Super Bowl Funnies and Flops

MY TOP FIVE

1. Fed-Ex
2. Bud Light: Revolving Fridge
3. Budweiser: Stadium Cards
4. Toyota Tacoma
5. Motorola Pebl

MY BOTTOM FIVE

1. Outback
2. Diet Pepsi (both of ’em)
3. Blockbuster
4. Emerald Nuts
5. Pizza Hut Cheesy Bites

Read on for the rest of my semi-not-really-expert opinion…

Well, the Big Game is over and it’s time to look at the results – exactly what ads worked and didn’t (in my uneducated, beer-swilling opinion, that is). Here are my views:

• Full Throttle – 7: Amusing, if simplistic. But “Get Your Man Out”? Brokeback Power Drink, anyone?
• McDonald’s Hamster – 5: Decent idea, but less than great implementation.
• Click! – 4: Looks like a dumb movie, and the trailer wasn’t very good.
• Tostitos – 6: Amusing but too basic.
• Pizza Hut Cheesy Bites – 3: Jessica Simpson not withstanding, this was dumb.
• ATT/SBC – 4: Boring – their non-Super Bowl commercial was better.
• Disney World – 8: Good concept and well done.
• Blockbuster – 2: You spent how much for this commercial to be aired?
• Bud Light: Hidden Bottles in Office – 8: Funny stuff for their first commercial.
• Burger King Whopperettes – 6: Truly bizarre but just enough to be interesting, particularly the pile-on.
• Sierra Mist – 7: I’m not a big Kathy Griffin fan, but this was amusing.
• Bud Light: Revolving Fridge – 9: Best one so far at this point, typical of AB’s historically great SB ads.
• 16 Blocks – 3: Didn’t make me want to see this in the least.
• Toyota Camry – 5: Cute but in the end ‘meh’.
• Fed-Ex – 10: Dinosaurs, humor, cave men – and the finale was great.
• Bud Light: Bears – 8: Just silly, but amusing.
• V for Vendetta – 5: Movie could be okay, but this trailer didn’t sell it.
• Diet Pepsi: P. Diddy – 2: dumb, Dumb, DUMB.
• Aleve Vulcan – 6: Not great, but not bad for a product like this.
• Ameriquest: Doctors – 7: Funny, but not in the top 10.
• Bud Light: Rooftops – 7: Not bad, but not their best of the day.
• Diet Pepsi: Jackie Chan – 2: Somehow, they ALMOST topped the P. Diddy one.
• Cars – 5: Not bad, but how many kids are really watching this?
• RAV 4 – 6: Cool, but not that cool.
• Pontiac G6 – 4: Ho hum, another car ad that I barely remember.
• Budweiser: Horse Football – 9: It made me laugh – great animations.
• Mobile ESPN – 8: Great concept and execution.
• Careerbuilder: Business Meeting – 8: I liked it – but then again, I like monkeys in business suits. And Quiet Riot. Sue me.
• Escalade – 5: Like most modelling events – ho-hum and strange.
• MI:3 – 6: Philip Seymour Hoffman actually makes this interesting.
• Dove – 6: Hard to pan this one, but I’m not the demographic.
• Shaggy Dog – 4: Typically dumb Disney movie trailer.
• Ford Escape Hybrid – 7: I liked the Kermit angle.
• Michelob Ultra Amber – 8: Could have been better without the ending.
• GoDaddy.com – 4: Dumb – a waste of money.
• Poseidon – 5: Another remake. Yawn.
• Gilette Fusion – 6: Animation was decent, and I’m curious about whether it works; ergo, it worked.
• Overstock.com – 5: Okay, but too much of an “Oxygen Network” feel.
• Disney – 4: Yippee! NOT.
• Sprint – 7: Laughable violence.
• NFL – 8: Excellent concept and presentation.
• Desperate Housewives – 0: I was tired of this the first time it aired; by now I’m ready to change the channel.
• T. H. Properties – 4: Dumb, dumb, dumb.
• Ameriquest: Plane – 6: Amusing, if little else.
• MotoPebl – 9: Very cool.
• Sharpie Retractable – 5: ehh….
• Budweiser: Young Horse – 9: Inspirational – too bad it was still for such a bad beer.
• Nationwide – 6: I cracked a smile, but it was a bit odd.
• NFL Mobile – 7: The old guy’s delivery was classic – but another dig at the Cowboys?
• Hummer H3 – 8: Funny, but didn’t they run this before?
• PS Cleaner – 7: Amusing, but I can’t believe they spent that money on this.
• Careerbuilder: Jackass – 8: I thought this was the same old – and then they stepped it up a notch.
• Taco Bell: Crunch Wrap – 4: Um, yeah. Not doing it for me.
• Slimfast – 3: I disliked this commercial before the SB. And just as much during it.
• World’s Fastest Indian – 7: Good music and interesting trailer. But I have no clue what it’s about.
• Toyota Tacoma – 10: Brilliant.
• Sprint: Changeable rings – 8: Not great until the Benny Hill part.
• Acura MDX – 7: Great animation, but not that effective.
• Degree Stunt Men – 6: Good, but we’ve seen it before.
• Emerald Nuts – 3: I’m not sure why they would advertise in the SB, especially with something this stupid.
• Fidelity Investments – 8: Paul McCartney commercial is good, even if we’ve seen it before.
• Budweiser Stadium Cards – 10:Fantastic idea and excellently done.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 2 – 8: Best movie trailer of the day.
• MasterCard: MacGyver – 9: I’m glad they finally got around to this one.
• ESPN Mobile: Sitting – 7: Shorter verision not as interesting.
• Honda Ridgeline – 6: Interesting animation, and I liked Yosemite Sam, but other than that?
• Budwieser: Cheers – 7: Well done.
• World Baseball Classic – 8: Well done graphically and the tone was compelling, too.
• Running Scared – 4 – Not sure what this movie is about – and have no desire to see based on this trailer.
• Outback – 1 Really, really dumb.
• Westin – 4 Nice that they’re non-smoking, but not a big selling commercial.

So, that’s my take, as the average consumer.