Super Bowl LIII brought in a national audience of
approximately 98.2 million people,
but let’s be real — a handful of people watched for reasons other than the
plays on the field. With a $5.25 million price tag per 30-second spot, advertisers
from all kinds of brands scrambled to capture that audience’s attention, and
hopefully gain a significant ROI.
Although retailers’ presence in the mix of commercials was
minimal, the RTP team shares the
Super Bowl ads they enjoyed, loathed or thought stood out among the crowd. (Here’s a link to some of
the ads.)
Adam Blair, Editor:
Either Netflix and the DVR have spoiled me when it comes to commercials, or the
Super Bowl ads were as dull and un-entertaining as the game was. Wow. A Game
of Thrones parody about some beer companies using corn syrup that felt
as long as an actual Game of Thrones episode. Luke Wilson in EXTREME close-up.
A meta-commercial therapy session with Michael C. Hall. I hate to say it, but
Amazon had the lightest, funniest touch with its “Alexa fails” commercial,
featuring Harrison Ford’s dog ordering cases of dog food, gravy and sausages;
the Broad City co-stars being thrown out of a hot tub with Las
Vegas-style dancing waters; and Forest Whitaker missing the key moment of a
podcast because his Alexa-powered electric toothbrush was in his mouth. The
commercial also shows that Amazon is so confident in the power of Alexa that it
can make fun of its own product. There are good reasons everyone is scared of
Amazon; they (or their ad agency) do good work.
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Glenn Taylor, Senior
Editor: The commercial itself may have been utterly mundane, but I couldn’t
help but get a laugh from the Burger King spot. Showing Andy Warhol take a
burger out of the paper bag and struggle to pour ketchup on the wrapper was
charming in its own way, especially with his “It doesn’t come out,” commentary
included in the clip. When it comes to Super Bowl advertising, silence does
have a tendency to jump out more than noise. Combine that silence with a pop
culture icon who really hasn’t had much visibility in recent years and an
#EATLIKEANDY hashtag, and you have a unique, offbeat commercial, even if
overall reactions weren’t favorable. To add backstory: the clip used in the ad
is from the 1982 documentary “66 Scenes from America” by Danish director Jorgen
Leth, which featured 66 visual snapshots from around the U.S. that each represented
an aspect of Americana. Retailers could take note of this found footage strategy
when trying to capture more audience, especially since nostalgia sells.
Bryan Wassel,
Associate Editor: I was generally unimpressed with this year’s offerings, but
what really bothered me was the odd focus on nostalgia. For instance, I’m a big
Coen brothers fan, and The Big Lebowski
is one of my favorite movies of all time, but I’m not sure why seeing an aging
Jeff Bridges is supposed to make me want to drink Stella Artois. Or take
Walmart —
I recognize all those iconic cars, but while most of them are cool and fun in
their respective movies, taken together it’s just a pop culture overload — one that
makes me think Walmart blew its marketing budget on securing the rights to
weird vehicles rather than producing something creative that might make me want
to visit a Walmart. There’s nothing wrong with a little wink to the good times
of the past, and I agree with my colleague Glenn that nostalgia sells, but
these cases seem like too much of a good thing. The commercials that did
resonate were the ones that combined nostalgia with something new — I for
one am ready for a Twilight Zone
reboot starring Jordan Peele.
