Wall Street Journal
February 6,2011
By EMILY STEEL
A mini Darth Vader and consumer-created ads from PepsiCo scored points in the first half of Sunday night's Super Bowl in a game where commercial time is largely lacking the laugh level of past years.
Advertisers are having plenty of fumbles. Ad time is dominated by auto makers and film studios, which generally create dull ads. Several star-studded ads fell flat, including a spot for Snickers featuring Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis that failed to live up to the buzz of last year's Betty White ad. Some ads featuring Super Bowl ad icons, such as CareerBuilder's chimpanzees and the GoDaddy.com girls, felt stale, ad executives said. And some early Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. ads got a thumbs down from ad executives, who have high expectations for the perennial Super Bowl advertiser.
CarMax's takes the "kid in a candy store" idea to new conclusions.
Volkswagen AG was one of the few auto advertisers able to break the mold for the often dull car category. It had a "Star Wars"-themed spot in which a little boy dressed in a Darth Vader costume thinks that he has discovered the "Force" to start a 2012 Passat parked in the driveway.
"It's brilliant and simple. It will win the water-cooler discussion," said Allen Adamson, managing director at WPP PLC's Landor & Associates.
The ad, which captured pregame buzz with more than 12 million views and more than 10,000 comments online before kickoff, was one of two spots for Volkswagen's VW created by Interpublic Group of Cos.'s Deutsch LA.
Sunday night's game is expected to feature ads from more than eight companies in the auto category, including General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet brand, Volkswagen's Audi luxury brand, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, BMW of North America and South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. and sister car maker Hyundai Motor Co.
Few are standing out, ad executives said. One Chevrolet ad shows a couple kissing goodbye after a first date and the man checking his date's Facebook status using his car's technology as he drives away. The Audi spot, which attempts to pitch its message about a new class of luxury, features a pair of well-dressed men escaping a mansion.
Using humor and going after buzz can be risky for auto advertisers because cars are big-ticket items where safety plays an important roll in the purchase, ad experts say. The effect—combined with a series of movie trailers for film studios — is leading to a game that largely lacks the comedic energies of years past.
Marketers spent about $2.8 million to $3 million for a 30-second spot during this year's matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers, which was expected to draw a huge audience amid a year of record-breaking viewership for the National Football League.
Some familiar characters returning to the Big Game are being met with a less enthusiastic homecoming. Ad executives said the ad for online jobs site CareerBuilder, which featured chimpanzees making it impossible for a human co-worker to park his car, wasn't fresh.
In typical Super Bowl style, the big game featured a lineup of celebrities during commercial time. A spot for flower-delivery firm Teleflora had country music star Faith Hill giving love advice to a young man.
Pepsi's "Torpedo" ad gives the geeky guy at chance to be hype for once.
But several star-studded ads failed to deliver. Internet company GoDaddy.com's commercial, which showed 77-year-old Joan Rivers as its new GoDaddy girl, was a tease, ad executives said. "That's like a cold shower," said Izzy DeBellis, co-chief creative officer at MDC's Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, which worked on a BMW ad slated to run during the game.
Meanwhile, the Snickers spot failed to satisfy after setting high expectations last year with its ad featuring Betty White. This year's commercial starred comedians Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis at a logging farm. "It's no Betty White," said William Charnock, chief strategy officer at Interpublic Group's RGA.
Anheuser-Busch, the game's exclusive beer advertiser for more than two decades, isn't delivering a stellar year of commercials so far, ad executives said.
The company's Clydesdale horses and actor Peter Stormare starred in a Wild West-themed ad for Budweiser. In the ad, Mr. Stormare walks into a bar and demands Budweiser beer. After taking a sip, he breaks out singing Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." Ad executives said the ad didn't feature enough of the horses.
PepsiCo returned to the Super Bowl for the fifth year in a row with its "Crash the Super Bowl" contest that sources ads from consumers. The company bought six spots, three for its Doritos chips brand and three for its Pepsi MAX soda.
The favorite among ad executives was a Doritos spot that featured a man licking the cheese residue off a co-worker's finger.
The amateur producer who creates the Doritos or Pepsi MAX spot that ranks highest in Super Bowl ad contests in the coming days will have a shot at a contract to create another ad for the brands.
"People are always rooting for the underdog, for the kids to beat Madison Avenue. Pepsi now owns that," said Mr. Adamson.
It was very interesting to me that this article said that the commercials were less entertaining than in past years. I watched the ads this year and found most of them to be quite entertaining. Perhaps because I might not be in the demographic that ads are normally targeted to which is why I found them appealing and the majority of viewers did not.
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