By ASHLEY SWEET
Business Manager
“The year was 2015, it was Super Bowl XLIX. The Patriots were victorious, and the ads made us cry.”
This is the voiceover on the History Channel I envision when I picture them flashing back to nail-biting Super Bowl of 2015. Over 50 ads, and all they were really doing was adding to the stress and anxiety of the game. From death and sadness, to the same old boring tactics, the best of the best failed the audiences this year.
At $4.5 million for every 30 seconds, viewers expected the best of the best. In the end, all anyone wanted to buy was tissues and an antidepressant.
The Ones We Could’ve
Done Without
With a million-dollar price tag, Super Bowl ads each year are called upon to revive the advertising industry. We want to be surprised and shocked by the ads interrupting our beloved sport, be they good, scary, or funny.
So it’s a good thing Lexus, Nissan and Ford played it boring in their typical car commercials. Cars sliding across the screen and an almost-emotional family story just didn’t make the cut for me.
“What do you eat when you’re hungry?” is a question you could’ve answered before the big day. But Snickers apparently thought a somewhat-awkward “Eat a Snickers” bit was a good investment.
Much like how Bud Light wanted you to know they are still part of the party. And we all know how Discover treats us… and now we will all hope to never come home to a goat in the living room.
Then there were ads we could’ve pushed aside and not missed. Very few of us wanted more Kim, after seeing the Kardashian in the T-Mobile ad. It was just as ridiculous, yet not as creepy, as the Skittles arm-wrestling fiasco.
However, GoDaddy and BMW nearly put us to sleep with commercials about late night work and gadgets through the ages. No one was in the mood to wait for those punch lines, much in the same way no one wanted a Loctite fanny pack, although that one may be good enough for future Halloween costumes. All in all, these companies really missed the target.
Movie Mania
There was an all-time high of movie commercials this year; we will see how they worked out on opening weekends this coming spring and summer.
Jurassic Park is planning a comeback, “The Park,” and flashed a few images of digital dinosaurs in front of us. This tactic is to-be-determined in my book.
Much like the “Minions” commercials, which are all over television, spamming Facebook feeds, and creating a Twitter buzz. So as cute as they were, were the billions spent all of that necessary on a movie that has had so much publicity already?
Then, the room was either given butterflies or filled with awkward silence as Christian Grey took the screen for the latest “50 Shades of Grey” commercial.
“We’re back, pitches.” The only worthwhile movie commercials, in my opinion, were the ones for two upcoming sequels for “Pitch Perfect” and “Ted.” “Pitch Perfect 2” had the living room laughing with the snide comments, and “Ted 2” surprised us with an attempted kidnapping of Tom Brady himself. Both movies gave you a piece to remember, and a joke. Gold star there.
Get Outta Here
Then, companies decided to bring a reminder that football is men’s territory. “Game of War” brought you a provocatively-dressed video game character, and that’s all there was to that commercial. Doritos wants you to know they are a shoulder to lean on when a woman’s attractiveness is ruined by a small child. No immoral or sexist behavior going on at snack time.
This all left just enough time for Victoria’s Secret to swoop in with a generic, emotionless ad about their latest line of undergarments. It was an ad that has played on television, YouTube, and other media many times before with only slight differences. If they were going to go out of their way to budget in an unrealistic-female-body agenda ad for the Super Bowl, they could’ve been a little more creative.
Thanks for the Memories and Tears
Hand me a tissue, it doesn’t matter if my team loses because this kid just died. Thanks, Nationwide.
Many companies tried to strike at the emotional, family-centric marketing technique for this year. Maybe all the teams and agencies read how this is effective, so they all did it, and no one stood out. What was that a commercial for? I don’t know, I couldn’t see the logo through my tears.
Nationwide let you meet and hear the dreams of a wonderful little boy, before telling you an irresponsible parent killed him… oh, and get insured. This was a delicate topic to blast across America during a game.
Similarly, Microsoft made you meet a young boy with physical disabilities, and a community of students without educational resources. Oh, and uh, download Windows 1,005 or whatever the next model for you is, please.
These stories, for me, were a little too detached from the company’s line of products to be effective.
Toyota then swooped in and reminded dads everywhere of their little princesses and how keeping them safe comes before all.
Much in the same way, the real 911 call on NoMore.org’s commercial was a bone-chilling experience for all viewers. While the campaign is commendable, the timing of during the Super Bowl was rough. Just pass me a tissue already.
I’ll Cheer for That
Now, I don’t want you all to believe I thought every ad was horrible. Some actually surprised me, and reinforced my belief in the advertising industry.
Budweiser, Dove, and Always found a way into my heart without making me cry. It would’ve been bad if Budweiser wasn’t well done, because some of us waited all year to see the new adventures of the Clydesdales and their adopted puppy friend.
Dove came close to their cuteness by reminding America how awesome being a family man can be. Take that, Doritos. Then Always and Coca-Cola jumped in and reminded us that everyone is wonderful and we should do better to remember that.
Always took on the social responsibility theme and said that “like a girl” is not an insult, and did so without taking up too much air space. Well done.
E-surance caught us off guard and kept us smiling with their Breaking Bad pharmacy spoof and their sorta-mom jokes, which came towards the end of the game, when some fans needed a laugh. Their theme revolving around “almost” and “sorta” being an insurance company doesn’t cut it, because it would be ridiculous if we were “sorta” anything nowadays.
And lastly, let me tell you how the car industry hasn’t failed me yet. Everyone says it’s hard to make car commercials that are different, that don’t involve sand or snow desert drifting or city light races. Well, meet Dodge, Jeep, and Mercedes, who got me to watch their entire commercial.
Dodge made us smile with words of wisdom, and raise our glasses to another 100 years. Jeep showed us beautiful sights from around America, accompanied by a soothing song. And Mercedes brought out the child and humbleness in all of us with the end of their tortoise-and-the-hare shenanigans.
There is always new ground to be covered in the field of marketing, especially advertising, and we expect the Super Bowl ads to show us that ground each year.
This time around, I am less than impressed. If I were the manager of the creative teams, I would be huddling up to seek out comebacks and plans for improvement.
I can’t say that all ads were a waste of the millions of dollars, but I certainly wouldn’t expect to have a return on investment for many of them.
