Hasta La Ideas

The Super Bowl is a rare thing in today’s advertising landscape: a TV event with a massive guaranteed audience. Brands and agencies therefore pull out all the stops for the show’s ad breaks, and pay handsomely for the privilege of appearing in them: a 30-second spot cost $3 million this year, apparently. Here’s CR’s round up of the best ads shown during yesterday’s game.

The game’s ad slots were dominated by certain types of brands. Car ads featured heavily (too heavily for many Twitter observers, who complained loudly of car overload), alongside Super Bowl regulars such as Budweiser, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Celebrity endorsement was a common trait, from the awkward, such as Adrien Brody playing a jazz crooner for Stella Artois, to the truly bizarre: a half-naked Joan Rivers for GoDaddy.com.

Volkswagen: The Force, by Deutsch

While the main medium for the ads shown may be TV, most brands are hoping that the Super Bowl exposure will also lead to a longer life online for their expensive spots. Volkswagen has already achieved this with its cute spot The Force, which was released online ahead of the game, and has already received over 15 million views on YouTube.

Doritos: The Best Part, by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Doritos used humour to get its message across in a series of ads, including The Best Part, above, where a man reveals that his love for Doritos has reached gross-out levels, and Pug Attack, where another man foolishly taunts a pup with the snack.

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Best Buy: Ozzy Vs. Bieber, by Crispin, Porter & Bogusky

Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber send themselves up for Best Buy in this spot from CP&B.

Budweiser: Wild West, by Anomaly

A cowboy has a surprising change of mood after drinking a Budweiser in this spot from Anomaly ad agency.

Bud Light: Hack Job, by Cannonball

Bud Light sends up home makeover shows in one of a series of humorous spots from the beer brand that showed during the game.

Coca-Cola: Siege, by Wieden + Kennedy

Coke returned to the Super Bowl with a new animated epic, shown above, as well as a simple but charming spot featuring border guards. Both preach the Coke-makes-you-happy mantra, an approach in marked contrast to the Pepsi Max spots, which were surprisingly violent (in a supposedly humorous way, of course).

Kia: One Epic Ride, by David & Goliath

Back to the car ads now, which came in a multitude of forms. Kia went for epic special effects…

Hyundai: Deprogramming, by Innocean

…while Hyundai went for pretty kaleidoscope graphics. This is one of series of Hyundai spots that ran during the Super Bowl, which also included Anachronistic City, shown on the CR blog a couple of weeks ago.

Chrysler: Born of Fire, by Wieden + Kennedy/Universal McCann

Chrysler went epic in a different kind of way, with a two-minute spot starring Eminem that addressed Detroit’s heritage in the US car industry.

Motorola: Empower The People, by Anomaly

We finish this year’s Super Bowl round-up with a spot for the new Motorola Xoom (the first Android tablet), which was trailed online in the run-up to the game to help build hype. The finished spot turns Apple’s classic ad 1984 (which also premiered during the Super Bowl) back on itself, presenting Apple as the drone-like establishment brand, and Motorola as the one to smash it.

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