Monday 6 February 2012

Topical Ads Rise to the Top (My Super Bowl Top 3)


Unable to sleep I have decided to declare my top 3 favourite Super Bowl ads before the dust clears and pollsters and more experienced critics announce their picks. All my favourite ads had something in common they were topical. There was some relevant twists that really made all three ads pop. 

Number 3: Audi 2012

As much as I want Buffy to come in and stake all the vampires and be done with it I have to give Audi props. The fact that these weren’t just any vampires but Twilight vampires, as seen by the tree climbing, annoys me more than words. I do question the effectiveness of the Twilight reference as it’s a bit stale and does not translate to any one old enough to drive. (To my knowledge and sincere hope). However, the reason I give this commercial the third place is because all the theatrics actually lead to a point: Audi’s headlights have LED lights. There were some ads where all sense of the product and their unique selling proposition was lost. Though honorable mention has to go to the Toyota Camry commercial, it almost got my vote for third. In fact, in the light of day I may very well change my mind. I will resist making a vampire joke…

 

Number 2: Best Buy

This commercial was a little like Intel’s celebration of the guy who invented the USB commercial. There was certainly a celebration of all that was innovative. However, what really sold me were the creators of Words with Friends getting glared at by a stewardess on a plane. This ad was very successful in tapping into my pre-existing schema and making me laugh at Alec Baldwin all over again…Which makes me think where was the Charlie Sheen references? Wasn’t his whole drama late 2011 I could have done with some winning, tiger blood and goddess comments. I mean if Twilight wasn’t stale Charlie Sheen is def. still topical.   

Number 1: Chevy Sliverado

The cinematography was amazing! The whole apocalypse reference is very current, not just with the mayan prophecies, the Nostradamus prophecy but also because the post-apocalyptic dystopia Hunger Games is coming to theatres. The History Channel with all their end of the world documentaries really laid the ground work for the success of this commercial. In addition, Chevy made sure they had something for everyone. Chevy referenced the mayans but also had killer robots, aliens and an asteroid to appease all end of the world scenarios. And a dog for all the animal lovers out there. I also really enjoy the fact that Twinkies made an appearance as everyone know they are supposed to be the only food that has an unlimited shelf life making them the ultimate post-apocalyptic food. The comment at the end about their friend owning a Ford was hilarious. In short I loved everything about this commercial.  

Overall, I liked the ads this year. I found the E*trade baby boring for the first time in forever. Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt made me realize why John  Stamos is the guy Alanis Morissette is singing about in Jagged Little Pill. And I developed body image issues thanks to the over exposure of Adrianna Lima. However, if I had to add my own criticism it would be there maybe was too much reliance on star power, with so many ads using big name celebrities the ads really just got lost in the clutter.

1 comment:

  1. HAHAHA! I love your commentary on these commercials! They are perfect! I have to agree, the commercials this year for the superbowl were actually really impressive! I found that many of my top favourites were actually car commercials too...but I'm not really sure what that says about me, or the auto industry... Anyways great posting! Keep them coming :)

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