If I had friends like the friends the kid in this Hyundai Santa Fe commercial has, I’d be challenging the “mean kids” to football games every day. To tout the 7-seater, Innocean created Team, a Super Bowl :30 that shows a boy challenged by some not so nice kids to “come back when you have a team.”
Not one to give up easily, the boy and his very supportive mother hop into their Hyundai Santa Fe to round up the boy’s very superher-like friends who all return to take on the mean kids in a game of tackle football.
It’s the sort of commercial proud parents can rally around and one that does a very nice job and conveying the 7-seat capacity of the Santa Fe.
This TBWA\Chiat\Day LA-created Super Bowl Pepsi Nest ad could have been funny. It follows the over-played scenario in which parents return home to find offspring having a party. It’s got all the usual antics including a guy duct taped to the ceiling.
Parents come home home with the usual horrified looks on their faces and exclaim, What’s going on here?” Dad then says, “hold on” and…while a dude pours milk over himself (OK, that is kinda funny)…ponders the “real cola taste. And that’s it. That’s all.
Tired premise. Poor execution. But what do we know. Drunk Super Bowl fans will probablt love it and tweet it up the charts.
For its first-ever Super Bowl outing, Speed Stick will tackle the proverbial awkward laundromat encounter with the hot chick. Aligning with its protective promise that Speed Stick will only allow guys to sweat on the inside when in awkward situations, we see an impatient guy take a woman’s laundry out of the drier so he can put his in.
Of course, there’s a pair of tiny yellow panties atop the pile which falls to the floor. When he stands after picking them up, his eyes…and the camera…slide up the body of an attractive woman who asks, “What are you doing?”
That’s when Mr. Voiceover steps in and says, “Seating on the inside? Handle it on the outside!” Cue product power shot.
Of course, our suave (and Speed Stick protected) gentleman does, indeed, Handle It.
Speed Stick launched the Handle It campaign in 2012 on digital, social and traditional channels with an effort to engage with guys on Twitter using a contest to find the best Handle It moments. A man named Brian Katz won and his tweet inspired David Brashear, from the Tongal crowd source video community, to produce this commercial.
Here’s an extended version of Hyundai’s Kia Sorento Space Babies Super bowl commercial. We think the ad will get a lot of laughs. After all, anyone who’s ever had kids is very familiar with juggling, dancing and improvising after being asked, “Daddy/Mommy, where do babies come from?”
Created by David & Goliath, the commercial features a nervous dad who masterfully navigates through this delicate question and concocts an amazingly detailed explanation involving a distant planet called Babylandia. Directed by RSA Films’ Jake Scott, the ad is also humorously filled with, in any other situation, might be dubbed cheesy sexual innuendo. But in this scenario, it works.
Rockets “shoot off.” They “penetrate” the atmosphere. They’re “released.” Funny stuff.
Hmm. Too bad this commercial won’t be airing during the Super Bowl in America. Only Canadians will get to see this Max Max-themed Hyundai commercial entitled Gaspocalypse.
The ad features Max Max-like characters racing after a man driving a Hyundai. Given the title of the ad, you can guess how it ends. But it’s still amusing enough as well as action packed. The coda is kind of unnecessary but it doesn’t really ruin the work.
Created by Innocean Canada, the ad was directed by Benji Weinstein of Steam Films/Tool of North America.
In the continuing pantheon of pre-release Super Bowl commercials come this Saatchi LA-created work for Toyota featuring The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco. in the ad, which touts the RAV4, Cuoco takes on the role of a modern genie granting wishes to the Henderson family.
As each family member makes a wish, Cuoco grants it…with a twist, especially for Dad who just can’t seem to get his wishes to come true the way he had envisioned them. Wishes include eradication of Dad’s “spare tire” (sort of), daughter’s wish animals could talk, mom’s wish to eat all the chocolate she wants, daughter’s wish she could be a princess, son’s wish he could be an astronaut (hmm, send him over to the Axe commercial) and Dad’s wich for infinite wishes which, well, results in the wrong kind of witch…uh…wish.
The “Wish Granted” commercial also features an image submitted by Ryan Koch of Fitchburg, Wis., as part of the Get In the Big Game opportunity that took place earlier this month.
Of her participation in the ad, Cuoco said, “As soon as I saw the script, I knew I wanted to be in this commercial because the sense of humor was right up my alley. It was so much fun and I’m excited that everyone gets to see it now and again on Sunday.”
It isn’t even Game Day yet and, much like last year, many brands have already released their Super Bowl commercials. A few days ago, Taco Bell released a teaser, Grandpa Goes Wild, in which a grandfatherly man, Bernie Goldblatt, decides to tear it up on the gridiron with a motor scooter.
Today, the brand has released the commercial it will air during the game and it’s a good one. The spot, created by Deutsch LA and directed by Biscuit Filmworks’ Noam Murro, begins with Mr. Goldblatt going to bed at The Glencobrooke Retirement Home. Well, that is until the nurse leaves his room and he decides sleeping is for pussies.
Goldblatt sneaks out of the home to meet up with some fellow octogenarians for a night of shenanigans, clubbing, bathroom stall action, juvenile pranks and, yes, some late night snacking at Taco Bell all to the tune of Fun’s ode to Millennials, We Are Young…in Spanish.
Of the Spanish version of the song, senior copywriter Brian Siedhand said, “We went for very literal, word-for-word, simple translations. In general, literal Spanish translations have way more syllables than in English, so it’s awkward in places. In some cases we had to simplify or cut down a few words so it was singable.” Siedhand’s creative team used Google Translate to create the new version, Nosotros Somos Jovenes, which was ultimately recorded by Elias Music.
The work, which follows the usually-always-humorous strategy of old people doing young things, appeals to a broad demographic swath in that younger folks can chuckle at their own antics as actioned by the octogenarians. And older folks can vicariously relive their own youthful antics from back in the day.
Of the approach, Deutsch CEO Mike Sheldon said, “There’s a common misconception that to appeal to Millennials you have to show Millennials. The reality is to appeal to them you simply need to entertain and engage them. We’ve all had an epic night out on the town followed by a trip to Taco Bell. ‘Viva Young’ is a surprising and fresh way to remind people of that.”
In addition to Viva Young, Taco Bell will also have a 30-second ad supporting a new Steak Burrito, pat of its new Cantina Bell menu. The spot, entitled Grande Papi, will be set to the 1994 hit song entitled “Big Poppa,” and will also be sung in Spanish.
In the commercial, a young father leaves his home with his infant child in his front baby carrier, headed to Taco Bell to purchase the new Cantina Bell Steak Burrito, getting favorable looks and smiles from female passersby.
In addition, the Viva Young spot will direct consumers to the brand’s Facebook page to learn more about Live Mas Monday, a post-game giveaway for a free churro with any purchase on Monday, Feb. 4.
Is it really too much to ask to be entertained by the ad industry just once a year? How hard could that be? Oh wait, yea, we get it. It’s never easy. For the most part, creative success is a crap shoot. Part luck, part skill and part USA TOday Ad Meter, creating a killer Super Bowl commercial is hard work.
That said, we just aren’t wowed by VW and Audi who have released commercial prior to the Super Bowl, In the VW ad, we get a guy from the midwest going all reggae because, well, VWs make people “get happy.”
In the Audi ad, we see a down and out guy heading to the prom alone. His dad hands him the keys to the Audi which magically grows him a set of balls so he can walk up to the prom queen and kiss her. The kids actions aren’t without consequence but he does get the girl to pine for him a bit.
The two ads fall a bit flat. They’re not bad. But they aren’t The Force.
As part of its Axe Apollo Space Academy promotion, Axe will are a commercial during the Super Bowl that mirrors the campaign’s launch commercial. In the ad, we witness a Jaws-style scenario in which a hunky lifeguard rescues a hottie…and beats the shit out of the shark. But just as the two are getting close to one another, the woman’s eyes are drawn to an astronaut. Because, well, astronauts always roam the beach in summer fully clad in a space suit, right?
We’ve all been stuck behind something we’d rather not be stuck behind on the road at one time or another. Whether it be a smelly car or, well, a smelly motorcycle rider who thinks he’s hot but is the furthest thing from it, the road can serve up a few oddities from time to time.
Hyundai taps into that notion in the first of two Super Bowl commercial created by Innocean. In the ad, Stuck, a couple navigates various “road hazards” such as drooling dogs, truckloads of fireworks and a giant butt. Stuck will air during the second quarter.
A second ad, Team, will air during the first quarter and will show a boy whose mother helps him gather together some friends to battle some mean boys who have challenged him to a game of football. This ad is expected to hit YouTube later this week.
In addition to the two :30’s, a :60 and two additional :30’s will air in pre-game.
In a departure from last year’s celebrity-fueled silliness, Century 21 will return to the Super Bowl this year with four commercials that address the housing needs of people in various stages of life. Of course, this being the Super Bowl they do contain humor. But not humor for humor’s sake.
Each ad addresses the needs of those in a certain life stage. From a just married couple to an expecting couple to an empty nester couple to the not-so-common recent lottery winning couple, the ads humorously identify with people changing needs throughout life.
The ads, created by Red Tettemer + Partners, use the “is there a doctor in the house” concept but the call is, instead, for a Century 21 agent in the house. And, of course, just like on TV and in the movies, there’s always a doctor…uh…a Century 21 agent in the house.
We like the approach and how it resonates with the individual housing needs of those in various stages of life. We think viewers will identify with and, perhaps, even remember their own various life-stage scenarious akin to what is presented in the ads. And there’s nothing better than an ad the evokes a “Honey, remember when…” thought.
It would seem the lifespan of a Super Bowl ad keeps growing as Americans will be searching, sharing and rewatching ads this year more than ever before, according to independent San Francisco advertising agency Venables Bell & Partners. Results from its fourth annual Super Bowl survey saw these numbers rise particularly among millennials and those who report they’ll be, ahem, hungover on Super Bowl Monday. Some highlights from the study.
Not only will half of Americans rewatch ads, but 40% will share ads. 86% will do so via Facebook and 30% via sharing on Twitter (a 500% increase from 2012). Theoretically, this means with 111 million people watching the game, and with the average Facebook user having 130 friends, those collective posts could result in over 4.9 billion incremental impressions.
Overall, digital engagement during the Super Bowl has experienced double-digit jumps from 2010-2013, proving Americans are increasingly on two-plus screens during the big event, with Twitter seeing the most gains at 275%. More than half (56%) of viewers plan to be multi-tasking while watching the game, a percentage that drastically increases for young adults, with 86% engaged in more than two screens.
An estimated 31 million Americans (28% of 111 million viewers) will be hungover on Super Bowl Monday. For those who admit they are “likely to be hungover,” social networking habits increase dramatically. 70% of heavier drinkers will be sharing ads on their social networks (vs. 40% survey avg.); 60% of heavier drinkers will post something to Facebook (vs. 34% non/lighter drinkers). Perhaps most important to marketers, intoxicated people report being five times more likely to buy something while watching the game (50% vs. 10% non/lighter drinkers).
The younger generation (18-29) is the most passionate and engaged age group when it comes to Super Bowl ads. 78% (vs. 55% avg.) will pay attention to who is advertising before the game. 43% are likely to vote for their favorite ad (vs. 22% avg.) and 44% are likely to buy something while watching the game (vs. 21% avg.). After the game, 70% will re-watch their favorite ads (vs. 50% avg) and 68% will share ads on Facebook (vs. 40% avg).
Though only 4% of Americans report they actually watched the Super Bowl via online streaming the first time the service was offered last year, this year 26% of Americans reported they would be open to watching the Super Bowl online vs. on a TV, with almost 60% of millennials open to online streaming.
More than a third of millennials also reported they are considering dropping their cable subscription because of access to shows via Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and YouTube (vs. 21% avg.). Overall, 43% of respondents use alternatives to cable to watch television and movies. 18-29 year-olds are leading this digital movement, with 62% saying that cable is not their primary source of entertainment.
For the first year, ads tied with best plays when it comes to what Super Bowl watchers are most likely to discuss the day after the game. Americans also reported they are more likely to “like” a brand (29%) on Facebook that advertises during the Super Bowl than they are to “like” a team (26%).
Sorry. We can’t help it. While we like this Deutsch LA-created Volkswagen Super Bowl teaser ad which gathers together a cavalcade YouTube freak outs for a come-to-Jesus-like moment with reggae musician Jimmy Cliff, we can’t help but conjure visions of Coke’s 1971 classic “I’d like to Buy the World A Coke” commercial. Oh wait. It was intentional. My bad.
The teaser, which leads off with clips of the Eharmony cat-hugging woman; the sad Packers fan; “Boogie,” the guy who destroys his Xbox because someone called him fat; the baseball coach who throws a tantrum at an umpire; the screaming politician; and the sports mascots who fight each other, ends with them all coming together in a field as Cliff sings a rendition of “C’mon Get Happy? from the Partridge Family.
And so it would seem all one now needs to be happy is a new VW. Great but what is the ad saying here? The cost of happiness just rose from, say, $1.50 to, say, $22,000? That’s pretty steep. While we own a VW and don’t drink Coke, we still think we’d opt for the cheaper solution. Then again, we already own a VW, hence, we’re already happy and don’t need a Coke. Sorry, Coke.
Last year, about a third of Super Bowl advertisers released their commercials prior to the game. Will we see the same this year? Already Coke and Audi have released teasers along with Toyota. And now GoDaddy is out with on of its two commercials.
The commercial, typical Super Bowl silliness, touts the brand’s .CO domain and urges anyone with a “big” idea” to hurry up and register a domain name before someone else beats them to it. That way, you can drink champagne on your private jet piloted by Danica Patrick.
GoDaddy’s second commercial will feature new GoDaddy Girl Bar Rafaeli.
Earlier this month we reported Toyota had signed a deal with Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco to appear in the brand’s Super Bowl commercial. The commercial itself will feature a photo chosen from an Instagram photo competition held between January 4 and January 12.
This week, Toyota released a teaser that has 27-year-old Cuoco sashaying down the street sprinkling purple fairy dust and granting people their wishes.
Cuoco can also be seen playing William Shatner’s daughter in a recent Priceline commercial
Back in November we reported Kate Upton would play the role of “object of sesire” in a Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl commercial. Well, the teaser is out and it’s the lamest piece of trash we have seen in, perhaps, forever.
In the ad, Upton, dressed extremely conservatively, is the furthest thing from an object of desire. In fact, she’s hardly the focal point of the teaser.
The ad kicks off with a title card that reads, “Kate Upton Washes the New Mercedes CLA in Slow Motion.” That statement is a flat out lie. Kate Upton doesn’t come even close to washing the car in slow motion. What we do get to see is some slow mo love of the vehicle along with a few shots of three dumfounded guys (fully dressed, no less) washing the Mercedes while staring at Upton…who doesn’t even look all that hot in this ad.
Now, we get that this isn’t a Carl’s Jr. ad and we get that Mercedes is unlikely to run an ad with a bikini-clad Upton slathering herself all over the hood of the Mercedes like Paris Hilton did with a Bentley in a 2005 Carl’s Jr. ad. But for God’s sake, could the ad’s creators, Merkley + Partners, have been any more misleading?
And given that all Upton has done and what she stands for, was she really an intelligent choice as spokesperson for the brand? Whomever made this call certainly wasn’t thinking of the brand’s heritage.
Big Bang Theory hottie Kaley Cuoco will appear in a Saatchi LA-created Super Bowl commercial for Toyota next month. As a run up to the ad, consumers will be offered the chance to have their picture appear in the ad as part of the brand’s Get in the Big Game promotion.
From January 4 through January 12, people can submit their photos to Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #wishgranted (hmm, that sounds dangerous) for a chance to appear in the February 3rd ad. One photo will be chosen.
Of the promotion, Toyota VP Jack Hollis said, “Not only are we pumped to have Kaley as part of our Super Bowl commercial, but we’re also excited to give fans a chance to have their photo appear in a nationally televised Toyota spot during one of the biggest sporting events of the year. We look forward to sharing our commercial with the millions of viewers who tune in to watch the ultimate football showdown.”
Details on the ad’s creative approach will follow in the coming weeks but Cuoco did say, “When I saw the concept for the commercial, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I’ve had a great time filming and am excited to see the finished product.”
Go Daddy is adding supermodel Bar Refaeli to its stable of adver-girls. Refaeli will appear, along with Danica Patrick, in one of two Super Bowl commercials to be aired this year. Go Daddy has advertised in the Super Bowl for eight years.
The ad, called Perfect Match, is being shot in LA today by Deutsch New York. Deutsch was hired earlier this year as part of the brand’s shift away from a straight sex-sells approach to one that includes aspects of the brand’s actual services. Two recent ads highlight the substance behind and the sexiness in front the brand.
Of her partnerships with Go Daddy, Refaeli said, “The opportunity to be in a Super Bowl commercial is thrilling and to partner with Go Daddy is something I just couldn’t resist. I feel like the ‘Perfect Match’ commercial is a chance to be in an iconic Super Bowl spot that not only leaves people talking, but shows everyone what Go Daddy is really about.”
We liked the recent work from Deutsch and we imagine (hope) Deutsch will continue in the same vein.
The always controversial USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter, which has been tracking Super Bowl ads since 1989, is changing things up again. After a brief partnership with Facebook, which will end this year, the Ad meter will drop its live panels and shift the poll completely online.
USA Today will invite consumers across America to sign up to vote on a microsite. The number of participants will not be limited, a far cry from the 300 or so number of panelists in just two physical locations upon which the poll has traditionally based its results.
Additionally, the poll will now include commercials aired during half-time as well as track pre-game sentiment and commentary on ads release prior to the game.
Of the Ad Meter’s changes, USA Today President and Publisher said, “Everyone accuses the ad industry of doing beautiful ads for themselves and not selling widgets. This is something in between. It won’t tell you whether it will sell new widgets which you’ll get soon enough but it doesn’t tell you what the industry thinks, which might reflect how hard it was to do and things like that. This represents the view of consumers, who don’t care what went into pulling it off. So you can really see if it accomplished at least part of the goal, which is to engage potential customers.”
Academy of Art University alum and former Alma Ad Associate Creative DIrector Fran Guijarro has entered this year’s Doritos Crash the Super Bowl competition with a response to last year’s winner, Man’s Best Friend. Guijarro’s entry, Fluffy’s Revenge, tells the story of Fluffy who met an untimely demise in last year’s commercial at the hands of the resident dog.
Last year, the husband is bribed by the dog with Doritos to cover the incident from his wife. This year, the tables are turned and the wife becomes mum to Fluffy’s Revenge. Interesting stuff.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
