Commercial Success II

2.5 million dollars

Judging from last year’s post Super Bowl blog, it cost companies an additional $100k to get their ads from cutting room to living room this year. Some would be afraid that that extra money to buy the timeslot may cause nervous budget analysts to slash production costs by the approximate same amount, leading to even worse ads than 2005. Looking back in retrospect, last year’s crop of ads was ultimately weak, and it makes last night’s surprisingly strong as a class. However, people don’t remember classes, they remember individuals. The stars. The ones worthy of Top-Ten status.

This was a year of improvement on the part of the advertising industry. Anheuser-Busch avoided out-of-date fall backs, like Cedric the Entertainer or that idiot campaign with the daredevil (Ted Ferguson?) Movies made the presence felt, but as I am starting to realize, this is wasted ad space unless you have serious blockbuster potential. After all, we were privy to trailers for “16 Blocks,” “Running Scared,” and “V for Vendetta,” and the average fan couldn’t even tell you which was which. Also, it is clear that the cola wars ended years ago. Coke hasn’t put up anything in a long time, and based on this year’s Pepsi fiasco (Why, Jay Mohr, why?), Coke may have won sans omission. Granted, the stunt double one wasn’t bad.

Here are the second annual Awards for the Super Bowl Commercial Offering, or for short, the Commies. (As always, any resemblance to a fallen economic and political system is unintentional and completely coincidental.)

Top 10 Commies, 2006

1. Bud Light – “Secret Fridge” – Like the airplane spot of last year, the unexpected comedic turn is what made this excellent. The comedic beer ad has a formula – straight lead-in, comic twist, hilarity, product cut-away, and then back to the scene of the ad for one last joke. The college kids bowing down to the kitchen table is what propelled this to the top of our list.
2. Budweiser – “Young Clydesdale” – Going with the heartwarming angle is always a risky one. But this one improved on the goat idea from a few years back. This wasn’t a low-brow year of ads, which helped this one find footing.
3. FedEx – “Caveman” – Did anyone else notice that the package that needed delivering was a stick? Classic and clever. Best FedEx ad since the pigeons and Danger Zone.
4. Sprint – “Crime Deterrent” – Please tell me someone else saw this one. While America went back for refills and to avoid the Rolling Stones at all costs, a quick ad from Sprint featured two guys in a locker room, with one explaining all the features of his new Sprint phone. Best laugh-out-loud ad there was.
5. Bud Light – “Bear Escape” – Did I mention how glad I am that they’ve retired Cedric the Entertainer? Ending was a little weak, but a strong ad nonetheless.
6. Career Builder – “Sales Forecast” – Last year, I didn’t LOVE the chimp office ads, as it seemed like it was overkill on a perpetually easy comedic staple. This year, they gave the campaign some external funny ideas, such as the sales growth chart and the chimp smoking a cigar using burning $100 bills as kindling. Well done.
7. Ameriquest – “Patient is Dead” – I’m glad Ameriquest led with this one over the airport one, since it had more originality to it. The look on the mother’s face was priceless.
8. Budweiser – “Streaker” – This should have been higher, it really should have. The most original football-theme idea, the sheared sheep could have been an instant classic. But the celebration of the sheep detracted from the spot a bit. I hope this campaign continues for a long time.
9. MasterCard – “MacGyver” – It’s such a shame that so few people recognized him. The checkout part of the commercial was the best part.
10. ESPN Mobile – “Sports Heaven” – This refers to the 60 second version. Not a funny ad, I’m just a sucker for good production. Very well staged.
11. Joseph Stalin.