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Super Bowl ads 2015: the highs, the lows and the mehs

Super Bowl 49 delivered the goods on the field yesterday, with a last gasp victory for the New England Patriots, a brawl at the end and some impressive dancing sharks for Katy Perry’s halftime show. Once again, it proved to be a ratings goldmine for NBC, ranking as the “highest overnight rating in Super Bowl history and a four percent increase on last year“. That’s why advertisers pay around US$4.5 million for a nationwide spot—and why so many people seem to be interested in the ads. Herewith, a collection of the goods, bads and uglies. 

Highs: 

Super Bowl is full of stunts and brands hoping to replicate Oreo’s real-time marketing efforts last year, but mad pizza brand Totino’s poked the borax by live-tweeting the game one day before it happened

Loctite glue spent more than twice its annual revenue on a Super Bowl ad. Nailed it. StopPress’s top pick. 

Grub Hub shows the danger of flying burritos and the joy of non-human ordering.

Breaking Bad fans were torn as to whether bringing back Walter White was a travesty, but it caught some attention. 

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A strange, polarising and quite slow spot starring Jeff Daniels Bridges for Squarespace’s Dreaming with Jeff, but it was the MVP of the AV Club. 

Super Bowl is a day of gluttony. Weight Watchers decided to swim against the tide, with Aaron Paul on vocal duties. 

accessory company Mophie gets all apocalyptical. 

Big ideas take time to accept, says BMW. 

Interesting salty facts from Carnival somehow make cruising seem enticing. 

Fiat gives its new car some additional ‘muscle’.   

One of the Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl spots.  

This one’s been around for a while. But it’s a good message. ​

Another mad effort from Skittles. 

Not as good as Loctite, but this Mountain Dew spot also involved ridiculous dancing. 

Actor of the moment Liam Neeson seeks justice for Clash of Clans. 

Bud Light continues its up for whatever campaign with some real-life Pac Man.

Reminiscent of the New Zealand Pineapple Lumps ad, Mexico promotes its ​avocadoes in an unusual way. 

Snickers greatly improves The Brady Bunch.

Car spots were hit and miss this time round. But one of the best ones came from Kia.

Kid President + Coca-Cola = one single salty tear.

One of two ads featuring prosthetic legs, this one for Microsoft.

This was released a few months ago, but it still works.

Nice bit of broadcast trolling from Chevy.

Not much chatter about this ad on the US trade sites, but being the first New Zealand made Super Bowl ad deserves a mention.

Lows:

Mercedes got spanked for bastardising the tortoise and the hare story.

Nationwide got slammed for being a bit of buzzkill. But it did get plenty of attention.

Another awesome dad ad, only this one doesn’t really seem to go anywhere. 

No-one likes toe fungus.

Jeep’s ode to stock footage. 

Budweiser goes anti-craft. 

Carnival Cruises snatches the low-hanging fruit. 

More gratuitous burger-based boobage from Carl’s Jr. 

Two stars can’t help save this one for Nationwide. 

Soppy stuff from Toyota.

Mehs: 

Coca-Cola’s happy juice brings happiness to the world. 

Lexus goes for the old make a song from noises routine.

Where do stars go when they’re done? To Wix, of course.

After perennial Super Bowl upsetter GoDaddy spiked its own Lost Dog ad, it went with another, and it’s borrrrring.

Dodge went all patriotic last year. Now it’s asking old folk for wisdom.

America! Fuck yeah!

Even Nick Offerman shouldn’t sing an ad.

The real life version of McLovin’. Grated some because they’ve basically been paying their employees with love too.

Snoop tries to explain hangriness.

And another one where two stars couldn’t make much of an ad.

Budweiser’s ‘Lost Dog’ didn’t quite reach the heady heights of last year’s ad. 

The Ad Contrarian compiled a handy list of predictions. See if you can slot them in. 

1. Anthropomorphic Animals: In these spots, animals either speak or display human emotions. I guarantee the number one fan-rated spot will be one of these.

2. Celebrity Out Of Water: A famous person in a fish-out-of-water situation. These spots are supposed to be funny but, tragically, seldom are.

3. Automotive Adventure: Someone in a car is pursued/challenged/threatened by aliens/spies/evil-doers/cartoon characters. Lots of expensive computer-generated imagery is employed to save the day.

4. Trailer Trash: Movie trailers in which 30 seconds of weapons, explosions, and havoc are employed to promote films. Later this week the same Hollywood morons that created these monstrosities will be testifying before congress about their hatred of violence and commitment to gun control.

5. I’ll Do Anything For A _______: The hero of the spot does something outrageous to get his hands on the product in question, and is usually comically injured or otherwise humiliated for his effort. These spots are doubly Super Bowl-ish when the hero is an animal.

6. America The Beautiful: A drippy tribute to the servicemen/workers/farmers/nurses/mothers/dry cleaners of this great country of ours.

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