Whoops, I forgot to re-introduce this series on the last installment. Sorry. That was Part 2, and this is Part 3. There will be one more.
It's generally my policy not to pay attention to SuperBowl-related things, but I like critiquing the ads from a business standpoint. I also like to embed the ones I find noteworthy. So here we go!
McDonald's: Unremarkable spot for Ronald McDonald House. Too bad.
NFL: Mr. Oboe.
I
am not an NFL fan. I don't know who Chester Pitts is, or who Ephraim
Salaam is, for that matter. It makes no difference to me though,
because this ad made me care about these two neat guys. It reached me
even though I'm not a member of the ad's core market. That's a hell of
a good ad. But I'm still not going to watch football.
Pepsi-Cola North America: Magnetic Attraction (and three others, all ok but not great).
Justin
Timberlake headlines in this ad, and I fully expected to hate it from
stem to stern. It gradually got better and then took a sudden turn into
lowbrow country with a long segment that could have been filmed just
for an episode of "Ow My Balls." Justin finally ends up in front of a
pretty girl who says to him, "Hey." His sly, lothario delivery of "Hey
to you," (with cocked eyebrow, of course) seemed so genuine that I
found myself having a good laugh at his expense. The fact that this
tiny slice of off-putting reality is probably accidental makes me like
it even more. You know, for the irony? Hey guys, wait! I'm really cool
if you give me a chance!
Procter & Gamble: Interview.
Remember
that ad where cockroaches seem to crawl across your TV screen? This is
another spot that tries to annoy you into using a product. Like the
cockroach ad, I didn't enjoy it much, but I'll remember it.
SalesGenie.com: Panda. (Sales Hero was about the same, but I saw Panda first.)
This
is a great counterpoint to GoDaddy's awful, stupid, awfully stupid ad.
SalesGenie's ads told me what the site is about, and then gave me a
reason to type the URL into my browser. So I did. SalesGenie got a hit
from me, GoDaddy didn't. GoDaddy wasted a lot of money on a SuperBowl
ad, SalesGenie didn't. Easy, right? But a lot of companies get it all
wrong.
Taco Bell: Taco
Bell's lone ad had a mariachi band in it, and still managed to be
forgettable. The concept needed more work, and this 'good enough'
iteration translates into a missed opportunity.
T-Mobile: NBA My Faves.
I'm
really wary of cell phone companies and the promises they make these
days, but Charles Barkley was a lot of fun here. Sometimes over-the-top
works.
