Don’t Worry, This Isn’t Another Tide Ad….
Contributed by Ryan Nelson
Well the big game has come and gone and with it were a brand new batch of commercials. Often these spots are over-the-top, big budget, big celebrity, and are meant to spark “did you see that….” types of conversations. Every year, brands compete to see who will have the stand-out spot and gain the most traction. Nowadays most of that is measured via social media engagement, followers, or hashtags. Also inevitable in the Super Bowl Sunday comedown is a bunch of articles talking about which commercials were the best/worst/weird/heartwarming.
Don’t worry, this is exactly one of those articles…..
Since this is my first “Best Of” I’m only going to concentrate on what I consider my top five including why I enjoyed them or why I think they did a good job aligning with the company’s brand.
#5 – Alexa Loses Her Voice – Amazon
This clever ad for Amazon’s home smart-speaker system included several celebrity cameos and even included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The reason I found this ad so enjoyable is the wide variety of celebrities they included, each more outrageous than the last and each having big personalities. The idea that your little friend Alexa could lose her voice (perhaps cheering her team on too loudly?) brings a bit of humanity to the platform through a tongue and cheek method.
#4 – Danny DeVito Lucky Penny – M&Ms
The Super Bowl ad for M&Ms is right up there for one of the weirder ones. The premise is that the red M&M stumbles across a lucky penny after complaining how everyone has been trying to eat him. He makes a wish that he could be human. The end result is Danny DeVito running around the busy streets yelling “do you want to eat me” to strangers. This is both really weird and really funny to me. I’m a big Danny DeVito fan and feel like his celebrity “aesthetic” was the perfect fit for the brand and a really memorable commercial.
#3 Jeff Goldblum VS. T-Rex – Jeep
One of the better “throwback” nods in this year’s lineup of commercials. Jeep’s spot featuring Jeff Goldblum and a computer-animated T-Rex was one of my favorites. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Jurassic Park series and seeing Jeep’s acknowledgment to their involvement with the first movie in the franchise was really fun to watch. The T-Rex chase scene was such an iconic part and groundbreaking in terms of movie special effects at the time. This commercial did a great job at taking something from the past and recycling it for a spot-on brand ad.
#2 GuacWorld – Avocados
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t want to live in a world without avocados. This spot from the avocado promotional group, Avocados From Mexico, envisioned a world where this would not be a concern. The inhabitants of #GuacWorld begin to freak out when they realize that while their beloved avocados were brought into the bio-dome looking structure, the chips weren’t. The rioting is calmed down when they are offered alternative to chips and guacamole, avocado toast anyone? The spot also includes a cameo by actor Chris Elliot, which makes absolutely no sense but adds to the overall amusement for me at least. They have also created an online game to pick up where the commercial spot left off.
#1 David Harbour Being Pretty Great – Tide
In my opinion, the hands down best ad in this year’s Super Bowl came from Tide. The first great decision they made was using David Harbour from Stranger Things fame. He’s not necessarily the biggest name in the business but he has a lot of recognition from the show and his popularity is gaining. Second thing, they did an amazing job at spoofing typical commercials. The best gag is one you don’t see coming and they did a great job at hiding themselves throughout the night and surprised me several times. They even got the “old spice” guy in on it. Overall a really creative and really memorable series of spots from the brand.
