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Ravens, Advertising Dominate Super Bowl

Ravens, Advertising Dominate Super Bowl

The Ravens may have defeated the 49ers in the Super Bowl, but last night’s other winners appeared in the commercial breaks. From Stevie Wonder to Oprah, Super Bowl XLVII ads had viewers hanging on every word. Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” featuring the brand’s infamous Clydesdale horses ranked first in USA TODAY’S Ad Meter, proving that top advertisements didn’t have to contain a famous celebrity or flashy gimmicks.

This year’s Ad Meter poll was purely consumer driven for the first time ever. Anyone who registered through the Ad Meter website prior to the game was given access to rank every commercial from 1-10. Three of the top five advertisements were full of sentiment and story. Chrysler’s two ads for the Ram pickup and JEEP featured celebrity voiceovers from Paul Harvey and Oprah proving that Patriotism still promotes. Anheuser-Busch managed to bring tears to everyone’s eyes in “Brotherhood” when it showed the growing bond of a horse and his trainer; not to mention a baby Clydesdale that wasn’t even three weeks old.

The advertisements in this year’s program weren’t all emotional and heartfelt. Doritos brought a few laughs from a drag-queen dad to a murderous goat, and Mercedes Benz proved that everyone could afford a Mercedes after selling their soul to the devil, Willem Dafoe. While many of the commercials left viewers wanting more, some should have remained a concept. Go Daddy disgusted millions with the infamous 18-second kiss shared between supermodel Bar Refaeli, and super-nerd Jesse Heiman; sound effects and all.

This year’s Super Bowl ads were mostly successful, but some did not go without a hitch. Coke’s social media promotion at https://www.cokechase.com that allowed fans to vote for the team they thought deserved the Coke failed to collect votes during the game. This technological glitch left fans wondering which team quenched their thirst in the desert with a giant bottle of Coke. While Coca-Cola failed through its interactive ad, many brands delivered after the lights went out in the Super Dome.

After Beyonce’s roof-raising performance featuring the early 2000s trio Destiny’s Child, the lights in the Super Dome went out mid-play in the game. As it may have been no coincidence that Beyonce’s performance killed the lights, many were wondering what to do during the 34-minute delay of game. Twitter was blown up with posts about what caused the blackout and a couple of brands took advantage of the technical difficulty and rose to the occasion. Both Oreo and Tide tweeted photos during the power outage with the taglines: “You can still dunk in the dark” and “We can’t get your blackout. But we can get your stains out.”

Through technical difficulties, a killer halftime show and unforgettable advertisements, Super Bowl XLVII was full of memorable performances. While big-name brands are preparing for next year’s advertisements, we can still enjoy last night’s commercials on YouTube, DVR and during our favorite sitcom re-runs.

Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/02/04/clydesdale-ad-wins-by-a-nose/1889693/
https://admeter.usatoday.com/articles/view/budweiser-takes-2013-ad-meter-title-in-thriller
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/beyonces-super-bowl-2013-halftime-417725
https://mashable.com/2013/02/03/coke-superbowl-game-fail/
https://mashable.com/2013/02/03/oreo-super-bowl-twitter/