Super Bowl Commercial Review

Category: Hot Marketing Tips
By: Drew Dinkelacker
February 09 2010 04:43 PM

1st Annual Super Bowl Awards from Teakwood Marketing

Here Are My Winners (and Why)

As a follow up to last months Hot Marketing Tip (HMT) on how to watch the Super Bowl commercials, I am presenting Teakwood Marketing’s 1st Annual SuperBowl awards.

A Party Atmosphere
Like most, I watched the Super Bowl at a party with 10-25 people milling about watching, eating and talking.  At the end of the first quarter, I told my wife that none of the commercials really stood out to me as memorable. She mentioned that it was a bit hard to hear every word of the commercials because of all of the party noises and maybe I missed the point on a few.  She was right, but that is simply the reality of competition.  There are many distractions in the viewer’s world.

Most Effective & Strategic Award (But stupidly annoying)
The winner is…Denny’s and their screaming chickens.  It was annoying because I don’t care to hear chickens scream.  The premise of the commercial, chickens worried about laying a bunch of eggs for a breakfast promotion is a bit stupid. It was effective because the spots aired frequently enough to create opportunities for the message to be heard. I have to believe that the vast majority of viewers got the message that Denny’s signature Grand Slam breakfast is free on Tuesday, February 9th.  It was strategic because humans are creatures of habit.  If you are out of the routine of going to Denny’s, then free breakfast might be just the trick to get you back in the routine.     Watch the spot.

Most Memorable For All the Wrong Reasons
Audi…The Green Police – Set to the tune of the Cheap Trick’s “The Dream Police”, this spot shows people being arrested for miniscule environmental infractions.  It was memorable because it either struck fear into you (like me) that this is the way the country is headed or you got excited because you agreed with the message and hoped that this is what America needs. Fear and hope are powerful gut level responses.  This spot did a great job of connecting with two distinct markets.  A rare feat.  However, it is a classic example of a cool, creative spot that made little impact on me to want to buy the product.  Watch.

Drew’s Favorite
Google…Parisian Love – A simple commercial spot to demonstrate all the things that you can do with the Google search engine.  Shots are only of the Google page, the key words entered in the search engine and the search results.  The spot starts with research for a trip to France and all the things that happen along the way.  This spot demonstrates the power of telling a story.  Watch.

Stinker  Award
Doritos…Snack Attack Samurai– Didn’t I mention in the last HMT about Quiznos that shooting darts in the necks of their customers was a bad idea?  Doritos didn’t get the message as the triangular chips were used as deadly ninja throwing darts against a Doritos fan.  It's ugly, but watch it anyway.

Take-Away Nuggets

  • Everyday life is often like a Super Bowl party…full of noise and distractions.  Make sure your message cuts through the noise.
  • Sometimes stupid can be effective (Denny’s chickens)
  • Great creative ideas can overshadow your product (Audi-The Green Police)
  • Tell a great story and people will listen (Google – Parisian Love)
  • Don’t throw pointy things into prospect’s necks (Doritos and Quiznos)
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