February 05, 2007

After the Kiss

Well, this year's Super Bowl commericials were... well, ok. This has been a consistent trend for the past 3 years now which is too bad, because according to this article, 56% of Americans what the big game primarily for the commercials (which to me is an astonishing number - sounds like a figure generated by the ad industry to keep the media costs inflated).

There were some good ones, sure, but not the high entertainment value that we have come to expect from SB ads. It seems as though the hype gets bigger every year as the costs rise, but the quality doesn't. Sure there are some great ads that work exactly like an ad should, but for he Super Bowl, I think we are all expecting just a little more. I was even more surprised to see all the spots that were not 'new' spots - like all the Coke ones.

The ad worthy of my top vote this year is the Snickers ad, which was HILARIOUS (in the end, this was a much needed diversion from the terrible game that was unfolding). To watch it, go to: www.afterthekiss.com. While you're there, you can vote on one of 4 alternate endings (I like the "Wrench" one the best). It does everything I think a SB ad should. It communicated product benefit (ie. Snickers is so 'satisfying', you forget or disregard everything else that's happening around you), it was entertaining, and it was memorable (not only the spot, but you remember the brand too).

Here's my top 5 (a very subjective list I might ad):
  1. Snickers - the Kiss
  2. Emerald Nuts - Boogeyman
  3. Bud - Fist Bump
  4. Fedex - Not what it seems
  5. Garmin (The cheese factor won me over)
For all the Super Bowl ads (and to vote for your favs) check out the neat YouTube section they've created here: LINK

See how all the ads ranked on the USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter.
(...but really what do they know?)