Super Bowl Branding: Winners and Losers
Super Bowl Branding: Winners and Losers
Entertainment — Fair to great. Game — Great.
Commercials — Some good, others stinko!
What a happening! Super Bowl 44 attracted a huge audience and big dollars from advertisers trying to build their brand. Some succeeded; others didn’t in my humble (well maybe not so humble) opinion.
The entertainment started with Queen Latifah. She looked great but appeared a little unsure of herself and sang a strange arrangement of America the Beautiful. Sorry you can’t see the YouTube video, but it was removed “due to terms of use violation.”
Carrie Underwood, in a smashing white jumpsuit, followed with a fine version of The National Anthem. Her last note was a little weak, but she gave a good performance.
In addition to the great entertainment of the game, the Who provided one of the best halftime shows ever. Song after song to great applause and with unbelievable lighting effects, they did their thing without a hitch. There was one wardrobe malfunction, however. See if you can find it in Part one or Part two. (Answer at end of article.)
But if you are a marketing type, the commercials are always a Super Bowl extravaganza. Will there be another Mean Joe Green equal? Super Bowl 44 didn’t provide one, but there were some good spots.
Here are my top three:
No. 3. In addition to sponsoring the halftime show, Bridgestone ran this fine commercial with an orca, a car, a dock and super driving. They also ran another one, Your tires or your life, which was funny, but a little dark.
No. 2. Who says deadpan and rivals can’t go together? These three rivals pull it off. You just have to laugh. Only four words from Oprah? Wow!
No. 1. The best of the bunch and the funniest ran very early in the broadcast. Snickers made you more than snicker. Betty White is a literal smash. And do you remember the old guy from Barney Miller? (Answer at end of article.)
There were a number of honorable mentions:
- Coke’s Hard Times.
- E*Trade’s Milkaholic — What happened to the “Shankapotimus” kid?
- Hundai’s Sonata — 10 Years from Now with Brett Farve and a hologram older than most of the fans.
- Intel’s hurt-feelings robot, Jeffrey.
- Cars.com’s very interesting Timothy Richman spot.
Unfortunately, all the commercials were not of this caliber. And some were outright distasteful and could damage the brands rather than help them.
Here are the worst three
No. 3. Boost Mobile’s Jim McMahon in a thong. Good music bad shuffle and what’s with Ditka’s mustache?
No. 2 and 2A. Both Go Daddy spots. Cheap service but crass commercials — I don’t want to “See more now.” Here’s one.
And … the worst of the worst ….
No. 3. Careerbuilders.com’s Casual Friday, “Expose yourself with something better.” Watch a different commercial.
And there also were some dishonorable mentions:
- U.S. Census Snapshot of America with too dry humor was probably a waste of taxpayer funds.
- Tim Tebow tackling his mother — Why here?
- Dockers I wear no pants — Great pants, stupid commercial.
Oh, and I do want to mention the only wardrobe malfunction of note: Guitarist Pete Townshend’s shirt out of his pants that showed his belly. Maybe he was auditioning for the Casual Friday Commercial.
Regarding the “old actor,” it’s Abe Vigoda — He’s just a little older than me.
And that’s it until next year. These were my opinions only. If you have others that you think should have made the lists, please let me know.
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