The Good
Automakers always have a great showing for the Super Bowl. Dodge easily had one of the best ads of the evening.
This ad is great on so many levels – the least of which is that we get to see a 100-year-old say the word “bitch” on TV. Sounds like my grandparents to me. The message is spot on and through the lens of an authority – a group of people who have certainly “been there and done that”.
https://twitter.com/brianonorio/status/562064352661221376
I felt the DODGE commercial!
— Kenny Smith (@TheJetOnTNT) February 2, 2015
Dodge had a great spot in 2013 with their So God Made A Farmer ad from which shows that you don’t need explosions, innuendo, or comedy to be effective, especially on TV advertising’s biggest night.
Proctor & Gamble’s Like A Girl campaign was quite good. In a male dominated sport, we get a glimpse at how damaging using the phrase like a girl can be. It wasn’t something I had given much thought to until I saw the spot. Again, P&G prove that you don’t have to break the bank on production to create an effective ad. Some child actors and a great script is all it took.
App-based games made a rather successful debut in the world of Super Bowl advertising, none better than the Clash of Clans ad featuring Liam Neeson:
In his surly Taken voice, Neeson pays homage to his most popular cinematic character Bryan Mills. It’s instantly identifiable to those who saw the movie. I wasn’t aware that these app-based games had budgets for Super Bowl primetime spots. Maybe it’s time to add a service or two here at O3.
Then you have Fiat coming right up to the line of appropriate with their Blue Pill spot. I admit. It was the best of the funny ads that we saw last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAcLViTHDOo
Funny? Check. Borderline inappropriate without going too far? Check. Am I going to buy a Fiat? Probably not. Great ad. We’d pull some tweets for this one, but all the good ones are NSFW.
And of course. Budweiser. The King of Beers and Super Bowl Advertising. The Lost Puppy ad was easily one of the best of the night.
The Bad
On the flipside… Well… waking up this morning as a Nationwide insurance agent, you must feel like you have one hell of a hangover… yet you didn’t drink a drop last night. That’s because your ad was pretty universally hated. Here’s Nationwide’s Make Safe Happen spot.
Peyton Manning must have been singing “hum hum hum hum what the hell?” Technically, the ad is sound. It’s well shot and the message is poignant and piercing. But the venue just wasn’t right. People want funny Super Bowl ads. They want neat Super Bowl ads. They certainly don’t want to think about the multitude of ways they can kill their kid. Good ad. Good message. Wrong place.
#Nationwide is on your side. RT @twixhaz: When you realize you're gonna die without water any minute now http://t.co/Nxjps15gIS
— Elon James White (@elonjames) February 2, 2015
“Look how amazing kids can be.” – Microsoft
“Unless they die.” – Nationwide
— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) February 2, 2015
McDonald's: Your payment is to call your mom and tell her you love her.
Nationwide: Your mom is dead.
— Eli Langer 🚀 (@EliLanger) February 2, 2015
No one in the Nationwide advertising meeting put up their hand and went, "Let's sleep on this?"
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) February 2, 2015
And apparently, the Seattle Seahawks’ future offensive coordinator, who would’ve called a run on the final play of the game couldn’t make the call – because he died in the Nationwide Bath Tub:
Welp. pic.twitter.com/PBxAV8t3PZ
— Jared Smith (@jaredwsmith) February 2, 2015
Oh boy did GoDaddy have a rough week. GoDaddy did everything wrong with their lost puppy ad that Budweiser did right. It started when they released one of their ads early which featured a lost Puppy who finds its way home… only to find that it was sold on a website built using GoDaddy. It’s amazing that the marketing department could be so blind to the eventual outcome. After uproar from social media, GoDaddy pulled the ad. But you can still see it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qlTEPjkOlY
But the night didn’t get any better for GoDaddy. Here’s their understudy, Working:
At first glance, this isn’t bad. It’s a message that resonates with anyone who has ever started a business. This online version differs slightly from the TV version which advertised services from $1 / month. We tweeted:
Don't let GoDaddy fool you. What can you expect for $1/month? Thoughtless, templatized & commoditized. Does that describe your business?
— Walk West (@walkwest) February 2, 2015
Think about it. You’re not going to get much for $1 / month and anyone missing the game to work on the business won’t use any of those adjectives to describe their sacrifice.
Wix and Squarespace each had ads for their DIY website builders. There’s definitely a market for these types of services. These products are for brand new businesses or those who are technical enough to navigate the nuance of building a website yourself. Our point of view? Your website is too important to get relegated to a DIY service.
