Sources: NFL, Amazon, Hyundai
The snoozefest otherwise known as Super Bowl LIII is over — thank goodness. Now, it’s time to talk about a part of the game’s broadcast — the commercials — that held somewhat higher entertainment value, even though there were quite a few fumbles along the advertising way, as well.
Adweek weighed in with its five best of the game:
- HBO + Bud Light “Joust”: a mashup of the premium channel’s “Game of Thrones” franchise with the beer brand’s “Dilly Dilly” medieval campaign. The spot started with its focus on the beer, but took a quick turn towards dramatic imagery borrowed from “GOT” in the form of Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane and one of the show’s dragons.
- Burger King’s #EatLikeAndy spot featured pop artist Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987) eating a Whopper, which he dipped in ketchup poured on the side. The spot, which was originally shot in 1982 as part of a documentary, may seem a bit off-brand. Adweek argues, however, that the spot is “uneventful, dry … and absolutely impossible to look away from.”
- Hulu’s promotional spot for the new season of its “Handmade Tale” uses a voice-over from Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” commercial that starts off with imagery that seems optimistic, but quickly switches to the darkness and violence that marks the show.
- Amazon.com’s “Not Everything Makes the Cut” spot shows celebrities and astronauts beta testing new uses for the company’s Alexa voice-activated technology. Harrison Ford and his dog are highlights.
- Bud Light’s “Special Delivery” makes use of the “Dilly Dilly” character to make fun of smaller rivals — Miller Light and Coors Light — for using corn syrup in their brews. Bud Light, it proclaims, is brewed without corn syrup.
- The National Football League’s “The 100-Year Game” commercial contained, arguably, more action than the Patriots and the Rams, which provided among the dullest, if not the actual dullest, Super Bowl I can remember and I’ve watched all of them. (“I’m awake, I’m just resting my eyes.”) Ad Meter score: 7.69
- Amazon’s “Not Everything Makes the Cut” was next, with an Ad Meter score of 7.34.
- Microsoft’s uplifting “We All Win” commercial features young kids playing games with the aid of the company’s new Xbox Adaptive Controller. Ad Meter score: 7.07.
- “The Elevator” spot from Hyundai uses Jason Bateman as an elevator operator who delivers people down to floors that hold the worst experiences of their lives, including a root canal, the middle seat on a long plane flight, a parent’s “talk” with an adolescent about the birds and the bees until avoiding the bottom floor (typical car shopping) by using Hyundai Shopper Assurance for an easy, pleasant way to by their next auto. Ad Meter score: 7.05.
- Verizon’s “The Coach Who Wouldn’t Be Here” commercial features the head coach of the Los Angeles Charges who recalls his story about the first responders that helped save his life after being involved in a car accident in 2005. Ad Meter score: 6.95.