Here are 5 ads that floated to the top during yesterday's Super Bowl. They're ads that surprised, entertained, hit strategic targets and some that were disappointingly bad.
Best surprise: The ad for the Late Show with David Letterman featuring Dave, Oprah and surprise guest Jay Leno featured a wonderful "no way " moment. It revisited a promo from the 2007 Super Bowl with Letterman and Winfrey watching the big game. But with the surprise addition of Leno, addressing their recent "late night feud."
Best comedy: The Sinckers ad featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda under the tagline "You're not you when you're hungry. Snickers satisfies." delivered a strong brand message while being hysterically funny. The line: "Mike, you're playing like Betty White out there." just makes me laugh.
Best epic story: Budweiser created a series of surprising tales to demonstrate Bud fans loyal commitment to the brand. In "Bridge" fans build a human bridge to ensure safe delivery of the their beloved Bud. In "Stranded" plane crash victims would rather party with Bud than be rescued. This is a good use of the Super Bowl environment and audience.
Best let down: The extremist christian group Focus on the Family generated a tremendous amount of publicity around the fact that they were allowed to run an ad on the Super Bowl--the group is known for its hateful speech and rigid stance against abortion and homosexuality. The controversy should have been around the deceptive message itdelivered (portraying the group as something that its not) rather thanplaying up the supposed antiabortion message (which was washed away bythe censors).
Best Waste of $3 million: Monster produced a commercial with a fiddling beaver to try to encourage viewers to help find their path with Monster's new precision job search function. Say what? The concept did not relate well to the message, and most viewers will remember the beaver and forget the sponsor. A poor execution. The only redeeming value in this commercial: the beaver's kinda cute.
