For many the Superbowl is the time of year to get close with your family and friends, grab a beer and to cheer your favorite team to victory. As someone who doesn't really watch sports I can't say much about the game but what I really enjoy is the commercials. Every year companies will spend millions to promote their brands for a few seconds for this one event. According to CBS the 2014 Superbowl broke records with over 111.5 million Americans watching on their televisions, 2.3 million streaming online and countless more watching internationally; creating an effective advertisement that stands out and communicates a message is crucial.With a price tag of over $4 million per 30 seconds of air time, if you are not using every second to it's full potential, you're wasting money. But while reviewing these ads I noticed some repeating themes that crossed over many of them. A few of these themes include the use of sexuality, humor and emotional appeal were the main focus of a majority of these ads.
This following list highlights a few of the ads that stood out to me personally and why I enjoyed them or disliked them. This list is in no particular order, just what I felt made the largest impact to me. You can view all the advertisements on the official NFL website HERE.
1. Sprint: Super Goat Apology
What I love about this ad is the simplicity. Simple text with a hilarious punchline; what else do you need? The ad is promoting the offer that sprint will cut it's competitors customers phone bills in half if you switch to Sprint. Sprint even has the courage to elude to their competition as being asses. They don't need to fluff the ad up, they just want their competitors customers.
2. Discover: Unwanted Surprises
Similar to the previous ad, this one features simplicity and goats. I personally found this one to be one of the best because of the setup. The ad promotes free Fico scores when you switch to the Discover Card and says that "no one likes surprises". I personally was surprised when the guy enters his apartment and not only is the goat surprised, but also the guy and the person he was talking on the phone with. Simple message with a great finale; more goats please.
3.Mountain Dew: Kickstart
How do you market a highly caffeinated neon green beverage? You make a commercial that is absolutely insane. Although mountain dew is trying to promote their new beverage line "Kickstart", I personally don't feel enticed to purchase it. As a Superbowl commercial It works perfectly and keeps the crazy, over the top themes traditionally seen in Superbowl Ads. Personally though I felt like they were trying too hard to make it a meme. They should have focused on one strong concept then cramming a smorgasbord worth of content into a minute ad. I don't understand how partying chairs and twerking dogs helps sell a soft drink...but it is entertaining to watch, for a little bit at least.
4.T-Mobile: Kim Kardashian PSA
Now I would like to discuss the ads that I thought were terrible, and a prime example is this T-Mobile Ad. This ad is trying to promote the unused data that is taken back by phone companies but the message is communicated terribly. They make it look like a PSA which tries to evoke sympathy from the viewer by making the viewer feel that not watching Kim Kardashian is some sort of bad thing. Personally this entire ad is just oozing with narcissism and It makes me recent the brand. Personally I don't keep up with the news around Kim Kardashian (probably because I'm too busy with my life) but watching this just made me distaste her just a little bit more.
5.Budweiser: Lost Puppy Ad
One of the most popular ads this year was the Budweiser puppy ad. The ad promotes Budweiser by relating it back to their slogan "Best Buds". The ad overall is well designed and puppy is cute but, what does this have to do with beer? I really didn't like this ad since there was SOOO much focus on the emotional aspect with the use of cute animals, being lost in a big world and standing up to danger despite being a small puppy....please. I get this ad campaign is trying a different angle from the traditional over sexualised or "stupid" humor normally found in beer ads but, at least those ads show the product. I'm just saying instead of wanting to chill with my friends/family with a cold beer the entire time I wanted to just pet the puppy. Every frame of this advertisements heaps on a thicker layer of sappiness and emotion until the end and I just simply don't want to buy their product. I'll stick with my Molson Canadian.
The Superbowl commercials are my favourite part of football. Every advert is trying to grab your attention and entice you to act and that's what I love about the creative design that goes into these campaigns. Teams of individuals working together to come up with a concept that will make their commercial the one that is the most discussed. The ads which are universally loved are shared on several media platforms (social media, message boards, television, newspaper) for weeks to come. Let's just hope next years are twice as creative then the last.
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