Hasta La Creative!

While several big-name marketers held their ads until they ran in the Super Bowllike T-Mobile, Verizon, Kia and Bud Light, plenty of brands released their spots early in hopes of getting a little pre-game buzz. Starting with Colgate, which dropped its ad Jan. 18, and ending with Wix, which released its ad the day before the Feb. 3 game, a total of 30 ads hit early. See them all below.

Wix, “Wix.com Official 2019 Big Game Ad,” Saturday, Feb. 2

Internal agency

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Good afternoon Super Bowl junkies,

I’m Jeanine Poggi, Ad Age’s senior editor, here with the final edition of our Super Bowl Alert. This morning is a fog, with neither the game nor many of the commercials, proving especially memorable. I’m trapped in a blur of 1990’s pop culture and robots (seriously what was up with all the robots? More on that later.)

Mediocrity is the word Ad Age Editor Brian Braiker uses to describe this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads in his complete review of all the national commercials that aired between the coin toss and end of play. I couldn’t agree more: in an effort to avoid any sort of controversy, Super Bowl advertisers played it safe with many jokes that fell flat and weak attempts to try to win over hearts with nostalgia. (I must admit, in some cases, like with Doritos’ hip-hop version of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” it worked).

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Starboard’s investment comes in the form of a purchase of convertible preferred stock. The main takeaway is Papa John’s now has more money to repay debt and work on improvements in areas including its brand.

In Starboard, Papa John’s gets the financial backing and insights from a team that in 2014 famously suggested Darden Restaurants serve fewer breadsticks and salt the pasta water at Olive Garden to help boost that chain’s business.

“It’s unclear what plans Starboard Value may have for Papa John’s, but its most visible success story in the restaurant industry was creating value at Darden about five years ago through a combination of cost cutting, asset sales, and leadership changes,” Stifel analyst Chris O’Cull said in a research note.

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Facebook is breaking up with one of its fact-checking partners, raising fresh questions about the social network’s commitment to fighting disinformation.

Last week, the fact-checking site Snopes revealed that it would not stay on with the program this year; meanwhile The Associated Press is still evaluating its commitment. The program started in 2016 when Facebook tapped third-party fact-checkers to help weed out false news in an effort to prevent the type of disinformation campaigns that marred the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In the past two years, Facebook has worked with dozens of organizations in 25 countries to identify potentially misleading information and limit how many people see it on the social network.

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The Dude abides–and this year, most brands were content to do the same. Viewers looking for the equivalent of Tide’s 2018 Super Bowl takeover were disappointed. So were those hoping for brands to take bold stances on sociopolitical issues beyond basic female empowerment and homages to everyday Americans. Beyond some exceptions–like Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale…

While CBS sold out its entire advertising inventory for the Super Bowl, it wasn’t the only platform that capitalized on the Big Game’s ads. For YouTube’s annual AdBlitz program, the company once again released data about which ads and other moments were viewed on the streaming service’s platform. Based on data after the game, viewership…

During the Super Bowl, you never know what celebrities will show up during brands’ $5 million ad buys. Will the Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World appear in a Stella Artois ad? (He did.) Will Matthew Broderick star in a Bud Light ad? (He most definitely didn’t.) We headed out to Bryant Park…