Ah, the Super Bowl, a time for football, friends, food, beer and most importantly, commercials! These aren’t just any ads. Since the Super Bowl is the most watched television event in the United States, commercials cost around $1,000,000 per 10 seconds, each averaging around $3,000,000.
In honor of this special occasion, each of our editors has picked his/her favorite from this past Sunday.
Suchi: Volkswagon 2012 Pasaat
The tiny Darth Vader was the most adorable thing on television that night. This commercial was heavily advertised virally with a 1 minute version hitting the internet a week before Superbowl and garnering more than 14 million hits. Then the same commercial aired during the game with a 30 second spot. Very smart and clever strategy by Deutsch LA which not only managed to save millions by doing that but also created an infectious pre-game buzz.
Greg: Doritos
I’d have to say that the best overall showing for a brand’s advertising efforts at the 2011 Superbowl would be Doritos. Personally, there’s not much more that I ask of in an ad then chip induced reincarnation, awkward office encounters and of course, a pug shot in epic slow motion. Doritos quite possibly hit the marketing trifecta and shame on you if you were left wanting. Doritos was one of the first companies to implement a sweepstakes awarding the best user-generated content featuring the product and it has certainly paid off. “Crash The Super Bowl” (started several years ago) has been quite successful, generating some of the cleverest consumer created ads. Don’t believe me? Visit http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/ to see a list of this year’s winners as well as the many runner up candidates. Mmm cheese….
Julie: Chevrolet Silverado HD
After a four year long hiatus, Chevy has returned to the Super Bowl with the help of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The “Chevy Runs Deep” campaign features the all-new 2012 line up. With a record amount of car advertisements during the Bowl, Chevy had some fierce competition from VW to KIA to Audi (loved the Kenny G). I chose the “Tommy” ad of the series, because it used nostalgia to get Americans thinking of the good ol’ days, when Lassie was on TV and Detroit (and the economy) was booming. It was a creative way to showcase the capabilities of the Silverado HD, while engaging the audience with fond memories. I liked the entire campaign, but the cherry on top was the MVP of the game, Aaron Rodgers receiving a Camaro and a GLEE episode about making a Chevy commercial.
Emerson College GMCA 