Like many of you, I was wholly unimpressed by the ads at the Super Bowl this year. It wasn't the "consumer-generated" ad orgy I had expected. In fact, it wasn't much of anything at all. Sure, there were a couple slightly funny ads, but the advertisers were off their game this year. Or was it something else?
The suck factor of the ads this year, I think, points to something much larger. Advertisers are starting to care less about this event, and the reach it provides. Online advertising is growing in reach, and its "trackability" means that in the online world, ads are held accountable for results. Super Bowl ads, by their very nature, are terribly expensive... and oh yeah, not really held accountable.
Or maybe the thinking behind the ads this year was just bad. No one was really inventive, no one really tried anything new. Notice how many of the ads that aired weren't exclusive? I saw many of these online before they made it to Super Bowl Sunday, and that took some of the excitement out of it.
Regardless, I've still posted a few of the better ones below. Or, you can view all of them in YouTube's special Super Bowl commercial section. Enjoy!
Bud Light "Fist Bump"
Emerald Nuts "Bogeyman" (featuring Robert Goulet)
GM Robot Dream
