The person who buys and places BMW’s regional ads should win a medal for tracking down all the Audi billboards and quickly getting up this BMW ad in response. As usual it shows that everyone is playing catchup to BMW.
More examples of the media buy can be found here.
So Super Bowl XLIII has come and gone. Congratulations Steelers on winning. As much as I enjoyed the game, let’s be honest, I was watching it for the ads. I tried something new this year. I actually didn’t want the game in real time. Instead I opted to TIVO the game, but watch and read the stream of tweets from the people I follow on Twitter. The experience was amazing. By the time the game was over and I started watching the game on delay I could nearly contain my excitement.
I’m not going to dissect every commercial. People like Steve Hall at Adrants do a much better job than I ever could at doing that. You can see every one of the commercials here,here or here. I though NBC did a great job of continually reminding viewers they could see the ads and vote on them at Hulu.
A few notes I want to make before I get into the ads:
With that out of the way, let’s cover some of the ads:
Teleflora
This was the ad that made me rewind and watch it again about 6 times. To call the copywriting edgy would be an understatement. Just watch and enjoy.
Hyundai
Wow, I’m impressed. This brand has come a long way. When the Hyundai Genesis first came on the scene I took some notice. I even considered it as a new car, but I never test drove it. After seeing the ads for the Genesis Coupe I’m ready to test drive. That’s an ad that worked. There presence throughout the game was great. Hyundai ran a few different ads, with my favorite one being this one:
Go Daddy
Of all the advertisers they had the best connection to web. Just watch how long they hold the final frame. They give you more than enough time to read the URL and place it into memory. The call to action is fantastic and fits perfectly into their brand identity.
Bridgestone
This is probably my favorite ad of the entire Super Bowl. I have Bridgestone tires and love the brand. In full disclosure I also have several Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters at my desk. So it’s possible I’m biased. However, I just happen to think Bridgestone does a great job of delivering the product benefit (eg stopping power) in a manner that sticks out and is memorable.
E*Trade
While the ads themselves were ok, what really caught my eye is how well E*Trade integrated the web. For starters the main message on their home page was a call to action to view their Super Bowl ads. Thank you for not making me hunt the web to find it. They also launched a Facebook Fan Page for the E*Trade Baby just before the Super Bowl. On the page you could watch the baby ads in HD quality. Very cool.
Coke
The Avatar commercial was funny especially when you consider how many people have them on their plethora of social networking and community sites; like Twitter. I checked out 2nd Life because it seemed like such a logical tie in for the ad, but alas nothing there. Kinda bummed me out.
Doritos
Doritos had a few ads in the Super Bowl. The first one that ran was very Bud Light feeling. The toilet humor just didn’t seem true to the Doritos brand.
On the other hand, the 2nd spot called the Power of Crunch was very cool and very Doritos.
Bud Light
Yes, the ad is very Bud Light, but I just feel like it’s in poor taste given the current economic climate. Something about throwing a guy out the window for offering up a way to cut costs just seems wrong.
Audi
I’m split. This commercial is much better than last year’s Godfather rip off. I love the integration of Jason Statham. He’s a perfectly casted fit for the ad. But, just like last year it takes too long for the payoff. Also, there was NO URL insertion of call to action. Just strange.
Pepsi
Sigh. Where to start. Well, the first thing to say is, Pepsi, please stop glomming on to Obama. From the logo to the ad campaign for Refresh Everything has been Obama-centric. This ad could have been awesome. But, the payoff takes too long. It’s not till you get to the final few seconds that you realize it’s a Pepsi commercial. That’s a lot of money to spend for such little branding. Maybe they thought the inclusion of Will I. Am (the huge Obama supporter) was helping build the brand by conjuring up memories of Obama’s campaign. I love the remix of the Dylan song and wish they made it available for purchase/download.
The Brand Formally Known As Gatorade
What are they doing with this brand? You are killing years and years of brand awareness and equity. Seriously, you are calling the brand “G.” I’m not making this up. The change is so dramatic they are running Super Bowl ads that help explain what “G” is. I’ve watched the ads and I still don’t know “G” is.
Denny’s
Question: What happens when a poor creative concept meets a great message? Answer: You get a mediocre ad. For a good portion of this ad I thought it was for Reddi-Wip. The message though is awesome. They are giving EVERYONE a free Grand Slam. That’s gonna drive a lot of foot traffic to the store. If the breakfast experience delivers it’s a huge win. If it underwhelms this ad was like throwing gas on a fire.
I’ve worked on car brands in the past. The build your own tool/section was always a heavily debated area of the site. Sure it needs to be functional, but it also needs to be sexy and sell you on the car. With the number of people using iPhones and other mobile devices you’d think car companies would start investing in their mobile presence. Audi has done a great job of reaching out to mobile users. Recently they launched two very cool, smart, and progressive features:
Love this new spot from Audi. It started running at the beginning of the Olympics and has continued to run. I love how they continue to present themselves as the alternative to Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus. Keep in mind, that’s coming form a BMW owner. The commercial was so good it got me to check out an Audi A4 today. And they say TV isn’t working 
Thank you Google for launching Google Insights. To me insights is a more enhanced version of Google Trends. Google describes Insights as, “With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.”
Here is what I love about this. Everyone wants to put money into search engine marketing. I’ve been in meetings where Sr. marketers have said, let’s move all of our money from X to SEM. I think it’s great that people are jumping into search, but I’ve continued to caution anyone who will listen, that they need to look before they jump. In my opinion, search volume is not an indicator, nor is it a predictor of sales.
Here is a great example of what I’m talking about. The following chart shows the change in total car sales of luxury car brands from March 2007 to March 2008.
Change in Sales Volume from 2007 to 2008
If we buy into the concept that search volume indicates interest, which indicates awareness, which of course drives the top of the so-called marketing funnel. Well, if we fill the top of the funnel, then we’ll have more potential conversions. So, even if our conversion rate stays flat, we’ll drive more sales because our opportunity pool is larger. Make sense?
Ok, well here is a report from Google Insights that looks at the following:
Google Insights Search Volume for Luxury Cars
Normally I agree with Steve Hall at AdRants, but there are rare times when he’s wrong Steve likes Venables Bell & Partners’ new work for Audi. You can see his write up here and the actual Audi spot here
So it’s easy to throw stones at a glass house, but difficult to actually want to fix things. With that in mind, here’s why I don’t like the ad:
1. It’s lazy. When agencies borrow from movies or other pop culture it’s just lazy. How much did Audi pay them to concept the idea? I bet a lot and when the “creative” idea is something that’s already been done before is it really creative?
2. It doesn’t make me want to buy an Audi. I own a BMW and my wife a Jaguar. We also love the Godfather series. Essentially we’re the target; yet I have ZERO desire to buy an Audi. After all why shoud I? The ad doesn’t tell me anything about the “new” Audi or why I should want to consider them.
3. They spent nearly the entire ad selling the Godfather effect and only a tiny portion (maybe 7 seconds) selling the car. Assume I’m watching the Super Bowl when this ad comes on (which I will be); why would I keep watching after the first 25 seconds? I already know whats coming…
Net-net…it’s a beautifully shot cinematic work of art that doesn’t get me considering Audi at all. A more importantly as someone in the the industry…it just smells of lazy creative development.
Congrats Audi, you just spent 3 million for Super Bowl air time and probably 200K in concepting for something my 9 month old could have given you for $5.00.
Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer.
