This past Sunday, across America and the world, we gathered around our television sets with friends, family, and an exorbitant amount of snacks and beer to witness the single largest shared televised event in the US, Super Bowl LII. And, as in years past, we tolerated the 1 hour of gameplay in order to witness the most bombastic, weirdest, funniest, and most inspiring commercials (and to catch the halftime show, of course. What were you wearing, JT?!).
In a world where TV commercials are practically optional thanks to DVRs, the Super Bowl still reigns as...well...the Super Bowl of brand reach for those daring and monied enough to snag a coveted spot during the show. With a 30-second airing coming in just north of $5 million, we asked the creative and strategic minds at Team Tongal to share their perspective on which brands scored touchdowns - and which brands fumbled - during this year’s broadcast.
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MVPs
Ad Title: It’s a Tide Ad
Brand: Tide
Why it worked: This spot got the most votes from Team Tongal, and here’s why:
“It was very clever. By reframing every commercial as a potential Tide ad, because of the characters having clean clothes, the brand was able to sort of take-over the entire Super Bowl. While watching competitors' spots, somewhere in the back of our minds, we were subconsciously wondering, “Is this going to be a fake out? Is this actually a Tide ad?”
-- Matt, Creative Strategy
“It poked fun at every stereotype of Super Bowl ads across a number of industries and effectively and hilariously branded them as Tide ads. It left me guessing if every ad I saw after that was a Tide ad. Which is an AMAZING result!”
-- Quinn, Project Coordinator
“Super meta, self-aware and strategically brilliant: leveraging the equity of one P&G portfolio brand (Old Spice) to advertise another (Tide) and figuring out how to hack their way into everyone else's commercials? Feels like the kind of move some super scrappy start up or challenger brand would pull, not the work of a +70-year-old detergent company.”
-- Caleb, SVP of Creative Strategy
Ad Title: Alexa Loses Her Voice
Brand: Amazon
Why it worked:
“It leveraged the unique place and ubiquity that Amazon has rooted in the home through the smart device space. It leveraged each device - tying it back to product subtly without sacrificing the creative to simply push product.”
-- Phil, Post-Production Supervisor
“Their choice of celebrities and different settings allowed them to speak to different audience segments of those watching the Super Bowl. It was fun, memorable while managing to communicate product benefits/use cases at the same time.”
-- Daniel, Strategic Accounts
“Relevant, Hilarious and the CEO was in it!”
-- Wan-Yi, Accounts
Ad Title: Good Odds
Brand: Toyota
Why it worked:
“Toyota spotlighted a compelling, true story and tied the message back to their brand in an authentic way. Counting backwards to show the odds of winning a gold medal better as Lauren continues to work towards her goals was really effective.”
-- Maddie, Manager of Community Support and Analytics
“Very inspiring - lots of perseverance and determination.”
-- Karolina, Account Executive
“Hit a soft spot.”
-- Tommy, Executive Producer
Ad Title: Touchdown Celebrations to Come
Brand: NFL
Why it worked:
“How could you not love seeing grown men reenact Dirty Dancing?”
-- Nolan, Community
Honorable Mentions
Ad Title: DORITOS BLAZE vs. MTN DEW ICE
Brand: Doritos and Mountain Dew
Why it worked:
“Busta and brand synergies”
-- Quaid, Strategy
“Beloved musicians and actors coming together for entertaining comedic effect”
-- Teresa, Account Executive
Ad Title: Dundee w/ Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride
Brand: Tourism Australia
Why it worked:
“Tourism ads are hardly breakthrough and all look the same, however, Australian Tourism managed to get people's attention in a very entertaining way. I'm sure the ad got people talking about Australia, which was their ultimate goal.”
-- Daniel, Strategic Accounts
Ad Title: #GuacWorld
Brand: Avocados From Mexico
Better Luck Next Year
Ad Title: Built to Serve
Brand: Ram Trucks
What went wrong: This ad was met with criticism from viewers at home and across the Internet as soon as it aired for being tone-deaf, here’s our take:
“The National Football League got the thrilling game it hoped for, but not a Super Bowl free of controversy Sunday, as pregame protesters rallied against racism and a television ad infuriated many viewers by invoking the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. to sell pickup trucks.”
-- Jason, Sales
"Always dangerous to leverage the words of a well-known person (MLK) to sell a product...especially when there is no clear or relevant link back to the product."
-- Caleb, SVP of Creative Strategy
“Altering an iconic speech by an African American to omit the part that rails against the very thing the speech is being used in...Given the amount of emotion in the US about race, especially surrounding the NFL, this was a big bet that failed.”
-- Dan, Strategy
Ad Title: #LittleOnes
Brand: T-Mobile
What went wrong:
“I thought the message of the #LittleOnes T-Mobile ad was interesting but, in a way, it felt false for the brand.”
-- Lesley, VP of Production
Ad Title: #EvelynIsLearning
Brand: Sprint
What went wrong:
“I thought it played too long and while the message was clear, it was too on the nose and fell flat at the end when they cut to the store scene with their annoying spokesperson, the former Verizon guy [ED NOTE: who is a TRAITOR].”
--Scott, Production
Final Thoughts
According to Daniel in Strategic Accounts, "This year's ads saw a shift in [creative] thematics, less political and more entertaining. Last year we saw a lot of brands showing a strong point of view on political issues, but this year I feel brands were playing it safer, focusing on entertaining and having more fun. However, most brands weren't breakthrough enough and, in my opinion, the brand message got lost in the story."
And Katie in Strategy also contributed, "It seemed like there were fewer advertisers, with several buying multiple spots. (Tide, Alexa, Wendy's, etc.) The media buy was incredibly expensive this year, so did that limit the pool of advertisers that were willing to shell it out? Also, plenty of spots went to trailers for NBC's own programming. Is that because they had trouble filling inventory? If the above is true, it could tell us that brands are less willing to go big unless they feel they can really win, like Tide."
But, it is Producer Rebecca who truly summed up the night with, "Sad Tom Brady is the best Tom Brady."
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Agree with our picks? Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
This is awesome! Great insights!
