Super Bowl Ads 2012: Winners and Those Who Wasted a Lot of Cash
The Giants beat the Patriots? Who cares? Best part about the Super Bowl is obviously the Super Bowl Commercials. With companies spending on average $3.5 million for a 30 second spot. There will be big winners and big losers. While Chryslers and Doritos maintain their top 3 spot from last year, they are joined this year by H&M, powered by David Beckham body wear. Those missing the mark in 2012 where Career Builder, Sketchers and Godaddy.
Just as they did 4 years ago, the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. However, unlike last year Doritos avenged their lose to Chrysler's iconic ode to Detroit tribute to take top spot in the 2012 Brand Bowl. For the third consecutive year, Doritos made a name for itself with a lower-budget spot featuring a dog paying off his owner in chips. In addition, they added a Baby Slingshot ad to put them over the top.
Coming out of no ware was H&M with their David Beckham Bodywear commercial. Though the typical football fan is male, H&M realizes they are not the only ones who watch the Super Bowl. The black-and-white ad features a toned and tattooed Beckham showing off his soccer physique in nothing but white skivvies.
Not wanting to fall out of contention in the Brand Bowl, Chrysler teamed up with Clint Eastwood. Just like last year, Chrysler paid tribute to Detroit again, comparing the struggles in America and Detroit and what they can do to make a comeback. Just as the Giants did in the big game Chrysler battled, back to deliver another great rallying cry for American’s everywhere to battle back.
Other great commercials include The Voice’s Vocal Combat 2012 and Honda’s Mathew Broderick’s revival of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Those missing the mark where Career Builder, Sketchers and Godaddy. Leading the way was Career Builder, it was controversial, and it really fell flat.
Followed not far behind by Sketchers. It was in poor taste, and not that funny. Moreover, why was Mark Cuban there?
Wanting to draw the attention of men everywhere, go-daddy.com pushed the boundaries this year, and in many opinions, went too far.
Therefore, what can we learn from this collection of high-priced advertising talent? Here are three takeaways:
- Use Emotion
There’s no question that the Chrysler and Volkswagen sequel Darth Vader ads succeeded because they told an emotionally resonant story. Whether “we will come back” (Chrysler), “father and son” (Volkswagen), the emotional connections between the characters fueled the strongest audience responses. All were among the most positively referenced of the night
- Use Humor carefully.
Doritos probably had the funniest moments of the night, who could not laugh at the baby stealing the chips from the big brother who had been taunting him. However, as GoDaddy learned there are boundaries.
- Leverage the power of Social Media
Learning from Volkswagen last year companies are learning to leverage every possible $$$ out of their Super Bowl 2012 strategy. 2012 saw many companies running integrated ads with their social media campaigns.
Social media lets advertisers see the impact of their ads in real time. The top advertisers on the Super Bowl prove how a traditional TV spot can potentially be leveraged on the social web. As technology advances, the line between TV ads and social media will continue to blur.