring like a lot of other car ads we saw that day. The little toddler thinking he had the force when really it was the remote start feature? A clever way to introduce a new option for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat. Perhaps the only downside was that the Star Wars and ‘the force’ themes going on had me thinking perhaps it also had more power. However, it is a 5 cylinder engine and the previous was a four-cylinder turbo engine. It is hard to beat a turbo engine, even with an extra cylinder. They also failed to elude to how spacious it is inside. Yet, for having to choose only one focal point to get creative with they made the best choice.
1) Finally my favorite ad is…Doritos. I do not eat Doritos and this ad was clever, funny and tempting. The office nerd who is a Doritos fanatic got the point across that Doritos are good. Simple as that. Just when you thought you saw perhaps the weirdest but funniest part, him licking Doritos off his coworker’s finger, they took it up a notch with him stealing his coworkers pants just to get a whiff of Doritos crumbs. A true Doritos fanatic’s commercial but also one that caught everyone else’s attention.
There you have it, my take on the worst of the worst and the best of the best from this year’s Super Bowl ad extravaganza. Overall, it was not the best or the worst and some people really need to step it up next year. For example, Budweiser’s frogs made more of an impression on me than any commercial Budweiser put out this year. One can only hope that next year is a bigger and better year for all involved.