After pondering the Super Bowl ads for 48 hours I've finally arrived at a place where I feel comfortable with my overall takeaway: Seems as though a general lack of confidence got the best of us this year.
For the record, I personally think there were three winners: Coke, Hyundai and Tide.
Coke Balloons:
I thought this spot was great. Well executed, well produced and perfect for both family and friend viewing. I understand that Hal Curtis was one of the key Wieden folks behind this ad... my hats off to that team. For whatever it's worth, "Balloons" was my favorite on Sunday.
Hyundai and Tide each put the medium to great use: When you have America's attention, make sure you say something interesting that nearly everyone will understand and, perhaps, even try to use.
Goodby continues to help improve the image of Hyundai. This certainly wasn't the most entertaining advertising of the big game, but it was really smart: Pair up a good lookin' car with useful information about overall value--all of which may surprise you. If you have the confidence to be okay with not being mentioned among the most entertaining spots the following Monday, it changes the way one uses Super Bowl Sunday.
Hyundai Genesis:
Tide reminds me of the retractable Sharpie ads during a past Super Bowl: produce a funny spot around a product that most people will find value in and tell the product benefit and human insight in a focused and entertaining way. Simple. (The Tide site for Tide To Go is very funny and engaging too.)
Tide Interview:
I don't think the other ads are really worth discussing. There's commentary dripping off the web about how dismal everything was. Additionally, Garfield has some interesting thoughts on Ad Age. (Really good thoughts on Dell, but a bit too far fetched with his commentary on Victoria's Secret.)
But overall, no one's arguing that our industry was very below average this year. A random thought as to why:
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