Super Bowl XLV Ad Review

All in all the ads were not so impressive this year.  Not sure why they were so sub-par but I was disappointed.  One of my perennial favorites - BUDWEISER and BUD LIGHT were HUGE disappointments, and newcomer CARMAX's ads were stupid. 

Here's a link to the Advertising Age Web site with ALL the SUPER BOWL XLV ads

ETRADE came through with a little better than average with its Tailor and Cat spots.  My favorites - COKE's Border Crossing and the DORITOS Pug. 

The Pug ad won its creator a million dollars, but the Pug ad itself was created for only $500!  Here's the ad and an interview with its creator, JR Burningham, on CNBC. 

Incidentally the Pug ad won the 'Best Ad' nod from USA Today.

Too much humor fell flat.  The other Doritos ad that had the guy licking the other guy's finger was dumb.  The mattress ads were kind of racy, but have no idea who the advertiser is.  GROUPON was kind of funny, MERCEDES Welcome with a P Diddy cameo falls flat. PEPSI MAX - funny ad but horrible execution.  They picked the wrong director for one.

The star commercials were really bad - SNICKERS with Roaseane and Richard Lewis, TELEFLORA with Faith Hill, GO DADDY with Joan Rivers - Boo, Boo and Boo to ALL of them.  The Chrysler ad is great... but the ending with Eminem is sooooo LAME.  Eminem is a wanker, so far from tough.  His point to camera is bogus too. They almost had me with this one, but putting Eminem in the picture lost me.  Eminem really went for broke with his sell out in the Brisk Iced tea claymation spot.  He may be a good musician but he don't belong in ads.

Finally, in the better than average column we'll give a B- to VOLKSWAGEN for the Force and a B to the Beetle ad.  Let's cross our fingers that all these advertisers kept some powder dry for the Ladies Super Bowl coming up in three weeks - The Academy Awards on Feb 27.

Smart Web Video: Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Promotion

Here's another twist on  'previewing' your Super Bowl commercials.  This is meant for the teen set so don't beat yourself up if you haven't heard about this one.

Doritos has evolved their annual campaign of airing an ad submitted by fans during the Super Bowl to an even higher level.  Last year they had to introduce the idea of the campaign itself, as well as the submissions.  This year there's less need to stess the contest allowing more room to focus on the ads. 

There's some great stuff here and some cheesy stuff. I find the first ad you have to sit through on the site one of their weaker submissions. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to jump around it. I think you have to watch it to move on to the next ones. The video player is great - crystal clear video. Some of the ads are also posted on YouTube as well.  Almost 2000 submissions.  Some great stuff here targetting the youth audience. Would love to see the stats on how much kids are watching.   Something odd about the most watched video on the site.... but maybe it appeals to the target group?  You can have a lot of fun on this site.  CRASH THE SUPERBOWL PROMOTION

The commercial below is just one of the spots you can see on YouTube.  Just a fraction of those that you'll find on the site link above.

Super Bowl 2009 Ad time

Super Bowl XLIII is closing fast...  5 days and counting to Show Time.  ABC is asking $3m per 30-second commercial and it's not clear they are going to get it for all the ads.  Without most of the car companies (except TOYOTAO) and other classic big advertisers, there are fewer multi-commercial buys.  But many of the old standards will return to the ring.  From Pepsi and Coke, to ETRADE and MONSTER, ANHEUSER BUSCH and GO DADDY. 

Have not found a site that is offering all the new commercials being offered this year, but here's a site containing many of the classics: SPIKE TV SUPER BOWL ADS OF THE PAST.

Each advertiser uses a different strategy when it comes to releasing their upcoming Super Bowl 2009 ads.  Some like Career Builder feature them on their site: CAREER BUILDER COMMERCIAL/SITE .

Go Daddy's ads were 'leaked.'  Despite the fact that they center on race car femme fatale Danica Patrick, they are puerile and sexist.  Leaking these ads was probably one of their only remaining strategies to get the ads out there. 

Just not feeling that Super Bowl excitement this year.  Maybe it'll start kicking in later in the week.

Here's an ad for TOYOTA's new 2009 COROLLA