Monday Morning Quarterbacking This Year's Super Bowl Ads
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It was certainly a Super Sunday for fans of the New York Giants. For those in advertising and marketing, what's in between the game can be as big as the game itself.
Playing Monday morning quarterback is a yearly event at Dixon Schwabl, where employees break down ads. Some super; some less so.
"I think if you watch the ads with a group of people, you'll see the ads resonate with different people in different ways," said Dion Pender, chief creative officer.
Some didn’t like the Chevy trucks spot where the owner of a Ford truck was called out for not surviving an apocalyptic scenario, but Dion did.
"I actually liked it. I found it a little humorous because there's that ever-going rivalry between the two,” said Pender.
Honda’s ad with Matthew Broderick was heavy on nostalgia. There were old staples too, such as talking babies, dogs – lots and lots of dogs, and the return of the Coca-Cola polar bears.
"I had higher expectations for it. With Coke being gone so long, I was disappointed they brought the polar bears back, I was like wow, that's played out. Been there, done that. If you're gonna come back with a Super Bowl spot, make it really great," said one person.
"The spots this year, I think they were entertaining, but if we broke them down – how many times can you use animals in a funny way? How many times can you use babies in a funny way? How many times can you exploit women? After a while, the spots become a little tiring,” said Dion.
The average cost of a Super Bowl spot this year was $3.5 million. Experts say that's why so many spots were leaked this year, prior to kickoff.
"For me what it did, it made the event itself less climactic,” Pender said.
That doesn't make it a bad business move.
“What they want to do obviously is get the most bang for their buck. So if they leak it out there, they know it's that Christmas present under the tree. People are going to look. It's going to go viral. So they're smart,” said Pender.
Super Bowl 46 couldn't have been closer. Experts say the ads could have been better, but worked, if for no other reason than this:
"Beyond the actual advertisements themselves, it's all around us. People can't stop talking about it. So yeah, I do think it's money well spent,” Pender said.