Another Super Bowl has come and gone, and so have the Super Bowl commercials. This year's advertisers got their money's worth as Neilsen reported that Super Bowl XLIV was the most watched television program ever. Over 100 million people tuned in to watch the Saints beat the Colts.
Even with ads costing companies $2.5 to $3 million for a 30 second spot, the Super Bowl is an effective ad buy. After taking a more serious tone last year, the 2010 commercials featured a more humorous tone. While most of the commercials entertained, to be truly effective the ads had to deliver a brand message and want to buy the product. In general, I thought 2010 was a down year for the commercials. Here are some highlights and thoughts from the 2010 ads:
Controversy over Focus on the Family ad. For the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the Focus on the Family ad featuring form University of Florida Quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow created a significant amount of controversy. Pro-abortion groups took the airways trying to force CBS to pull the ad. The ad that ran focused on "celebrating life and family" according to a Focus on the Family spokesman. In reality, the protests leading up to the ad actually created more attention for Focus on the Family than the ad could itself. What amazes me is that the President of the National Organization of Women (NOW) decried the ad for promoting violence toward woman since it depicted Tim Tebow tackling his mom. Ironically, I didn't see NOW protesting Betty White getting tackled in the Snickers commercial or the woman ripping open their shirts in the GoDaddy.com ads.
Bud dominates. Once again, Bud had the most commercials during the broadcast. Overall, Anheuser-Busch purchased 5 minutes of ad time. The best Bud Light ads were the House of Bud cans, the Stranded on an Island, and the Bud Bridge. It seems the Bud Bowl was so long ago.
Too many men in underwear. Interestingly, a couple of ads featured men (and some women) in underwear. This is not something we need to see.
With love, from Google. Google ran a clever and interesting ad which seemed to tell a French Love story. The Googler start by finding things for a date and eventually looks for a crib. I found the ad to be engaging and entertaining.
Late night fun. Amazing, CBS was able to keep a lid on its ad promoting The late Show With David Letterman. The ad featured David Letterman sitting on a couch with Oprah. Then the camera panned to show Jay Leno sitting on the couch. I'm not sure who benefited more: Letterman, Leno or Oprah.
Green police. Audi's A3 TDI commercial promoted the clean diesel, but also provided a glimpse of the future under "Cap and Trade."
Free breakfast anyone? For the second year in a row, Denny's ad promoted a free meal. This year, Denny's will be offering a Free Grand Slam Breakfast on Tuesday. According to Denny's, they expect to serve over 2 million breakfasts, and they also are promoting a contest to win a free breakfast once a week.
Fewer starts, but they shine. The Snickers commercial featuring Betty White was selected as the best ad according t the USA Today. This year's ads lack the star power typically seen during the Super Bowl. The best star ads were Brett Farve receiving the 2020 MVP award that promoted Hyundai's 10 year warranty, and the TruTV Punxsutawney Polamalu. TruTV followed up the ad with full page, four color ads in newspapers on Monday. Homeaway.com effectively used Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as the Griswolds. Taco Bell continued its campaign featuring Charles Barkley.
Fewer automotive ads. There were fewer auto ads airing this year. The Kia "Toy Fantasy" ad showing the toys having a fantasy trip was fun and engaging. Hyundai's ad featuring its employees "hand building" the Sonota was very effective. I thought Dodge's "man's last stand" ad featuring the Dodge Charger resonated with the male audience and was effective. Volkswagen, Honda, and Audi also ran ads. Missing this year, were truck ads. It seems that every NFL game featured Dodge, Chevy and Ford promoting their trucks, but the biggest game of the year lacked a truck spot.
Staying offline. Just a few years ago, many Super Bowl advertisers use their Super Bowl ads to drive people to their web sites. With the exception of GoDaddy.com, most advertisers stayed off line this year.
Poor taste. Doritos and GoDaddy.com failed to impress again this year with their ads.
Waste of tax dollars. The Census ad was another good reason the government should not be spending our money.
Battle of the job boards. CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com again went head-to-head with ads this year. I did not find either of their spots to be particularly effective.
Missing from this year's line-up. Pepsi, a long-time Super Bowl advertiser, chose not to advertise this year. Coke, also a long-time advertiser, did advertise. Coke featured "The Simpsons" in their ad. FedEx, also a frequent advertiser, also passed on the 2010 Super Bowl.
To view the Super Bowl ads, click here.
