Super Bowl XLV Commercials: A Review

I have never been one to really care much about the Super Bowl game. When your home team is the Lions, lets be honest, it's difficult to build any interest at all in the NFL (sorry, Lions, but it's true). I have, however, always loved the ads that come with the Super Bowl. I am fascinated by the outrageous pricetag on these ads every year (and how some companies can justify this expense with the large audience, even though I'm not sure it's always worth it). But I also love the creativity that this high pricetag inspires, and how water cooler conversation surrounds commercials just about as much as the game itself.

This year, a 30-second spot reportedly runs for about $3 Million, which is back up to 2009 rates after a slight dip in 2010. Last year's ads were disappointing overall, with a few nice standouts (and if you don't remember them, read what I wrote in my review of last year's ads). I was hopeful that this year would raise the bar back where it should be for such a huge audience and a gigantic cost. Sadly, like last year, there were too many forgettable and/or mediocre ads with a few that "weren't bad."

Below are my top five commercials for this year, some honorable mentions, and the duds.


5. NFL: Best Fans Ever
Not only is this a great collection of fan clips from favorite TV shows, but the compilation and flow from one clip to the other is actually really well done.


4. Chrysler: The Motor City
The only reason this didn't take a higher place is that it needed 2 whole minutes to get the message across (and the questionable use of Eminem), whereas other commercials took a fraction of the time (and cost). I'll admit I have a little bias for this one being that I'm from Southeast Michigan and I always have the D's back, and the poor city gets more flack than it deserves. But this is a beautiful commercial that sells the city as much as (or perhaps even more than) the cars, and I hope even those who live elsewhere can appreciate it

3. Coca-Cola: Line in the Sand
This one was a longer spot (60 seconds), but it told a little story, kept it simple, and stayed with the brand image of Coke bringing people together

2. Doritos: Housesitter
I love the Doritos commercials. They usually do several for the Super Bowl, and they are all better than nearly every other commercial played during the game, which says a lot for the standards they set for commercials to hit the mark of their brand, be memorable, and be funny. This one shows a lazy housesitter who uses Doritos to help him out in the last minutes before his friend comes home.

1. Volkswagen: Darth
I mean, come on. This is just cute. Simple, heartwarming, and everyone knows Star Wars and gets how wonderful it is inside the imagination of a child. Love it.

Honorable Mentions:
Doritos: The Best Part--Haha; have I mentioned I love Doritos ads?
Bridgestone: Reply All--Funny, and clever way to feature tires
Teleflora: Faith Hill--A little unexpected, and clever

Duds:
Kia Optima--Crazy special effects, but I didn't get the point. Looks like you're just showing off money.
Go Daddy--I got the whole thing about driving people to your website years ago when you started this stuff. But really, is it still working? And Joan Rivers? Seriously?
eTrade--The babies. I am so over it.
Groupon--The whole "save the money" thing kind of made a mockery of actual charities. Pretty offensive.

I'm still seeing a lot of ads make fun of men, and use slapstick humor. I'll be the first one to admit that I'm sometimes a sucker for those ads because they do make me laugh. But the ones that really make the list for me are the ones that have a human element to it that we can relate to, and add a level of sophistication with a greater message to it. Congratulations to all my picks!