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Best and worst of Super Bowl 46 commercials

Super fact from our friends at Eli LIlly: You could bring a revolutionary new drug to market for the price of 371 Super Bowl ads. (Presumably you could cure yellow toenails, too)

Not quite 371 ads tonight, but there definitely seemed to be more advertising than atheletics in this game. Here's the run down:

The best:

Honda
Come on, what 80s survivor did not love every moment of this Ferris Bueller knock off?? And so much the better that the grown-up Broderick starred. (Extra delight for that giant panda bear at the end). I'm pretty sure I heard the BF giggle at this one...

Hyundai
I'm a big fan of Hyundai's entire sponsorship of this game. From the kick off plugs that thanked the 45,000 employees in the U.S. (that's right- that funny sounding company is peopled by Americans) to this high-energy spot. I know, I know, that theme song, right? But if there's one night you can guarantee the world is ready for a little Rocky it's tonight. I'm pretty sure you could actually get away with Queen in one of these pricey pods.

Best Buy
In the months after we lost Steve Jobs, America could use a little innovation inspiration. From the range of addictive experiences these guys have created to the fun interaction with the flight attendants, this spot was as watchable as an eposide of Modern Family. (One note, though, women: we really have to start inventing more stuff. It's ridiculous how many middle-aged white dudes were in that ad)

Chrysler
Lump-in-the-throat worthy storytelling from one of the greatest chroniclers of the human experience making movies today: Clint Eastwood. Damn, that was good. And, extra props for the strategic buy (message matches placement).

Hear the roar of this engine. Our second half is about to begin ...

Toyota
Massages, ice cream, baby time machines ... who wouldn't love this reinvented world?? I'm not sure it makes me want a Camry, but it did make me laugh out loud.

Budweiser
This spot would have won #1 ranking, but as I post this, the video is still marked as "private" on both Bud's site and YouTube. Still, a sound track that features Flo Rida's #3-peaking single "Good Feeling" and The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" all whilst spanning time and culture throughout its history ... well, it deserves a mention (if not a functioning video link)

The worst:

Kia
You know when you see an ad and immediately think you know everything there is to know about the ad team that created it? Yeah, that's this one ...

 

Old Navy
Sometimes imitation is the funniest kind of advertising. Other times ... well, it's like those dull, tone-deaf years of SNL. Just sad and kind of embarrasing for everyone. This creepy cowboys looks like he stained his Dockers and he's way more sad than funny.

Pepsi
This is really just a vote for the worst mashup of the night: Aretha Franklin's signature number (sung by that X Factor chic) + the set from a horrible night at Medieval Times + some seemingly random nods to Occupy = Ad Fail (or populism as schritzophrenic as John Edward's)

I'm guessing some of you are objecting to this review on footwear alone ... if there's one girl who should respect Elton John in those heels, it's this one. But, still ... great shoes can't solve everything.

Audi
Vampires. Probably enough said right there. That's a lot of money to be spending on a declining pop culture artifact ... but then again, it is Audi. So, perhaps cleverly on brand after all.

Doritos:
Putting an obnoxious, taunting preteen on television is as discordant, annoying and generally inhumane as using police sirens in radio ads or beep-beep-beeping alarms clocks, well, anywhere.

Special mentions and best-of awards:

Here's a little love for a few of the niche favorites:

Best mashup: Chevy + Twinkies + Barry Manilow + Biblical Frogs. That's some truck commercial for Silverado.

Best mashup (runner up): Great dog + Biggest-Loser-style makeover story + Star Wars + VW. I'm thinking George Lucas might have just gone ahead and bought VW at some point.

Most improved: Can you believe how fantastic the Coke bears look these days? I think they were line drawings when they first scooted on screen.

Best channeling of the middle school experience: Ew, seriously, gross. But this Geico spot was pretty cool.

Sexiest: Sorry guys, not that Victoria Secret model come Teleflora sleeze. I'm blushing for Beckham. Nicely done, H&M

Best pet: Certainly the toughest category. This used to be the night of those Budweiser ponies, but this year it's all man's best friend(s). My fave? The moonwalking french bull dog pimping Sketchers.

  

Bizarre things I don't understand and won't even type about any more:

• GoDaddy spots
• eTrade talking babies

Another reason to fear Fiat will never really come back: Yeah, just watch it.

The BF's favorite (he did put up with my typing all through the second half): That guy loves a single Seinfeld reference. Imagine how happy he was with, like, seventeen + a Soup Nazi cameo and squirrel wings?? Yeah, easy win with this one ... (P.S. strong preference for the non-alien version)

 

Why does our competitors' stuff look so flat?

That was the fabulous question I was asked in a recent pitch. One focused on B2B - or, really, business to professional advertising. We gave a smart, opportunity-focused answer. But, the real answer is likely this:

Companies and creatives skimp on B2B advertising. They treat it less like communication and more like the volleying of spreadsheets back and forth. As if the company itself could decide (Two skyscrapers walk into a room...)

So there is a real opportunity to break through. To treat your business customer like a person she is. To not pretend that she turns into a purely logical automaton when she dons her security badge and freshly-dry cleaned shirt. To use the same smart, emotive consumer ethic you'll market to her with when she's sitting on the couch watching American Idol later that same day. To care about connecting with her.

Dear Lays, Pushup bra jokes...

Are so Funny Bone circa 2005.

Ask any marketer: Talking to women in an authentic way isn't easy.

First up: there are a lot of us. More than half the population. That's a whopper of a demo to pigeon into a clever campaign.

But, many have tried. Making everything pink. Nodding at how much men suck. Empathizing over the approaching horror of bikini season.

Most of the time, it just misses. More noise in a crowded landscape. But sometimes, it's just off putting. Especially when it comes from brands that should know better.

Think: the Motrin Moms debacle earlier this year.

And, now, think Lays.

Their new Baked line packaging is being supported with a huge ad and online investment in connecting with women. They've bought full pods on cable; produced a series of webisodes; bought into the most expensive magazines.

All for a chance to make menopause-makes-me-hot jokes and pushup-bras-are-my-favorite technology references:

It's mostly just disappointing. The thought that the agency that developed this - and the client that approved it - believes that women are really united over our shared love of yoga and disgust for our younger, hotter counterparts is ... gross.

The next time you get a brief targeting women, I suggest:

• Asking which women? Do you really need to resonate with half the population?
• Searching for a unique, and near universal insight. They're called cliches for a reason.
• Looking for connection around our "best selves"; not our guilty pleasures
• Excising pink from the pallet

Lipstick Jungle and Maybelline: When ad partnerships undermine editorial

This year’s choice for hot mid-season television formula is Sex in the City gets married and goes to the office. Combine several high-powered, hottie women execs with contentious, creative work environments and stressed out home lives and voila(!), advertisers line up like in the ultra-competitive days of the 1994 renaissance of sexy, smart doctor dramas. 

Tomorrow night will mark the third episode of one of the front runners of the mini powerful-woman genre: Lipstick Jungle.  And, at this point, I’m wondering if the ad partnership won’t be the downfall of the series.

I should preface with this: All television shows based on professions boldly simplify, cast unusually sexy characters (think of the “CSI”s with fully made up faces and low cut shirts scouring trash truck crime scenes or George Clooney still delightfully coiffed after a gory 48 shift) and are generally unrecognizable to people in the actual field.

BUT, still…

Lipstick Jungle’s marriage to Makeup Artist Chuck Hezekiah of Maybelline is a little reductive even for Prime Time. At each commercial break, he pops up with advice on how to get ‘the look’ of the exec featured in the last segment.

I’m not suggesting that the Ad Council should break in with a series on how to raise our young women, but,  when we take a relatively accepted convention (TV sexing up real-life humans) and make it driver of the story, well, it gets a little ugly. Afterall, they weren't exactly paying for ER with hair gel sponsors or CSI with tube top designers.

With such a prominent and potentially-controversial sponsorship, it will be interesting to see what part Maybelline plays in the success or failure of Lipstick Jungle.

Target Corporate Responsibility Ads: A miss?

It is possible that the next World War will not be fought by proud countries, but rather be a heroic battle for global dominance between the two true gladiators of our time: Target and Google.

Like much of the rest of corporate America, Target is on a 'good citizen' kick lately. Racking up comp points with talk of philanthropic programs and charitable causes.

Jump to: These online ads (above) driving traffic to their 'do good' page.

Cute design, right? But quite misleading and a good cautionary tale for other Web advertisers.

Three AVOIDABLE sins of banner advertising:

1. Misleading call to click: We're a nation of multimedia. We toggle sound and video on and off. We've been trained by advertisers to believe 'click to watch' means just that - a video will begin playing in the window. And, we appreciate that functionality - because it gives us the choice rather than overwhelming us with noise and causing us to smack the mute button on our laptops.
   
   But, this target ad is actually a flat banner. Click to watch takes us to target.com. The resulting community page features a few rollovers and a lot of reading. None of the promise of the call-to-action is fulfilled.


2. Missed opportunity for interaction: The graphic is a door. The words are open the door. The strategy is to evolve consumers overall categorization of the Target brand. Come on, show us something. Let's slide open the door to change. Let's rollover to interact. Let's re-purpose that experience on the Web site in a much more in-content way.
   
   Here it is: Meet Pointroll. Meet Eyewonder. Do better.
• Or, a possible alternate to #2: Not optimizing message to the medium. Once an ad is approved, it's all too common to simply route it universally. If 80% of your media buy accepts the multimedia ad designed, the other 20% just gets a flat JPG of the same creative.


3. Fully branded page, not fully integrated page: Target definitely owns share of voice on this page. They have covered it with banners. But, are they saying anything with that megaphone? And are the impressions building on one another to say something about the brand? We've all seen the darn-near-perfect Apple ads. And, surely there are learnings there that can be applied cost effectively.

 

Marketing Ourselves

The City of Los Angeles has a 100-person department dedicated solely to dealing with the remains of people who die alone. Investigators who dig through over-stuffed dressers, side tables full of prescription bottles, stacks of junk mail ... all to try to find someone who might care that you are no longer ... well, home alone.

Which brings me to: Marketing Yourself for Marriage.

First the self help books. You too can find a man.

Then interview shows got in the game. Most recently, it was Stacy London making-over a guest's online dating profile. Why did you show yourself riding a horse? Do you really want to just share laughs or do you want to find a husband?

But, dammit, this month's issue of Chief Marketer may take it a step too far ... Chain Letters for Lovers.

Clients of  “Find a Husband After 35 Using What I Learned at Harvard Business School" author Rachel Greenwald send pitch letters to friends and family asking them to refer a 'blind date.'

In the example shared, a 50 year-old woman sent out 100 cards around Arbor Day, a holiday not traditionally associated with greeting cards. Each letter offered to plant a tree in Israel in the name of anyone who sent her a potential blind date.

Why is Chief Marketer covering this? The woman in question garnered a 12% response rate - there's never been a direct mail metric that enviable!

If fellow feminists are already choking on this, um, advice, I leave you with this last blow: Greenwald advocates that women set aside 10% of their annual salaries to market themselves to potential husbands.

Not to get out of character here, but: holy crap.

Read the full article

A Challenge to Lowe's

As an ad girl at a retail shop I get my fill of holiday cheer by oh-right-about October 1. By then, the hoopla has been in full swing since balmy July when reindeer were being sprayed down on a set that tested the limits of modern air conditioning.

Spring forward to the week before Halloween. Retailers finally get to debut their holiday TV spots to a consumer populace that's not ready for them and an ad community that's already over them.

The early spots look great this year with one glaring exception ...

Lowe's is recycling their "I'm looking for..." spots. The cute idea where a harried shopper hits the store unable to remember the name of the holiday home adornment she's hunting and launches into a charades-style pantomime which the savvy sales girl immediately guesses as a giant inflatable with life-size santa and reindeer.

Yeah, you've seen it.

Clever idea.  Slightly annoying talent. Highly over-exposed spot here in year 2.

First up, let me say, I like the strategy. They're setting themselves in direct opposition to every other big box - from the Depot to Target. It's story about service and knowledgeable sales staff. It is targeted at a busy, high income, high expectation female customer. I love that.

But, America has seen it. And with talent that grating, there's a good chance they'll miss the highlighted product as they lunge for the fast forward button.

Lowe's is a fantastic brand. With great agency partners. But, for some reason, this year, they're leaning on expired creative. So, here's my challenge:

I'll talk my agency bosses into slashing our fee in half if you give us a shot at reinventing the spots. There's still time for a holiday miracle ... call me!

One other note, I don't think that all spots necessarily expire after one season. A great example is the super iconic Nissan Heisman spot ... which I believe has been running for as many as three years:

Columbus, OH Ad agency news

A little local flavor today, but the first one will be great for all readers -

TenUnited's controversial CEO Rick Milenthal reached an agreement to sell the agency to a consortium led by direct marketer Stan Rapp. Rapp quickly announced the group's new moniker with the announcement:

Engauge

Clients around the loop and around the world are happily misreading it as enGOUGE and retelling the stories of their misspent youthful budgets...

In more strategic news, Ologie and Resource have relaunched and added to their sites respectively. Both are great examples of one of the toughest assignments in the industry: the agency Web site 

Best of Ologie:
Standard navigation for business clients first visiting the sites. You know, the clients we don suits for as if we're really bankers, too, but then send to our quirky, Flash-based, impossible-to-use Web sites to learn more?
Plus, fun bottom navigation that once turned on has all the experience schtuff that compels longer browsing and a little cool factor.

Best of Resource:
This site has survived many iterations and seems to be on a solid upswing.
Again, the logical and explorative nav choices. Plus, mini case studies for our ROI-driven world.
Deep content.
A solid, unified brand experience throughout.

Guinness 'Alive Inside'

Ew.

Some products just really don't need to be broken down to their component parts by representative humans hurling about to a booming score.

Sometimes in the search for massive production value, we forget how great simple really is...

Fetish casting?

"I want to be one less. One less."

A little melody so annoyingly memorable that you'd think it was in a Target spot.

But, I digress. I actually have something much more snarky to say:

This Merck spot has been running since February or so and every time it comes on, I am completely distracted by the casting. How does being HPV-free correlate to having really, really horrible eyebrows? The full range of eyebrow errors is displayed: from huge, untamed caterpillars to over-plucked bald foreheads. I cannot look away. It's like a mangled, burning car on the side of the road.

My guess: Either the casting director has a thing for eyebrows or the agency creative team had this conversation very late on the night before (ok, the morning of) the casting presentation:

Hyper-caffeinated creative director: We're selling a $360 product to girls 9 - 26. Get it? This can't look like an over-produced spot. These all look like models. Where's the authenticity?

Pissed off copywriter: We've talked about this a hundred times. It's still TV - they have to look aspirational. The script will deliver the authenticity.

Guy who knows he has to give the presentation: Maybe we just give them all one thing - one signature that makes them look more accessible. Like ... I don't know... cut off jeans.

Hyper-caffeinated creative director: Yeah, but something more physical. Something that separates them from models. What about eyebrows... big bushy eyebrows.

Guy who knows everyone: Perfect, boss. I know the makeup artist who made Ugly Betty ugly.