Super Bowl Ads Were Yawners

I’m fascinated by great advertsing. It’s the stuff that pulls, industry lingo for sells. In other words, it makes money for the sponsor. Novel idea in some circles.

But the softie side of me also loves the ads that poke a little or jerk at the emotions. Because I spent a number of years in the advertising/marketing community  I believe I can view spots from the ad guy’s perspective and  from the perspective of the guy watching the game while eating a bowl of chili.

From both perspectives, I thought the Super Bowl ads last night were mediocre compared to previous years.  The Doritos adds were clever and reminded me that they were selling Doritos.  And I’m a sucker for the Clydesdales, especially when a dog brings a horse and steer together for a lifetime of friendship.  Ahhh! Get me another Bud, please.

Otherwise I didn’t see a lot of creativity and wonder if that’s not part of the conservative, risk-averse advertising we’ve been seeing in recent years, especially in the economic downturn. Most of the spots lacked clear selling propositions and failed to make the product or service the hero of the ad, as David Ogilvy importuned young copywriters years ago. The Intel ad for a processor got my vote for the most juvenile and most difficult to figure out.  There was so much noise around the message that it took two airings before I figured out that they were selling processors not robotic toys.

Memory Lane. I miss the great ad days I was part of.  The days of Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Doyle Dane and Bernbach “Think Small” spots for the Beetle. Here from YouTube is the German version of the famous snow plow ad. For those who missed this great ad era, the tag line at the end is loosely translated as “Ever wonder what the snow plow driver drives to work?”  The spot almost needs no commentary.   http://www.youtube.com/user/beetlejuice150#p/search/1/cUnEbNgHFco

Let me know what you think.

Jim