The Superbowl Snooze: The Good and The Bad

My friend wondered where my commentary was for this year’s Superbowl ads so here goes... *I’m three weeks behind but whatever* In short, from what I saw, someone definitely hit the snooze button on my Superbowl ad party. Folks in the biz, I was not impressed. For most of this years’ ads, the general reaction was, ‘eh, I saw this last year I think’.

There were, however, a few that stood out – both good and bad. Let’s review some of the more memorable ones and those we hope never to see again...

THE GOOD.

1. Google - Parisian Love

Two thumbs up for this ad. Simple, powerful, effective; we get it. The ad starts us off with someone doing a Google search on ‘study abroad in Paris’ then takes us through a cute love story between some American guy and a Parisian girl - all through the use of Google’s powerful search engine.

This commercial feels vaguely reminiscent of the Chase card commercial depicting a relevant Chase card for every major point in your life from singledom and having fun to falling in love, getting married, having a family, retirement. It just makes you feel good. We get it. Using Google for relationship advice? Beautiful.It’s just one of the things that make this ad completely relevant from an audience perspective. How many people haven’t done this... The cute back story just pulls it all together. *Clap-clap-clap for Google and their first Superbowl ad*

2. FLOTV - Injury Report

Poor, poor Jason: forced to shop instead of watch the Superbowl.I know many guys that probably felt the pain of this scenario all too well.I thought this was cute and funny..in a dry, entertaining way. "Injury report: Jason’s girlfriend has removed his spine rendering him incapable of watching the Superbowl...Change outta that skirt Jason.” Classic. It’s not terribly hilarious but guys get it (and so do some of the ladies – you know who you are). The straight-forward dry humor coupled with the “I get it” factor is what makes it work.*chuckle, chuckle*

3. Doritos - Tie between Casket and Kids These Days (at the vending machine)

Some classicly 'decent' Doritos commercials - nothing that really blew my socks off, but these two made me chuckle fairly consistently so they make the list. One thing I will say for Doritos and Co - they understand the entertainment factor: keep it short, keep it simple, make us laugh (and, make us hungry for Doritos). For me it was a tie between The Casket and the Vending Machine – both clever and fun, both made me hungry. Particularly in the Casket version...all those Doritos..yumm. *Score*

Too bad the guy wasn’t so mouth-watering though..*ickk*

On that note...really, Doritos should play up the hot man factor just a little...after all, women viewers are more likely to watch the Superbowl commercials, they're more likely to do the shopping (and therefore, buy the Doritos for the next house party) and they currently make up almost half of the Superbowl viewing audience. That makes the hot-man factor equally as relevant as the hot-woman factor played in so many other Doritos commercials. Doritos et al: work on that eye candy would ya???

THE BAD.

1. Audi - Green Police

People want to be entertained, not sit there feeling like an ass. This commercial had me debating the top three things I felt like doing most while watching that commercial: bathe in a tub of foam and plastic, pollute the Pacific- drop an oil tanker, fly to Alaska-club a baby seal. Probably not a good thing. *I can almost feel the e-tomatoes flying* This commercial takes the ‘Going Green’ concept and slaps you in the face with it in a way that is neither funny nor appreciated.

Audi so strongly identified with the Green Police in this ad that I had no desire to go out and get one. In fact, I was feeling rather anti-Audi after the ad. Who wants to associate with a brand that says you’ll be arrested for having your hot tub too hot (helloooo 'hot' tub...) or drinking from a foam or plastic cup (hellooooo Superbowl...?). It’s annoyingly over-the-top comedy and headache-inducing Green Police jingle just make you want to do bad things....like take the Audi A3 TDI for a test drive – right into oncoming traffic or better, the Green Police.

Moving on...

2. Dove for Men - Journey to Comfort

Where to begin? For me, this ad fails on so many levels. You can just see the outer lining of a good concept, but somewhere during the execution phase the good concept just went bad. The tagline is about men going through the difficulties of life....as a young man, a husband, father, point-man – and having to handle the pressures and expectations (like the responsibility of kids, the lawn, dishes...the wife). Presumably, according to the ad, men handle it because that’s what real men do so be comfortable with the man you are and the life you have.

Heh? Sorry. Simply put, the message doesn’t match ‘the message.’ The message in this ad is really about “acceptance and resignation.”

Instead of feeling the intended: “I’m a man and I’m comfortable with my life, my manhood and my responsibilities” what I got was more along the lines of: “I was doing fine right up until I met my wife. I now despise my life, I’m a pussy and a drone but whatever...cheers *insert sappy smile and cue the cheesy end-music*”

At the end of the commercial I’m asking myself two questions:

1) how many married men sadly identified with this commercial, and

2) how many single men are crossing marriage off the to-do list or debating a 10-year delay...

From a marketing perspective, this ad is so targeted it almost says unless you are a married man who despises his life and deals with it with acceptance and resignation – this soap isn’t for you. Not very effective marketing when more than 35% of male SB viewers are between the ages of 18-34. This ad alienates the vast majority of that potential.

But, having said that....I'd be interesting to know which of you liked the ad and why....

3. US Census - Snapshot of America

Of course this had to be on the list....

How much did the government pay for the 3^rd quarter spot and all those vignettes?

And...why? Thank you government for putting my tax dollars to work so effectively. And for the record, the ad sucked.

The Obama-GM Debacle

Obama says he wants to, “get G.M. back on its feet, take a hands-off approach and get out quickly.”

Problem: No plan.
Obama wants to build affordable green cars and save the mega company yet, he’s presented no product plan, no manufacturing plan and no plan for appeasing creditors, not to mention the fact that no one on his staff has experience turning around a large, complex, flailing company.


Problem: Get in and get out? More like get in and duck.
Obama and his diaper, er dapper clad youngings claim that they can get GM out of debt quickly and help them turn a profit after investing tax-payer dollars to the tune of $50billion. Really? That’s an arrogant notion considering GM’s been stuck in the non-profit quagmire for decades (and again, no one on Obama's staff has any experience dealing with billion dollar instant makeovers).

Obama wants GM to focus on building small, energy efficient cars for the future, yet GM's most profitable and most popular cars are the gas-guzzling SUVs and its monster Cadillac Escalade. What’s more, automotive economists have pointed out that sales of small-engine, green cars account for only 17 % of total automotive sales in the US and that it's a very competitve sector.

More arrogance. I'll miss those tax-payer dollars....


Problem: UAW, UAW, UAW
Management and the UAW have had a bad marriage for the last 30 years which has dragged down the entire company. Why neither party has ever filed for divorce befuddles me. Today's UAW is like some pesky virus that plagues every sector of the business until it's no longer functioning, and now they have even more stake in the company. Brill.

The UAW doesn’t approve of sending production off-shore, and while I agree that we need to keep jobs here, what the UAW doesn’t understand, or chooses to ignore, is that the UAW is the reason many U.S. automakers have turned to foreign production. Not only has the UAW priced itself out of the market with its incredulous wages, benefits and union dues, but they've gone greedy with their business dealings. Like I always say, they don't do squat but they sure do pay people well to take an 8-hour lunch break cleverly disguised as an 8-hour work day.

This UAW situation motto was pulled from the 'about us' page of their website:

"Wake-up, wake-up [yawn, stretch, yawn]...that bolt in the production line
needs to be replaced. Stop production. Go to maintenance and fill out a requisition to get the bolt guy to come down here and replace it. As soon as maintenance approves that other requisition to fill that open management position, hopefully we'll have the bolt guy down here sometime next month. In the meantime, here's
your paycheck for the next 4 weeks, plus bonus. Have a nice lunch."

Ok, so it didn't come from their website... Very amusing though is the thought of government getting into bed with the UAW. *chuckle, chuckle* That's likely to have explosive outcomes.


Problem: American car company + European car company = Disaster
Obama has given Chrysler 30 days to come-up with a game-plan for the newly proposed "ChryslerFiat", with a promise to provide $6billion in financial backing.

Flashback: Past attempts to merge failing US automakers with European automakers (American Motors and Renault, Daimler-Chrysler etc.) has resulted in poor quality, managment fumble-bumbles, revenue nose-dives, and expensive products that people just don't want. And apparently, neither do the automakers that produced them since even GM and Ford are dumping their still fairly new European divisions faster than you can say SAAB.


Problem: Any business + Government = Disaster
The government holds a 60% stake in GM. Does anyone really think this is a good thing?

Let’s consider…
City transportation: Loses millions every year. [FAIL.]

AMTRAK – has lost over $500 Million during the whole of its government-run lifespan with debts totaling more than $3Billion. [FAIL.]

Social and Welfare programs – [FAIL.]

Medicare – I read somewhere that Medicare was so lax in its oversight that they were approving orthopedic shoes for leg amputees. [FAIL.]

Federal deficit before Obama – [FAIL.]

Federal deficit after Obama – Obama has nearly tripled the deficit. Who knew one could expound even more on failure. [FAIL.]

The government-run Government - [FAIL.]

All, at the end of the day, private enterprise is the best there is at alleviating suffering and maximizing wealth to the most people most effectively and efficiently.

'Nuff said.