Just when we were ready to call this year’s crop of ads “controversy free,” we get word that SalesGenie.com was forced to pull its second-to-last place finishing “Pandas” spot because of its use of stereotypical Asian accents. It’s worth noting that SalesGenie.com founder Vin Gupta wrote the ads himself. Remember class, when paying $2.7 million for 30-seconds of airtime, you might want to consider hiring an advertising agency.
As expected, this year’s game pulled in the highest ratings in Super Bowl history. According to Fox, an average of 97.5 million people tuned in (previous record was 94.1 million in 1996).
Lucky for them, the football game was riveting (though more scoring in the first half would have been nice), because the commercials were just sort of so-so. There were a few great ones (Talking Stain, Clydesdale, Parade Balloons), a couple good ones (Pigeons, Talking Baby, Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon), but the rest were merely average. Just being honest.
The New York Daily News has an online compendium of some of the most memorable Super Bowl ads of all time (including video). The line-up includes the 1999 Doritos spot that made Ali Landry a star (for a little while at least), the Michael Jordan/Larry Bird “Nothin’ but net” shootout from 1993 and, of course, Apple’s epic jaw-dropper from 1984.
The New York Times is calling this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads “gentle and sweet.” Of course, that’s in contrast to past years which saw men throwing rocks at each other’s heads, homophobic mechanics (Snickers, anyone?) and suicidal GM robots.
But fear not, gentle and sweet doesn’t mean an ad can’t be funny. From what we’ve seen of Anheuser-Busch’s line-up and many others, there will be plenty of laughs to go around.
According to Bloomberg.com, Fox has sold the last remaining Super Bowl spot with four days left before the big game (a new record). No word yet on who ponied up the cash . It was reported by the New York Post to have sold for MORE than the average $2.7 million asking price.
It might be Toshiba, who recently joined the Super Bowl ad line-up with a spot for its high-def DVD player. Advertising Age says the spot will feature footage from Bourne Ultimatum, Transformers and Shrek 3.
By now it’s common knowledge that Hershey’s will be using Carmen Electra in an upcoming Super Bowl ad. Turns out the spot won’t be for Hershey’s chocolate, but instead for the brand’s Ice Breakers mints (it makes perfect sense now!). Below is a tease Hershey’s released on YouTube just a few days ago. Is it just me or does Carmen look, ummm, expecting.
That was the quote from SalesGenie.com founder Vin Gupta in a recent Advertising Age report on the website’s plans to create its own Super Bowl ads and embrace the campy look-and-feel that won them a last place showing in last year’s SpotBowl.
As reported previously on the SpotBlog, the White House Office of Drug Control Policy will be buying a 30-second ad in the Super Bowl. We’ve just learned that the spot will alert parents to the dangers of prescription drug abuse by teens. We’ve also learned that the spot is available in its entirety online. Check it out here.
I spoke with a representative from Anheuser-Busch yesterday about the company’s upcoming Super Bowl plans. Just trying to get all the information I can because it’s not always easy to figure out what Bud is going to do in the big game (they create as many as 20 spots for the game each year and test them on focus groups to determine their strongest starting line-up).
The latest on Bud’s ads is that they’ll be airing seven commercials — one will be a 60-second spot for Budweiser and the other six will be for Bud Light (a.k.a. the “funnier” brand). They’ve also posted some teaser clips for five of the spots on YouTube. Here’s a glimpse of the action:
SPOT #1 - “Breath Fire”
SPOT #2 - “X-Ray Vision”
SPOT #3 - “Caveman Wheel”
SPOT #4 - “Language of Love” (starring Carlos Mencia)
SPOT #5 - “Clydesdale Training”
The Clydesdale spot will be a 60-second ad and apparently tested better than ever in Anheuser-Busch’s focus group testing. According to our Budweiser friend, the company expects it to make the strongest run for the SPOTBOWL title.
Our contact also filled us in on BudBowl.com (no not the football-playing beer bottles, unfortunately). Visitors to the site can enter their info which allows them to rate each of Bud’s Super Bowl commercials via cell phone and view secret commercials. Check it out. At the very least, all that time you’ll be spending on your cell phone during the game will make all your friends think you’re way more popular than you really are.
Out of nowhere, Anheuser-Busch has released some of the details about the spots it will be airing in this year’s Super Bowl and we gotta admit, we like what we’re hearing (and seeing).
First the bad news. Early reports that Will Ferrell would be making a cameo in one Bud spot (as his “Semi-Pro” movie character) don’t seem to be panning out. While it may have been true that he was “in talks” to star in a spot, we haven’t heard anything about it since early December, so we might have to give up on that pipe dream. Regardless, here’s what we DO KNOW about this year’s A-B crop:
Anheuser-Busch will be airing seven commercials (down from the reported and usual 10), one of which will be a 60-second spot featuring one of the beer maker’s signature Clydesdale horses being coached back into the starting line-up by a dalmation after being cut from the herd. Apparently it’ll feature a Rocky-esque training montage, complete with Rocky “Eye of the Tiger” theme music. (Screenshot above)
Six spots will feature Bud Light (the “funnier” of the A-B brands), including:
In another Bud Light spot, cavemen try to invent the wheel so they can bring beer to a party (screenshot at right). Cavemen are always good for a laugh. Remember the SpotBowl 2006 winner and the ongoing Geico campaign?