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Super Bowl Ad Reviews: Q2

So far I'm two for two: Doritos also showed the consumer-created "Checkout Girl" spot which I gave a B+. I wonder if they'll do "Duct Tape" in the second half?

Enough about me, here are my "Touchdown" and "Fumble" awards for the second quarter.

Touchdown: "Best Handoff" Award: Sprint Nextel and Motorola

This duo of spots started with Sprint's very funny spoof of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads, promoting that Sprint's Mobile Broadband access is the cure for the devastating condition known as "connectile dysfunction". An especially funny idea since Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, etc have been such big Super Bowl advertisers in the past.

Then the ad is followed by a Motorola promo for watching NFL highlights on a Razr powered by, you guessed it, Sprint. Hopefully the Bears will find some of this kind of teamwork in the second half to take the game back from the Colts.

Fumble: "These Creatives Need Adult Supervision" Award: Chevrolet "Shirtless"

IMHO, it is just not Chevy's night. This spot, which is the winner of their college contest, has a bunch of attractive women in an HHR, that gets surrounded by guys stripping and making love to the car. The tag line is "Guys can't keep their hands off it".

So is this car for guys or girls? I can't imagine girls would want a car that will attract this bunch of not-terribly-attractive guys. And guys certainly don't want a car that other guys can't keep their hands off of.....

It totally puzzles me that a woman would come up with this concept.

I also have to mention Garmin's "Maposaurus" spot -- they are definitely a contender for the Rookie of the Year Award. A hapless driver starts to unfold his map to figure out where he is and it not only takes over his car, but goes on a Godzilla-like rampage. A nearby driver with a Garmin GPS system comes to the rescue, turning into a Power Ranger to defeat the power of evil and make the world safe for motorists again.

Garmin understood that a Super Bowl spot has to have great production values and humor, but they manage to get their selling message across clearly.

Supplement, Monday Feb 7.

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face from one other ad: Anheuser-Busch's "Dalmation' spot. Disclosure: I am a dog nut, and especially fond of adopted dogs (and in mourning over the loss of one of my girls in December). So this undoubtedly biases my review of this ad.

In it a mixed-breed dog is rejected and unloved; he sees the dalmation riding on the coach pulled by the A-B Clydesdales, and wishes it could be him. His doggie guarding angel grants his wish when he is splashed with mud, miraculously creating the black spots that allows him to pass as a dalmation. Now, he is proudly riding alongside the real dalmation. I love it, but it is kind of sappy. But then A-B takes a bit of the saccharin out of it when the Queen of the Parade hugs our little impostor and is covered with his mud. Nice touch!

Posted by Jim Nail on February 4, 2007 at 08:37 PM | Email this post Permalink
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Comments

Perhaps Chevy's "Shirtless" ad was directed towards me -- 40+ female/40K+ mileage/40+ days since my last car wash. If so, it clearly missed its mark.

Moral: you don't have to spend big bucks on creative to make a lousy ad.

Posted by: Su Doyle | Feb 5, 2007 8:54:05 AM

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