Super Bowl Ads that were Not a Waste of Money

It is an ad company’s dream to have their creative love-child splashed across your wide screen plasma systems, becoming etched within the memories of our nation for the rest of eternity. Indeed, Super Bowl commercial time is the place to be for companies if you have the respectable clout, a high ranked spot in the line of brands or just a whole lot of money to foot the bill.

I’ve been searching through various ads to dissect the evolutionary process of our beloved ad society and assess how (if at all) it has advanced as it pertains to expression and insight for advertisement.   I’m sure you, yourself, can recall an oldie but goodie Super Bowl ad that maintains its spot at the top.

Or, maybe you’ve never heard of American football and this entire concept of brands fighting for the premier viewership position has you scratching your head. However, if you take 5 minutes to search the term ‘Best Super Bowl ads’ I’m 99.9% certain you’ll be making time next US football season to check out the action just for the ads. If not to enjoy, then to see which brands didn’t waste their money.

Some ads are exciting, some make you cry, and others leave you feeling jovial and full of laughter. Then, there are others that make you feel sorry for the company that paid the hundreds of thousands of dollars or possibly a million to air something that was absolute garbage. In any case, the Super Bowl would not be altogether the Super Bowl without the ads.

In the early 2000’s when commercial ads were starting to take a new spin on stupid, Doritos produced a rather entertaining ad in which a gentleman tempted and teased his girlfriend’s short n stumpy pug dog with a single Dorito, egging on the eager pooch to “come for the Dorito.”

As his girlfriend makes several requests for the taunting to cease, her partner seems elated at the canine’s desire to have the Dorito and its running towards the glass that he is stood behind. The boyfriend thinks the pup will bang into the glass in attempts to snatch his beloved chip, but alternately he is knocked over as the cute but hungry pug bounds down the glass and smushes his owners mate to retrieve his desired prize.

For me, this ad was memorable for its humor. The brand is engaging its consumer through the simple yet entertaining antics of a human and man’s best friend. Pets are always an easy laugh and it’s not uncommon at all for owners to tempt their pet with a tasty treat whether originally designed for human consumption or not.

This year the luxury sports car brand Maserati released a 1:31 ad that was not so comical, but rather intellectually riveting and inspiring. It is centered around the release of it’s new Ghibil model, creatively expressed through an account of a small African American girl doing a monologue about preparing to strike against giants even though small and seen as insignificant.

This ad for me was cleverly pieced and will be remembered by a specific target, but not necessarily altogether who everyone would think. Not only will lovers of the brand appreciate the ad as the Maserati is very unique and suited to a specific taste and earnings bracket, but also this commercial just speaks to the underdog in general: The one who has been counted out, forgotten or underestimated and is waiting to strike and surprise the world.

Just like the brand had to prepare to shock and stun, so too the insight speaks to the power of small things and preparing to shock and deliver the unexpected.