Best of the Night

I've been writing this post in my head since last night, but I'm still not sure I got it, but sometimes it's more important to dive in than to dither in your thoughts. I started with the positive, here's what I liked last night: OVERALL

Dot.coms are dead, long live the car ads. Car companies dominated the buys last night.

I thought the ads were pretty "eh", there were some good ones, but nothing that stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Consumer brands not afraid to go negative... Chevy, Samsung, Pepsi all had negative ads up.

THE BEST 

Probably the ad that people either loved or hated was "Halftime in America," the Chrysler ad narrated by Clint Eastwood. I loved it. Yes, it was derivative of last year's ad with Eminen. Yes, it was too long and sometimes too overwrought.  Of all the ads tonight, this was the one that I had a visceral reaction to.  I watched the game with my wife (who is a blast to watch football with, each play elicited a shriek or gasp of concern), despite backtracking this morning, immediately after the ad she turned to me and said, "That makes me want to buy an American car" -- isn't that the point?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PE5V4Uzobc

Look, you can break this ad down in a lot of ways, but at the end of the day, I loved it because it was on-emotion and it connected with me at that level -- and hell, I'm probably not even the target audience. Some called it the best political ad of 2012, as it harkens back to "Morning in America," it acknowledges the best in us and speaks to American pride and spirit.  Chrysler = Detroit = America. And really is there any voice more soulful than Clint Eastwood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U38jELwi0lE

An interesting entry from Hyundai. I really liked this ad as well (this was my wife's favorite). Not as great as the Chrysler ad, but I thought it was an interesting framing for a company that people don't really have a story for. I've never thought much about Hyundai as car company, but the idea that "they try harder," that they're in it together, that they keep working through problems is a great identity for any company.

My problem with an ad like this is, will people accept it? I have no reason not to accept it, but just because they say it doesn't make it true. What's the proof? I wish Hyundai would follow up with more ads along these lines, show me ways that the company has overcome problems, instead they followed up with this ad:

http://youtu.be/KEq74TCDGtc

Funny and clever yes. On message and on-emotion..., not so much. How does this ad fit in with Hyundai's message in the Rocky ad? It doesn't seem to. Maybe it works as a way to get people to remember to Hyundai, but I didn't even remember who this ad was for until I went back and looked.  I laughed at this ad, it was good entertainment, but not a great ad. In a way, this ad is a good representation of the ads last night, some nice entertainment, but nothing that was a great ad.

The Best ad that didn't run in the US

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0qZYqdsYAg&feature=player_embedded

I already talked about this ad. But thinking more about it, it reminded me of the old Bud slogan, "This Bud's for you." Bud was the drink for the everyman, for the unrecognized heroes out there, who do their jobs in quiet dignity. This ad harkens back to that tradition, and I think it would translate to America, it's a shame Bud wasted their time with ads about Prohibition and partying through the ads, rather than this ad which is far more effective.

Ads my Kids like

Asher really liked this Coke ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2nBBMbjS8w

It was funny, the polar bears are iconic coke messengers, but like a lot of ads tonight I think the humor gets in the way of emotion.  It's funny, but not sure it's really about Coke.

Owen's favorite ad was the much anticipated Volkswagen "Dog" ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-9EYFJ4Clo

It was a funny ad, and while the epilogue was random, it made for a nice connection with last year's ad.  I liked the genre busting that I saw in car ads last night, this ad led the way putting a story of desire for the car ahead of the attributes of the car.  It was funny and clever, but at the end of the day, it didn't make me like volkswagen any more than I had before watching the ad.  I guess I agree with the guy in the bar, I liked the authenticity of the Vadar kid better.

Ads that people I respect liked

Really it was just this ad from Fiat. A couple of people who I really respect told me this was the best ad of the night, while I respect them..., they're wrong...

http://youtu.be/cpi2IAec9Ho

I think this is a good ad -- provocative and interesting. It tells a little story and is surprising, all good things. But I feel like the scope of the ad, the emotion it's trying connect with (desire) is just not that big, it's low hanging fruit. Compare the emotion of the Chrysler ad to this one, and this one feels small in comparison. Still it's well executed and crisp, and does a great job of being on-emotion.

A day late and a dollar short

Super Bowl ads are usually high in entertainment and gimmicks, but low in effectiveness and message.  In other words they make me laugh, but they don't do much to help me remember the product they're selling.  Here check out this list of best Super Bowl ads from ad age.  There are a lot of laughs, but how many of those laughs are connected to the brand message?  How many make you want to use the product or even have some relevant link to the product they're selling? And there's this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU&feature=pyv&ad=3910815173&kw=google%20super%20bowl%20ad]

It tells a story, it sells a message.  It's elegant and not overblown -- it cuts across expectation for Super Bowl ads, it's quiet where most are loud, and simple where most are frenetic.

Compare it with this ad for Microsoft Bing (not a Super Bowl ad):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CffImVdKCVE]

What is search overload?  What is a decision engine?  What does it have to do with folks riffing stream of consciousness? What does it have to do with Bing?

Now Google needs no introduction to most internet folks, but still this ad is about brand storytelling.  It cements the idea of Google as a part of our lives, even as our lives change, and we remember it because it tells the oldest story of all: Boy meets Girl.

It's that time of the decade

Time for end of the year lists, and this year as an added bonus, we get end of the decade lists too.  As cliche and hackneyed as these lists have become I enjoy them, as much to catch up on things I might have missed. Here is the list of Ad Age's best ads of the decades.

I can't really remember any ads from the past ten years, so I don't know what I'd add, though I'm pretty sure I'd drop the Sony "Balls" ad.

It's an interesting list, more for the fact that all these ads are focused primarily on entertainment and brand rather than on pure message delivery.  You don't see Honda telling you how quiet their new engine is, or Nike saying you'll run faster, or the iPod telling you how much memory their portable music device has, each of these ads is more about the feeling they brand wants to convey.

I'm not saying these ads don't have a message at all, but most them are 90% build up, 10% message and payoff.

Here are my top three from this list (in order):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ0x77RAOLE&feature=player_embedded]

I remember this one.  The visceral feeling of watching all those children eat cake, my mouth gets dry every time I watch it.  The unexpected ending, no milk.  Brilliant.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4uZT2JYGDI]

Total game changer.  This ad took the ipod and launched it into the minds of consumers.  It's so iconic, yet so simple.  Ipod..., Mac or PC..., Apple Logo. It's conveys hip and cool, cutting and and different, fun and exciting. For anyone who doesn't think it's about connecting to viewers feelings, well they should take a look at this ad, and let's talk.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy52yueBX_s&feature=player_embedded]

On the principle of unexpectedly awesome, this one is a winner.  I didn't see it coming at all, when it does come wow, great use of music.  My only knock on it is that I can't quite see the connection between a Gorilla playing drums and Cadbury, though there's something to be said for defying the conventions of the genre.  An ad like this about candy, is preciously memorable and effective because it's not about the product per se -- in the way a car ad that doesn't show the car would be memorable (think Bubble Boy from VW).