Originally published in The Tennessean – February 4, 2008:
From Amp to Yukon, advertisers lined up on Super Bowl Sunday, putting up $2.7 million for 30 seconds of fame or infamy. Thirteen brave brands bet more than $5 million for sixty seconds of this rarified airtime.
(To watch this year’s Super Bowl ads, visit http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2008admeter.htm.)
Companies with Tennessee ties were well represented. Bridgestone’s two 30-second spots featured critters, Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons. Do we notice a theme? Dell featured a cause marketing tie-in with its AIDS fund-raising effort, Red.
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And Super Bowl staple FedEx told a pigeon tale.
Former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., made his Super Bowl TV commercial debut for Coca-Cola, along with Democratic political consultant James Carville. And Justin Timberlake was back at the Super Bowl hawking Pepsi-Cola. No wardrobe malfunctions appeared this time around.
Now for my winners and losers.
Top dogs on Super Sunday
Budweiser and Bud Lite were again up for the big game. The Dalmatian as a personal trainer was a nice twist in the classic Clydesdale series.
Bud Lite’s humor was on display. I especially enjoyed the wine tasting party and the Carlos Mencia repeat performance as an English as a second language teacher.
Planters also had a big hit. Cashews as perfume had men in a trance.
Memphis-based FedEx used sumo carrier pigeons and the games only 45-second spot to score big points.
Sales Genie’s pre-game spots turned out to be an indication of bad things to come. The two animated spots were by far the worst use of $5 million in the history of television. I hope their product is good because their advertising is not.
Controversy continued to be the theme for GoDaddy.com. The 2008 commercial encouraged viewers to visit their Web site to view the spot FOX network censors rejected. Race car driver Danica Patrick might have taken racy to new heights.
What were they thinking?
The worst use of celebrities award would be a tie between Ice Breakers and Sunsilk. Carmen Electra, Madonna and Shakira’s agents should have looked at the scripts.
For local advertisers, the big winner was Fifth Third Bank with a story of the 42-year-old paperboy. And despite some stiff competition, Nissan of Rivergate gave everyone the chance to make a run to the buffet table.
Compare my opinion to a national consumer panel and watch the commercials at admeter.usatoday.com. USA Today’s Ad Meter has consumer’s top picks and pans plus a 20-year history of the Super Bowl of Advertising.
A great contest kept the audience glued to the game to the end. While the Giants came away the game winner, Amp, the energy drink was also victorious. They bought a lower-cost fourth quarter spot betting the audience would stay tuned. And they did.
David Bohan
BOHAN Advertising | Marketing
www.bohanideas.com
Tags: ads, advertising, BOHAN, bowl, sports, super, superbowl, television, TV
