Yesterday's Super Bowl was one of the most exciting in the history of the event as the outcome wasn't decided until near the end of game. If only the same could have been said for the commercials (one man's opinion here) which fell short of producing much in the way of advertising highlights during the broadcast.
Of course, not all the spots could be flagged for being mediocre. According to results from the USA Today Facebook Ad Meter, Frito-Lay's spot in which a Great Dane uses Doritos to bribe a cat owner to keep quiet about a missing kitty was the most popular commercial during the game. Frito-Lay also had another spot in the top 10 (my personal favorite) with a commercial in which a grandmother uses a baby's swing like a slingshot to allow the toddler to shoot over to grab a Doritos bag back from a teasing older sibling.
Dogs played a starring role in many spots this year with four of USA Today's top 10 below involving canines.
USA Today Facebook Ad Meter Rankings - Top 10
Doritos - Dog bribes man
Volkswagen - Dog gets in shape, Star Wars
Skechers - Dog wearing sneakers wins race
Doritos - Baby takes bag away
M&M/Mars - Ms. Brown, chocolate shell candy
Bud Light - Dog rescues beer
Hyundai - Cheetah refuses to race Veloster
Honda - Ferris Bueller
CareerBuilder - Chimps take a business trip
Fiat - Automotive Seduction
On the bottom five of the USA Today list were two spots from General Electric in which employees discussed how much they loved their jobs; a Bud Light Platinum spot (sorry, missed that one); a Cadillac ATS spot and Century 21's Donald Trump, Deion Sanders, et al commercial.
A panel of advertising industry reviewers brought together by Adweek to critique the Super Bowl lineup was generally more complimentary. Showing that advertising is not quite a science yet, despite all the testing involved, the panel disagreed over commercials, notably Samsung's new answer to the iPhone. (Does anyone really want a stylus with their smartphone? Just asking ...)