Nearly every Super Bowl commercial, in one post
We are compiling all the Super Bowl commercials here so you don’t have to. Once we’ve got most of them, we’ll ask you to vote which one you think was the best. In the meantime, post what you think about the ones we have here in the comments below.
Aliens star in an ad for the Chevrolet Volt electric car
Matthew Broderick returns to his Ferris Buehler roots in this Honda commercial
Jerry Seinfeld shows up in a number of Acura ads.
Regis Philbin appears in a commercial where a Coke salesman wins free Pepsi.
Kraft will debut a new breakfast food called “belVita”
A car shopper’s conscience unleashes his inner-Disco for Cars.com
In Super Bowl streaming deal, Verizon scores again
What a delightful week this is turning out to be for Verizon. First, archrival AT&T decides it will ditch its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile USA (as if they weren’t grinning madly in the halls of Verizon’s Art Deco building down on West Street) and then they get a piece of this NBC deal to stream the Super Bowl. No doubt, in the greater scheme of things the AT&T news trumps the streaming deal — but every little thing helps in the crazy competitive telecoms world.
Here’s the upshot: For the first time NFL postseason games — including the Super Bowl — will be streamed live online over NFL.com and NBCSports.com and over mobile devices through an app supplied by Verizon. This is NBC’s deal; Fox tells us they have “no similar plans” while we’re CBS declined to comment on whether they would do a streaming deal..
The advantage for Verizon is clear: It’s just one more differentiator. (Verizon has really been on a roll lately. Beyond the events mentioned above, they swooped in to buy a ton of cable spectrum for $3.6 billion and made headlines with their plans to take on Netflix with a streaming service).
For NBC, the thinking is they can add an online audience to their already huge TV football audience. Joe Football Fan will watch the Super Bowl and all of its $3 million-plus commercials on the big TV screen at the same time he is watching the streaming coverage on his phone or PC, which will include a bunch of extra stuff such as additional camera angles, sideline updates and in-game analysis. In other words, it will be complementary.
At least that’s the plan. And it’s likely to work out just fine for NBC. When it comes to the Super Bowl, football fans crave all the information they can get, and having access to the game on your mobile phone while your sitting in a loud, crowded living room party would, frankly, be helpful.
There is a risk, of course. Perhaps this is just one more step toward cord-cutting, or allowing viewers to watch their favorite shows without the cost of subscribing to a cable distributor. If the NFL — the NFL! — is available in real time online, then can every third-rate sitcom be far behind?
Comcast, which controls NBC, has obviously concluded the risk is very small. They’ve been streaming games on Sunday nights and, as the Associated Press reports, their broadcasts haven’t been hurt.
Super Bowl Monday: The view from armchair copywriters
Ahhh, Super Bowl Monday. The hangovers. The salsa stains on the sofa. The dreams of winning your office betting pool crushed. And the ad reviews. Yes, today is the day when everyone — many with little or no connection to advertising, football or tastemaking — puts out a list of the top Super Bowl commercials. Some are better than others. USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter is probably the best known (and this morning had Bud Light’s Dog Sitter ad ranked tops). But two others that are very good gauges of the winners/losers of the Ad Bowl are TiVo and the Kellogg Super Bowl Advertising Review.
They take very different approaches to rankings. TiVo ranks the most engaging moments “using aggregated, anonymous, second-by-second audience measurement data” while Kellogg goes with the panel approach that asks viewers to grade ads based on “Attention, Distinction, Positioning, Linkage, Amplification and Net equity.”
Three ads/brands were ranked highly by both TiVo and Kellogg:
But there were also some glaring differences in the two polls. For instance, the top spot in Tivo went to Snickers, followed by Best Buy and Pepsi Max. Kellogg gave all three of those middle-of-the-road rankings (Snickers and Best Buy each a received B, while Pepsi Max took a C.
The best Superbowl Ad? Easy, all the ones we did not see during Super Bowl 40 when in Australia in 2006. There were none on Aussie Tellie that I recall on the live feed on a Monday afternoon. So we saw the whole game commercial free except for a few brief station breaks. It was marvelous to See all of the nuances that occur on and off the field De Combat.(Steelers 21, Seahawks 10).
Five marketers who better bring it big on Super Bowl Sunday
Call it the Ad Bowl. Or the Buzz Bowl. Or the BS Bowl. Doesn’t matter, it all boils down to this: Sunday’s Super Bowl is the biggest day of the year for advertisers, some of which dished out $3 million for the chance to reach an audience of 100 million consumers for 30 seconds. At that price — $100,000 a second — the stakes are high. A good commercial can be a triumph, creating just the kind of water-cooler talk that propels a brand to a new level with consumers. A bad commercial? Well, those behind it better start dusting off the old resume.
Still, like anything else, the risks are greater for some more than others. So here is our list of… Five Marketers Who Better Bring It Big On Sunday.
1). General Motors. Almost the entire auto industrycould be included in this one, since Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen and Audi are among those who will help the category account for roughly a quarter of all the commercial time during the game. It’s a turnout that reflects the improving fortunes of the U.S. auto industry, which snapped a four-year sales decline in 2010. GM, however, stands out because of the sheer number of ads it bought, five in all, after a two year absence. Can it strike the right tone with consumers? Can it differentiate its lineup? Will it play it safe — flags waving, trucks pulling 100 million tons of load, some catchy tune from an All-American rocker? Or will it try to liven things up, like Audi and Volkswagen have sought to do? (see below)
2). Groupon. Admit it, you were a little taken aback by reports that Google tried to take over Groupon with a $6 billion bid. “You mean that coupon site? $6 billion?” Since then, Groupon has become a big buzz wordin the world of finance and media. And sure, it’s got 50 million users, so it’s not exactly coming out of nowhere. But the Super Bowl is a heckuva big stage. Can Groupon pull off what would be a huge brand building exercise? Can they take a page fromHulu, which aired a very well-received spot two years ago?
3). Motorola Mobility. The company split in two in January, and since then has already posted disappointing smartphone sales for the fourth quarter and warned that sales would suffer an unusually steep drop in the first quarter. The problem is that Motorola’s biggest customer, Verizon Wireless, is starting to sell an iPhone. And who really wants to compete for shelf space with Apple these days? So now it’s bought a 60-second spot in the Super Bowl to trumpet XOOM, its effort to break into the tablet market. It has even called the ad “Goodbye 1984″ (talk about setting the bar high).
NBC Universal creates new sports marketing agency
It’s no secret that sports has been the brightest star of broadcast television lately. It pulls big audiences, and those viewers watch live — a combination that advertisers drool over. So NBC Universal figured it was high time to make the most of its sports assets — soon to be coupled with those of Comcast – and today announced the creation of “NBC Sports Agency.”
The purpose of the group is to market NBC Sports, whether it’s their coverage of hockey, football, horse racing or the Olympics, and produce campaigns for advertisers or league partners like the NFL or the NHL. John Miller, credited for coming up with the “Must See TV” campaign for NBC’s primetime, will head up the effort. Many industry watchers had predicted that Comcast’s take over of NBC would see a push for more competition for sports rights with Disney’s ESPN powerhouse. Let the battle commence.
Here’s a video of Miller on his new role.
Super Bowl ads: What’s $600 million between friends?
It’s almost time again for the Super Bowl, which means this is when all the talk starts about those famous, and famously expensive, commercials. Just how expensive? Kantar Media came out with a study today that shows Anheuser-Busch InBev, Pepsi, Walt Disney, General Motors, Coca-Cola have combined to spend nearly $600 million on Super Bowl ads over the last 10 years. For those of you bad with numbers, that’s more than half-a-billion dollars. Keep in mind, General Motors wasn’t even part of the game for 2009 or 2010.
This year, however, General Motors is back in a big way – leading a pack of auto makers who, as we pointed out in a story last week, will dominate this year’s game. Up to nine different auto manufacturers are expected to run spots this year. Kantar points out that five years ago only four car companies ran spots. Ten years ago only one car company bought time.
Kantar digs ups a few other interesting tidbits as well. Of course, everyone knows that prices have climbed over the last decade. But the amount of commercials running during the broadcast is also rising. Last year, the CBS broadcast contained a record 47 minutes 50 seconds of commercial time. A total of 104 individual messages aired. Who has time for a football game with all those advertisements?
It’s not just the big boys who are responsible for this ad bonanza. Kantar says that first-time advertisers account for about 20-25 percent of the ad roster. And some of these are relatively small organizations, at least when it comes to ad spending. One-third of Super Bowl advertisers put more than 10 percent of their full-year media budgets into the game.
With that as an appetizer, let the countdown to this year’s game begin.
from Shop Talk:
World Cup is no March Madness in sapping productivity
It may be the World Cup, but when it comes to sapping productivity in the United States the global soccer tournament still has a thing or two to learn from March Madness and the National Football League.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which often measures lost workplace productivity, said many U.S. fans will tune in for the quadrennial soccer tournament, which kicks off Friday in South Africa, but the event still trails the NCAA men's basketball tournament, dubbed March Madness, and other events.
"Soccer simply has not caught on with the majority of American sports fans, Challenger CEO John Challenger said in a statement.
"However, the World Cup is a unique event and could attract a lot of viewers who might not typically go out of the way to watch a match," he added. "Even as the sport grows in popularity, though, it will have far less of an impact on workplace productivity than the March Madness basketball tournament, for example."
In Challenger's nonscientific, nonbinding ranking of sporting events with the most potential to affect workplace productivity, the World Cup ranked No. 4:
No. 1 -- NCAA men's basketball tournament (aka March Madness): Widespread office tournament pools and the fact that about half of the first 32 games are played during working hours makes this "the granddaddy of productivity sappers," the Challenger firm said. Proof of that was the use of the "Boss Button," which instantly hides the webcast behind a fake spreadsheet, 3.3 million times this year.
No. 2 -- NFL fantasy football: Millions of fantasy football participants manage their teams from their office. Talk about drafts and trades adds up over the 17-week season, the firms said.
Post Super Bowl: Ads, ads and more ads
It’s tempting, as a media reporter, to become incredibly cynical as the Super Bowl rolls around each February. Endless pitches, endless studies, endless clips sent by public relations departments in the days leading up the the game.
Here’s the thing though: Advertisers aren’t dummies. The $3 million they shell out for Super Bowl ads often pays off. Just think of all the stories that ran before the game in your local newspaper or on your local TV newscast (or here at Reuters.com). Or consider the party you attended yesterday — most people probably stayed in front of the TV set during timeouts. Hear much talk about Super Bowl ads today around the water cooler? Thought so.
A ton of polls are out today rating the best and worst Super Bowl commercials. Snickers and Doritos seem to be faring well. Focus on the Family? Ahhh, that ad didn’t seem to knock anybody’s socks off. Then again, it didn’t have to. Do a Google News search and look at how much was written about the group’s advertisement long before it aired. That’s good marketing.
Like anything creative, advertising is a highly subjective. We had people over to watch the game — and the spots that our group liked can’t be found near the top of most polls (for the record, Cars.com, Monster.com and Dove Men + Care were popular in our living room). Beyond our little group, I had one advertising expert tell me it was the best group of advertisements he’d seen in years; another was highly unimpressed by the lot of them.
As for polls, they may not be scientific, and they may not reflect your reaction to the commercials, but they do matter. If nothing else, they create even more buzz, gets the spots watched for the second, third, or fourth time, and, presumably, drive traffic to the advertisers’ web site.
Below is the spot from Snickers, which seems to be the most often atop today’s polls:
Saints over Colts, says EA’s “Madden”
If Electronic Arts’ recent track record on Super Bowl predictions is any guide, it looks like New Orleans may well bring home the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday.
EA ran a simulation of the Super Bowl XLIV matchup through its popular “Madden NFL 10” game on the Xbox 360, and the Saints edged the Indianapolis Colts 35-31.
A little taste of play-by-play from the world of make-believe sports:
“With the game hanging in the balance, Drew Brees hits David Thomas for an 11-yard touchdown and the game winning score. Drew Brees takes home MVP honors as the Saints earn their first Super Bowl Championship title in the franchise’s 46 year history.”
EA’s prediction is nothing to be scoffed at. Last year, the game publisher predicted Pittsburgh would top Arizona 28-24 – eerily close to the game’s actual results, which the Steelers won 27-23.
EA used “Madden” to predict the results for both the AFC and NFC championship games within a margin of three points. And the company said it has correctly predicted the Super Bowl winner in five of the last six years, since it began running the simulation in 2004.
from Shop Talk:
Unicorn + Clown = Surprise hit for Walmart
If the NFL playoff games weren't filled with enough unexpected action to keep you awake this past Sunday, something else was -- a screaming clown.
Walmart aired a new commercial during the games this weekend meant to promote its low prices on party supplies.
Good timing, considering millions of Americans are getting ready to host parties for the Feb. 7 Super Bowl game.
The Walmart ad, which features a misplaced unicorn and a screaming clown, has taken on a life of its own online. It now ranks as the No. 5 on the Viral Video Chart. It's quite a change from a few years ago, when the most action in a Walmart ad was an animated yellow happy face racing around its stores, slashing prices.
Take a look and tell us what you think:
Where is the Southwest commercial that ran in So Cal?