Like most of you last night much of the Hart team was watching the big game. Sometime during the game, Mike Bell our Chief Creative Officer (Not to be confused with the Toledo Mayor) sent out an email to our team giving us his view point on the ads. That spawned a whole flurry of emails with a few other team members weighing in with their opinions. Being the “social guy” I said hey why not share this with the world? They all agreed, after a few edits because lets be honest there may or may not have been a few adult beverages that were also consumed by some of us (Not pointing any fingers).
In case you missed any of the ads they are on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/superbowl
Audi Green Car
Rich Kretz: This one I don’t think is getting too much notice, but it should. It was an inspired choice in having Cheap Trick rework Dream Police for the soundtrack to this spot. There’s some terrific staging that improves the setups and the kicker with the “Green Police” busting cops for using Styrofoam cups is terrific.
Boost Mobile, ‘The Boost Mobile Shuffle’
Taco Bell, ‘It Rocks, It Rocks’ Featuring Charles Barkley
Rich Kretz: These is just plain embarrassing. In the Boost Mobile spot, while the image of Jim McMahon is a scooter would elicit at least a chuckle, I found it, well, pathetic. And did they shoot it through a sheet of plastic, or what? Poor execution that looked like it was rushed together… As far as Sir Charles goes, Taco Bell has really hit a new low, and this is following their idiotic “I want to order from Denise” campaign. Does anyone have a clue what he was talking about? Child, please!
Snickers Ad
Mike Bell: The Snickers “you’re not yourself” ad is funny. Love seeing Abe Vagoda. Hard to do funny, but they pulled it off. Laughed out loud.
Rich Kretz:Does Betty White ever age? And Abe Vigoda still kicking? Who knew? It kinda reminded me of the Bob Barker scene from Happy Gilmore. Amazingly, showing ancient celebrities get whacked actually is funny in kind of a cheap way. Not usually for the comedic violence, but call this one a guilty pleasure.
Bud Light – House of Bud
Mike Bell:Bud Light “house of bud” was weak. Cheap joke overly produced is still just a cheap joke.
Rich Kretz: Clearly misguided ideas here. Both are clear retreads of past Bud Light themes – irritated girlfriend as outlet for beer and tricking out the joint for easy access. In the end they both feel like poor cousins to the usual output.
Doritos
Mike Bell: Doritos spots are embarrassing. The dog collar, the kid protecting his mom, Casket. All really suck. They are an insult to advertising. Am I supposed to think you have to be intellectually challenged to enjoy Doritos? They are tired, old jokes poorly done. On the same level as local car ads. Somebody please help them.
Rich Kretz: Like Coke, I think Doritos struck out big time with their attempt once again to solicit spots from the “public.” These are all of the sophomoric humor it seems only Bud Light can execute well, and crotch shots and other stupid sight gags can go south quickly in the wrong hands. Besides, I might be in the minority here, but I’m tired seeing smart-aleck kids disrespect adults on national television in hawking a product. Old-fashioned, I guess.
Simpsons/Coca-Cola
Mike Bell: As much as I love the Simpsons, “burns goes broke” Coca Cola spot is a sad follow up to “happiness factory.” And the tag at the end is insipid. “Open happiness.” Really? Sleepwalker in Africa for Coke is again a disappointment. Coke has had great spots in the past. Did they hold back because Pepsi isn’t running spots? These are expensive spots, just not very good. Like someone is making up for weak concepts with big money on production. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Rich Kretz: Wow. One more and they would have went down swinging. The Simpsons epic is overblown and projects its ending from the first moments of the spot, and the sleepwalker, where do I start? The bloated production? The waste of fine cinematography? How much did this thing cost, anyway? About halfway through I’m asking for the polar bears back. And who can’t get going in the morning without a Coke?
US Census
Rich Kretz: The US Census spot is surprisingly not that bad, especially considering the weird assortment of b-list actors involved. Hope that as taxpayers we didn’t pay for that. Deficit? What deficit?
Vizio
Rich Kretz: The most ambitious (and probably expensive, given its scope and that they had to pay Beyonce) of the night is likely getting overshadowed by the flood of cheap jokes and sight gags, but really is a miracle of modern production. And with this cornucopia of images, it adds to the list of more groundhogs, prarie dogs and beavers in this year’s crop of commercials that has to break some kind of record. If they kept those kind of records, that is.
Go Daddy
Mike Bell: Go Daddy massage. INCREDIBLY stupid. I at least laughed at the beaver spot last year. The girl-on-girl innuendo is played out like a thirteen year old’s locker room story and is just as believable. Are they really getting any business from this? I don’t see the appeal in Danica Patrick. Only when compared to other race car drivers is she considered sexy.
Rich Kretz: GoDaddy has become no more than a punch line for their spots that are becoming parodies of themselves – and of Danica Patrick, whose strong suit clearly isn’t acting. I’d have to imagine they’re seeing diminishing returns on folks hitting their site to see the “uncensored” ads, but who know? Sex does sell! The Motorola spot was a much better executed version of what GoDaddy tries to do with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Not a bad effort for what it is.
Bud Light – Auto Tune
Mike Bell: Bud Light voice modulation: The much-hated practice in pop music of electronically altering one’s voice is used as a weak attempt to recapture “wassup.” Too bad they didn’t take it beyond that spot’s “calling my friends” gag. Just comes of as a copy of a classic without the cleverness.
Rich Kretz: I found this spot pretty clever, and they might be the first to take auto-tune mocking to the mass market. It’s not going to stick in the consciousness like “wassup,” but it makes for a guilty pleasure and is probably saved by a terrific kicker.
Budweiser, ‘Fences’
Rich Kretz: Please, Budweiser. Retire the Clydesdales from your spots. Please!!
Monster.com
Mike Bell: Beaver hoe down for Monster.com just makes me scratch my head. How did Monster help this beaver become so successful? Nice editing. And there is something to be said for oddities drawing attention. At least it didn’t make me cringe like the Doritos spots.
Rich Kretz: Monster has always been always very ambitious with their spots, and this is no exception. I don’t get the connection between our beaver friend and landing a job, but what they did was pretty well done.
Focus on the Family, ‘Celebrate Life, Celebrate Family’
Rich Kretz: Lots of focus on this spot because of its pro-life message. I don’t think it was that great or even if you completely go their message, but maybe that was their point: to give you a more subtle approach in this age of shouting. I suppose I think more of Tim Tebow that he would put himself out there, I guess.
Emerald Nuts and Pop-Secret, ‘Awesomer’
Rich Kretz: I’m not sure if Emerald Nuts gets their return out of their annual SB spot, but this one really had me scratching my head: I can’t decide if they’re just trying to leverage the money to cut costs for the two brands, or if you’re supposed to eat them together ala Chex Mix. Someone really has to try that and tell me if it’s any good…
FLO TV, ‘Injury Report’
FLO TV, ‘Moments’
HomeAway, ‘Hotel Hell Vacation’
Rich Kretz: I find that new products often try so hard to get noticed that they don’t leave enough time to get their pitch in. I like the FloTV “Injury Report” commercial but Jim Nance is focusing on “Jason” so much I’m not sure we get enough of what FLO TV is. Conversely, I think their “Moments” spot that features 50 years of television in one minute riveting. Makes you not want to miss another moment, and that’s the essence of their product. The same can be said for the Chevy Chase “Family Vacation” spot for what was it ? HomeAway? There’s so much time spent on the movie clips, does anyone really remember who HomeAway is? Or what they do? It would be interesting to see how many people hit that short film online and if it pays off.
Bridgestone
Mike Bell: Orca rescue for Bridgestone was a sad rip-off of “The Hangover.” The line “now that was a bachelor party.” is a lame ending to another over-produced spot. It’s either the start of a good idea and nobody could think of how to end it or it was all crap and the director made it look presentable. Bridgestone’s second spot was another cringe-inducing suckfest. A car stopped by Mad Max rejects. Guy ditches hot wife (she’s the highlight of the spot) instead of giving up his tires. Sad. Just sad. The spot looks to be inspired by “What’s in your wallet” spots and not pulled off as well.
Rich Kretz: Wow. They really had something there until they dropped that “Hangover” line. What a way to tank what was otherwise a pretty well-executed concept. Not sure where Bridgestone is trying to position themselves with these epic setups.
Bridgestone, ‘Your Tires or Your Life’
Rich Kretz: Wow, again. You’d have to say that was a pretty big setup for the single “misunderstood word” gag. The wife’s reaction after being tossed from the car is pretty good – and the villian’s take is decent too – but where are they attempting to go here – do they think that because Capital One has had success with the goofy villain-as-character approach they should mimic that? How is that going to sell a tire? Short of beer merchandisers and tech companies, who can get away with being so cinematic and obtuse?
Cars.com
Mike Bell: Child genius for cars.com is intriguing and made me want to listen to the story. A long and expensive way to go to say that everyone has trouble finding the right car. Didn’t position Cars.com very hard as the solution. But in a sea of mediocre spots, it stands out.
Rich Kretz: Actually, a really good follow up to the David Abernathy spot from last year that had the guy performing open heart surgery “in a crowded opera house…with a ball-point pen.” The :60 is a hefty story; I would expect the :30 to be excellent. This is probably my favorite overall, even if it is reworking something they have already done.
Bud Light – Bridge is out
Mike Bell: “The bridge is out” Bud truck rescue that brings the whole town out to make a bridge is pretty cool. Nice effect. I like this one.
Rich Kretz: It seems like once a Super Bowl, Anheiser-Busch seems to pull one epic off. This is clearly it. The shot of the old guy on the scooter is priceless, as is the dog pitching in to build the bridge.
Leno/Letterman/Oprah
Mike Bell: David Letterman, Leno and Oprah on a couch was funny. Nice follow-up to last year.
truTV, ‘Troy “Punxsutawney” Polamalu’
Teleflora, ‘Talking Flowers’
Rich Kretz: These reside in the creepy side of town, where spots want to make you unsettled. You have to respect the TruTV spot, even if Punxsutawney Polamalu looks like some whacked-out character froma Tim Burton movie. What’s more, it’s really well staged and casted. On the other hand, the Teleflora spot plain just creeped me out. Talking flowers? Really? Talking flowers?
Career Builder
Mike Bell: Every year has its similarities. Lots of people in underwear this year: Career buider “Casual Friday”, dockers “I wear no pants” free pants spot, bud light “donate clothes” which only went out online – same sight gag. Bud Light does it best. Still ads start to diminish the joke when they’re all telling the same one. Like the mini-Kiss running right near the Punksatawny Palitano. Weird.
Rich Kretz: What’s with the infatuation with men in underpants? And crazy that these two spots ran consecutively; am I the only one who thinks heads are rolling somewhere over that one?Actually, the Bud Light concept that was bounced from the broadcast is better than either of these derivatives (extended version available here: http://creativity-online.com/work/bud-light-clothing-drive/18612)
Brett Favre
Mike Bell: Brett Favre 2020 “maybe I’ll retire” for Cadillac is a great example of not overworking a joke. Brief and funny. Not beat into the ground. Others are doing the Brett Favre retiring joke so this doesn’t rank among my favorites.
Bud Light – Lost Parody
Mike Bell: “Here we go” Bud Light spots: “Lost” parody and observatory end-of-world-nerds-party were pretty lame. Not nearly as cool as other spots for the product. But, throw enough of them out and some are bound to suck.
Rich Kretz: Not Bud Light’s best effort, but the shot of the pebble hitting the telescope in the Asteroid spot was one of the single best sight gags of the evening. And the companion Lost spoof features some highlight shots of its own, especially the reaction of the lone survivor who can’t believe the troop is partying in the face of disaster. Anheiser-Busch throws so many concepts out there, it would seem from multiple agencies, that not all are going to work. However, even their bad ideas are better acted, directed and executed than others who are frankly trying to emulate their long-running formula.
Dodge Charger – Guy’s issues
Mike Bell: Another theme for several spots: Guy’s issues. A man’s life spot for Dove for men; Men making promises in “I will” Man’s last stand” For the Dodge Charger. Jason’s sad life in a spot for Flo TV with the line “change out of that skirt, Jason”. Apart they are okay. Together they point out how trite and hackneyed this meme is. Dodge was my favorite of the group.
Rich Kretz: A lot of focus on guy’s issues and targeting men this year: I thought the Charger spot was excellent and different, although I’m admittedly I’m squarely in the target demo. Man’s Last Stand: perfect positioning for the product. The Dove spot actually made me chuckle; it was actually somewhat fresh writing and not so dependent on just slapstick visuals. Nice use of music, as well.
Hyundai, ‘10 Years Strong’ Featuring Brett Favre
Hyundai, ‘Built by Hand’
Hyundai, ‘Painted Hyundai Sonata’
Rich Kretz: Hyundai spent a fortune in placement with some really solid everyday spots. With the rate they are snagging market share, it might actually be a good gamble. The Brett Favre commercial does stand out though, with its matter-of-fact approach. Lots of nice design on the holographic “trophy” too, and the “cool blue” color correction made him seem older and more grizzled. I like it.
Intel
Mike Bell: Intel’s sad robot does a decent job of expressing what a big advancement their new processor is. Again, not overdone. Didn’t beat it into the ground.
Rich Kretz: The sad robot seems to be a trend this year. Not a bad execution, and the humming employees at the end is a nice way to humanize their long-standing tag. It somehow left me feeling unsatisfied, though.
Volkswagen
Mike Bell: VW’s punch spot where people hit each other and say the color of the car is a great example of editing and small changes making the spot better. Old man getting hit in the crotch, what’s not to love. Then that blind guy joke at the end. Great pacing. Funny spot.
Rich Kretz: I’ll take it, reluctantly. Like the Doritos trilogy, crotch shots get old quick on Super Bowl Sunday. That said, this was a nice acknowledgement of an ages-old tradition. And the cameo by Stevie Wonder is really well placed, with Tracey Morgan a perfect foil. Maybe the Slug Bug game will catch back on and they’ll have a real “Where’s the Beef” phenomenon on their hands…
KGB
Mike Bell: KGB Sumo wrestler does a decent job of pointing out that KGB is a fast search engine. Not funny. Tries too hard. But the message still gets across in spite of itself.
Rich Kretz: Don’t really care for this one. Ziploc, Pledge and others have put people “under the gun” or else, and it just seems tired.
Denny’s
Rich Kretz: The whole Denny’s Grand Slam giveaway thing was done pretty poorly, and they are rightly getting panned for it. It’s worth noting, though, that the talent in the Denny’s commercials is Chicago-based Kiff Vandenheuvel, a good friend of Hart animator Matt Karlovec’s from BGSU. His big break and he probably made a lifetime of residuals in one day. Not particularly great spots, but for what it’s worth, this one in which he’s featured prominently is the best of a bad lot.
MetroPCS, ‘Tech and Talk: Shaming‘
Rich Kretz: What was that? I felt like I was watching some alternate universe Saturday Night Live skit gone bad or something. Still haven’t figured out what was going on there…
Etrade
Mike Bell: Talking babies for etrade lost some of its cool factor with the new babies. Not as snarky as the “shankapotomas” and other spots with the original baby. Still captivating. Writing just doesn’t seem as good.
Rich Kretz: OK, this campaign jumped the shark a long, long time ago. It was already a retread idea on the coattails of the Look Who’s Talking phenomenon, and yet they’re still riding it. Their last stand was the golf commercial; now it’s just getting a little sad.
Google Search
Rich Kretz: One of the best spots of the night, this simple travel from initial search throughout a life change is executed expertly. Soundtrack meets visual meets payoff. Well done!
Mike Bell: Google “Search on” was excellent! My favorite spot. Example of taking something overdone (boy meets girl story) and making it new. Compelling. Draws you in. Had to be the least expensive spot to produce. A great concept and it is allowed to show through.
