- Posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Katie Crabb picks the best Super Bowl Ads
By Katie Crabb
Guest Blogger
Editor’s note: You might remember Katie Crabb as a guest blogger here on FYI from last year after she won the Chevy Super Bowl Ad Challenge. She’s back today with a review of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. — Will Stewart, Blog Editor
Katie Crabb here, winner of the 2007 Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge. A year after my own adventures in the ruthless fight for Super Bowl advertising guru-ship and following a great summer internship with Campbell-Ewald, I find myself on the other side of the television, witnessing a whole new set of commercials aspiring for remembrance among some of the best marketing on television. My findings? Super Bowl XLII proved that the most predicted to succeed can fall short, and the unexpected should only be anticipated. And the come-from-behind win of the New York Giants further proved this notion.
The following are my choices for the five MVPs of Super Bowl 2008:
#1 - Using some beloved animated characters to bring a battle for a bottle of soda pop to life, Coca-Cola’s “Balloon Fight” spot in the fourth quarter was endearing and memorable. Great placement. Great ad. Altogether great.
#2 - Everybody loves a company with a sense of humor. The Fed-Ex “Pigeons” ad was clever, unique and entertaining. Let’s face it … with the American consumer, you just can’t go wrong with giant birds attacking a city.
#3 - This Super Bowl had its fair share of celebrity endorsements. From Charles Barkley, to Shaq, to Carmen Electra, these big-named big-shots were able to put their companies on the map. The favorites of these included the singing Roethlisberger, the NFL’s super Salaam and Pitts’ story, Justin Timberlake’s must-have-had-a-stunt-man Pepsi Ad and Will Farrell’s improvisational commentary on Bud Light.
#4 - I may have a few critics on this one, but the element-of-surprise was highly effective for this year’s set of CareerBuilder commercials (“Follow Your Heart” and “Wishing”), creating fun and buzz-worthy spots.
#5 - Planter’s Cashews gave the all-stars a run for their money (and we’re talking a huge chunk of change). The only downfall to the twisted simplicity of “Unibrow” is the unfortunate case of those who will walk into work on Monday morning with a firm hope in the fantastical power of cashew smell.
Though those are my personal picks for top 2008 Super Bowl ads, I do have to commend a few other forerunners in the competition. Honorable mentions include Tide Pen’s “Talking Stain”, Toyota’s “Badgers”, Pepsi Max’s “What is Love?”, The Audi “Godfather” ad, Bridgestone’s“Richard Simmons,” and, of course, Bud Light’s “Flight,” “Thunder”, and “Fire” spots.
Then there are the unfortunate few that have been placed on my “Benchwarmers” list. This includes both salesgenie.com spots, Garmin, Taco Bell, and Hyundai. Leading this category of ads was GoDaddy.com, confirming that unless you’re Victoria ’s Secret, hot women and sex appeal on their basic level don’t work after all.
As for GMC’s Yukon commercial, I have to praise its distinctive voice and character. GM was able to rise above the typical “car commercial” and present a motivating, quality, yet car-focused ad that deserves a solid acknowledgment.
2 Comments
Manny Maldonado
Thanks for your thoughts on the Super Bowl ads. As a huge fan of NFL football and the Super Bowl, I look always look forward to both the game and the ads, particularly our GM ads. Perhaps in reacting to the backlash from the suicidal robot, I felt that GMC’s ad this year was at first confusing, then uninteresting and finally, not terribly convincing. The ad could have mentioned the Yukon Hybrid is the first full size SUV in the US! I don’t feel the ad got through to the 100 million viewers. Just my view, already looking forward to Super Bowl XLIII. Go Redskins!
Tina
Manny, I feel the same way. While the GM Yukon commercial was different, I found it very uninteresting and honestly completely boring. After really loving the commercial last year with the GM robot despite the controversy, I was disappointed that GM didn’t come up with an equally impressive, memorable, heck, even controversial commercial again this year. As an employee of GM, I am always interested in our advertising and this year, the commercial did fall short. We should have used the fabulous intro commercial (from the earnings broadcast last year). This was an amazing tribute to GM products!
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