Graduate Blog / Graduate Life

Super Bowl Edition

Harbaugh

What? You can’t tell either? Told you so….

So as all we Americans know (and as all my international friends at Babson now understand), this past Sunday was “Super Bowl Sunday.”  This post could be about how I’m still reeling about how my beloved Patriots didn’t make it (this didn’t ruin Gronk’s fun, of course), how I can’t believe San Francisco was ONE DOWN and about 5 yards away from winning the game and blew out, how I’m not sure I’d be able to distinguish between the Harbaugh brothers if they weren’t wearing different colors, or about the alleged benefits of Deer Antler spray (or any number of Ray Lewis stories), but I’ll spare you…this time.

Today, my friends, I’d like to talk to you about the one aspect of the Super Bowl that keeps Patriots fans, non-football friends, and sometimes even dogs still attentive:  THE COMMERCIALS.  I used to watch commercials with little understanding of target markets, branding, or any other buzz word one would typically hear at business school, but it’s amazing what the marketing and strategy classes at Babson can do to to give one a more advanced analytical eye while watching a 30 second spot with a $4 million price tag.  So without further adieu, my top 5.

1.  Taco Bell – this had it all for me.  Geriatrics acting like teenagers, a heavy touch of random, a clear message that no matter how old you are, Taco Bell is damn good when you’re drunk, and a spanish rendition of a popculture song.  Well done, my friends….well done.

2.  Volkswagon – Controversy aside, this ad was pretty funny….especially if you’re from Minnesota.

3.  Doritos – Goat humor.  Weird.  Enough said.

4.  Samsung – You had me at Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen unscripted.  Works every time……but seriously guys, how much did this spot cost you?!  Would love to know… (Editor’s note – I’d love for my Samsung battery to last half as long as this commercial did).

5.  Budweiser Clydesdales – Wouldn’t be a Super Bowl without a commercial involving a large horse.  Need to throw one out there which tugged on the heartstrings a little bit (for the ladies out there….of course).

Honorable and/or Dishonorable mentions go to the following:

Go Daddy –  Ad with Bar Rafaeli making out with the “World’s Greatest Extra.”  Based solely upon shock value alone.  I guarantee you 70% viewers still have no idea what Go Daddy does, and in hindsight, it would have been 10x less disgusting if I had muted the television.

Coca Cola – Entertaining enough, but from an “engaging the consumer” perspective, great work by Coke to engage them in not one, but 2 forms of media – traditional (tv spot) as well as digital (want to vote to see who wins? Go to the website!).  Nice work, ad agency…

Bud Light “Lucky Chair” – Not that funny, but not that terrible either.  I’m mainly throwing this one out there because we saw it not only once, but TWICE.  You really spent $8 million on that one spot, Budweiser?  REALLY?

Jeep/Dodge – Same type of commercial, same corporation, (likely) same agency, same message.  Each one was well done, but lasted about 30 seconds too long.

Mio – Solely because listening to Tracy Morgan talk makes me laugh.

Wonderful Pistachios – Seriously?  Pretty sure “Gangnam Style” already jumped the shark, as they say.  This commercial would have been great….6 months ago.

Lastly, this.  You’ve done it again, old friend….

If you’re looking for more information about the Super Bowl commercials and how they fared in the eyes of consumers, feel free to check out this website.  It provides a score for the commercials based upon the number of tweets about the commercial on Twitter during the Super Bowl, according to the “sentiment” of the tweets.  On a side note, apparently analysis of tweets during tv shows is BIG business, judging by Twitter’s acquisition of Boston’s own Bluefin Labs yesterday for an “undisclosed” ($50-100 million) sum.  Congrats Bluefin!

Anyone else have any Super Bowl commercials they enjoyed??  Feel free to let me know!