Welcome to the 21st year of Wien’s Irreverent Review of the Super Bowl Commercials. I started writing this review to challenge students in marketing to think beyond the creative and the popularity contest and try to assess the actual value or impact to the advertiser who spent $2.2 million for a 30 second commercial. This year, at $5.6 million for 30 seconds, the question still remains. Are they accomplishing a strategic objective or is the creative department entertaining themselves in public at the expense of the client?
My provocative commentary below is designed to stimulate thoughtful conversation. I have also provided links to all the commercials. So, if you left to fill your plate with Doritos or poured another glass of Michelob Ultra, and missed the $22.4 million dollars of advertising in those 2 minutes, you can see what you missed.
I always appreciate comments and encourage you to share this with any other “marketing experts.”
QUIBI is going to provide a different twist on the already overcrowded streaming App category. Their “Quick Bites” might give them a Specific Edge, but who is going to remember that “Quick Bite” that cost $5.6 million when they do not plan to launch the new service until April. The bank heist was not the only thing that had bad timing.
Tide – The laundry detergent maker starts off with one of the first commercials in the game with a fan getting an ugly stain across his shirt. This creates a humorous sense of urgency to clean the shirt and avoid further embarrassment. The story continues and pops up in short fun,vignettes throughout the game that include a cameo appearance by the Bud Knight. This should come out clean from the critics.
Donald Trump for President – As I mentioned earlier, I work hard to be politically neutral in my commentary. So the only thing I will say about this commercial that the creative team did a very good job of focusing on the positive elements of his presidency – Stronger, Safer, More Prosperous.
Walmart – The folks in Bentonville came way out of their comfort zone to approve this one. They used very futuristic vignettes to communicate the ease of ordering on the internet and picking up at the store. They are obviously feeling the pinch of the internet retailers and have finally decided to attack the challenge head on. My only concern is that the message may get lost in so many quick changing snippets.
Porsche – What an exciting commercial. Everyone loves a car chase, especially when it includes Iconic Porsches and great scenery. They used this massive production feat to introduce the Taycan, their first all-electric vehicle. Really? I think the message got lost in the creative. Lights out for this introduction.
Snickers – This is reminiscent of the wonderful 1971 commercial – I Would Like to Buy the World A Coke Commercial that focused on a positive idea of living in perfect harmony. The emotional feel good focus helped the commercial transcend paid advertising. The new Snickers commercial is void of the emotion and high on stupidity. There will be no snickering at the parent company Mars in the morning.
HULU – Tom Brady in a Super Bowl commercial is guaranteed to score points. Especially when it is backed with a lot of hype about his big announcement. I am not sure the audience heard what HULU paid for – More than live sports – favorite TV channels plus the greatest shows, movies and originals of all time. However, they sure heard Tom’s personal message – I am not going anywhere.
Mountain Dew – Back in the 1980s, when I worked on Mountain Dew, the target audience was men, 18 to 24 who lived an active life style and drank Mountain Dew for the energy pop – high caffeine and plenty of sugar. So what is Mountain Dew with No Sugar. I guess Red Bull outsmarted them for this market segment and they are now appealing to their aging consumer base who has gained a few pounds and is trying to stay awake. I will let others comment on how the creators found humor is this terrorizing clip. It will not be one of Mountain Dew’s “Shining” moments.
Squarespace – Squarespace is consistent in their very unusual advertising that is expected to build brand awareness for their web site development tool. The only connection I can make is that the actress Winona Ryder is the star in Stranger Things. How appropriate.
New York Life – How do you talk about life and death in an inspiring way for a Life Insurance Company. New York Life gave us a brilliant example in their 60 second feel good commercial that elevated their brand to a higher calling. Agape – Love as an action. They got it right.
Hyundai – Here is a great demonstration of a technological feature – Smart Park – that is unexpected on a Hyundai. It is a point of differentiation and promotes the Sonata as a luxury vehicle. And the celebrities used made it fun.
Frito-Lay – Cheetos is just a crunchy extruded, then fried corn-based carrier for delivering the great cheese flavoring loyal Cheetos fans love. Adding a new carrier, popcorn is a brilliant line extension to deliver the flavor on a not fried base. MC Hammer singing his song, Can’t Touch This, focuses the commercial on the flavoring, so in the words of Colonel Sanders, I think this one is Finger Licking Good. Disclosure – Mike was a brand manager on Cheetos when he worked at Frito Lay.
Olay Skin Care – I think Olay is trying to build their social media following by encouraging women to tweet #MakeSpaceForWomen @OLAYSKIN. They will contribute $1 for everyone who does it through Monday up to $500,000. I am providing this information as a public service because unless you have a pause and rewind button, you will miss it completely.
Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold – I believe Anheuser-Busch has a better understanding of the Michelob target audience in this commercial. Helping to support more organic farming to make the world a better place will connect with their consumers.
Avocados from Mexico – I guess there are a lot of people out there who love dumb humor even if it has nothing to do with the product. They probably work in advertising for Avocados from Mexico, but is this type of humor part of Avocados ideal persona?
Pringles – Pringles is all about flavors. Stacking different flavors to make even more flavors is right on target. However, I always wonder how effective a commercial is when you have to be familiar with the show (Rick and Morty in Adult Swim.) to appreciate the joke. So, I checked and last year, Adult Swim averaged only 646 thousand viewers, down 200 thousand viewers from 2018 or less than one percent of the Super Bowl audience. The person who approved this commercial was obviously one of them.
Turbo-Tax – Intuit has a great idea. Communicate that filing your taxes is simple and easy with Turbo Tax, so “All People are Tax People.” They did an excellent job in bringing out the fun, but I am not sure the communication was simple and easy to understand.
Hyundai Genesis – John Legend and Chrissy Teigen pick on their “old luxury” friends as a way to promote Hyundai’s Genesis. A funny concept, but I am not sure how it ties into promoting a luxury car. I hope the creators enjoyed the party while shooting this commercial as it might be the last great party they have for a while.
Coca-Cola Energy – Coke is jumping on the turbo caffeinated trend with Energy – What you want in a taste you love. If you are a fan of Will Jonah Hill or Martin Scorsese, you will put up with the 60 seconds for Coke to communicate this message. If not, you will need Energy to keep you awake.
Planter’s original plan was have Mr. Peanut die by dropping the 104 year old mascot off a cliff and blowing him up just to make sure he died. You think I am kidding? Here is the link. Mr. Peanut’s demise. In 1980, Jack In The Box Restaurants blew up their clown to dramatize the change they were making to update their menu. (The Food is Better at the Box) What was Planters trying to dramatize here? Rest in Peace, Mr. Peanut. They then planned to come back in the second half with a surprise rebirth of Mr. Peanut.
The folks at Planters appropriately decided not to air this commercial following the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and eight other wonderful people last week. I decided to post my comments as a learning exercise unrelated to the real accident and recognize that the Planters team at least made one good decision.
Google – Our most valuable assets in life are the relationships we develop and shared memories. Google captures the emotion of those assets we cherish and effectively and tastefully ties them into the essence of the service they offer. And they did it without celebrities or humor. Beautiful.
Weather Tech – I was very hard on WeatherTech when they first started advertising in the Super Bowl. No one knew what they did and all they focused on was Made in America. For the past couple years, they have been illustrating their products in fun and dramatic ways. Thank you. However, this year they moved back to a brand image ad with no mention of product. And it works. First, everyone knows now what WeatherTech makes so a brand image ad is acceptable. Second, they focused on a man’s best friend. That is a guaranteed winner. This is a wonderful example of how supporting an important nonpolitical cause can be a terrific brand builder. Well done Weather Tech.
PopTarts Pretzel – This is a fun commercial that does a good job featuring a new line extension. But on Super Bowl Sunday, this product will get stuck in the toaster.
Verizon – This communications company focuses on what the brave men and women have to do everyday to successfully fulfill their mission and purpose and 5G is only a tool that assists them in more effectively doing their job. It will not replace courage, bravery, compassion and the willingness to put others lives in front of their own. This is a wonderful image commercial and it compliments their other commercials that focus on the great enhancements 5G brings to their ability to serve.
SodaStream – How do you make an appliance that carbonates water exciting enough to stand out in the SuperBowl? I guess you find water on Mars and drink it. It’s out of this world.
Mike Bloomberg for President – I work hard to be politically neutral in my commentary. So the only thing I will say about this commercial is if Mike Bloomberg is trying to reach the people in the audience who believe that having tougher gun control laws is the critical issue in November, then George H. Kemp Junior’s mother is very effective.
Bud Light Seltzer – Bud Light has come out with a line extension that is not a beer. Very interesting strategy to leverage off a great brand name, but the trade-off is confusion. If they are trying to convert light beer drinkers to spiked seltzer drinkers, this campaign has legs. But if they are trying to capture a larger share of adult beverage drinkers who do not drink beer, this idea will fizzle.
Little Caesars Pizza Delivery – Best thing since sliced Bread. This must be the year clichés take a hit. Finally, Little Caesars is offering delivery which has been a staple in the category about the same time sliced bread was invented. However, Rainn Wilson (Star of The Office TV series) should make the folks at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company proud.
Cool Ranch Doritos – Legendary Cowboy (Sam Elliott) meets contemporary rapper Cowboy (Lil Nas X) in a new age shoot out. Sam is no match for Lil Nas X in a contemporary world and wins the bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. It may end up in the middle of the pack in the popularity contest, but it gets a high score in my book because the theme is brand appropriate, and the product is the hero. Note: Mike worked on Doritos and helped to roll out Nacho Cheese Doritos while at Frito Lay.
Pepsi Zero Sugar – Pepsi continues their long history of effectively using contemporary music stars to create a positive image about their products. Rapper Missy Elliott and singer H.E.R. bring their talents together and do exactly that. A special bonus that will certainly energize the Pepsi Bottlers is watch the cans turn from Red to Black. Note: Mike was Director of Marketing for the Pepsi Bottling Group when Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie were Pepsi celebrities.
Heinz – The good old slow pour returned to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2016 by dividing the screen into four vignettes. In the most competitive and cluttered four hours on television, focusing on four ideas at once is not focusing. Time to put this one back in the bottle.
Kia – A wonderful story about Josh Jacobs inspiring young men with his lessons learned growing up in a tough neighborhood. I am just not sure anyone will remember it as a car commercial or that it was introducing the Kia Seltos.
Reese’s Take 5 – Candy commercials are supposed to be fun and Mars does a wonderful job of making fun of all the clichés around being clueless. I am not sure their premise – “The best bar you’ve never heard of” works well in selling a candy bar. However, the line, “the best bar you’ve never heard of“ will still ring true on Monday and $5.6 million later.
Amazon Alexa – Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi star in a playful commercial that attempts to answer the question, “What did we do before Alexa?” The creative is engaging and focuses directly on the product benefit. Jeff Bezos’ fingerprints are all over this one with the newspaper boy delivering the line “Fake News.” He somehow was able to make a political jab that Republicans, Democrats and the Washington Post should all appreciate. There were a couple other subtle and not so subtle nods that could easily be recognized or ignored.
Michelob ULTRA – For Jimmy Fallon fans, this commercial will be great as it focuses on in a very funny way on Jimmy’s dislike for working out. For the Michelob ULTRA target audience who lives a healthy lifestyle, it might not be so great. Did anyone notice Usain Bolt in that commercial? Why?
Toyota – Cobie Smulders is the super hero and saves the day in her All New Toyota Highlander. The Highlander is also the hero – exactly what the advertised product is supposed to be.
Secret – There maybe not another brand more appropriate to take on the fight for women equality than Secret deodorant. And Procter and Gamble did it with an inspirational commercial with intrigue and emotion. All Strength, No Sweat on this three pointer.
Discover Card – If your most compelling message about your credit card is no annual fee, then you need to lead with it. And Discover Card does a great job delivering the message – “No.” And if that is not the most important reason to get the card, I am concerned that the potential buyer will also be delivering the same message – No.
Budweiser – Finally after too long of a hiatus, Budweiser comes back with a commercial that celebrates the best of the American Spirit. This feel good commercial is as American as hot dogs, Apple Pie and Bud.
Procter & Gamble just confirmed in a dramatic fashion that when you try to force all of your brands under a corporate umbrella in to one minute $11.2 million commercial, something very bad will hit the fan. Where was Tide in this mess?
Microsoft – Here is a brilliant commercial that features a talented young woman shattering the glass ceiling and becoming the first female coach in the NFL. To make it even more impactful, she coached 49ers in the Super Bowl. Congratulations Katie Sowers, the NFL and the 49ers. And congratulations to Microsoft for tactfully getting the Microsoft Surface appropriately included in a wonderful image ad.
Jeep – For the Bill Murray fans and lovers of the Movie Groundhog Day, this was another wonderful commercial with the Jeep as the center of attention. How appropriate that it aired on Groundhogs day.
Facebook Groups – Facebook is helping to create communities of people around like minded ideas, passions or hobbies. This commercial does a nice job at dramatizing the diversity of interesting groups around one common word – Rock. While it lacks any emotional connection with the viewer, it rocks for generating awareness of Facebook Groups.
Audi Electric – Audi had all the ingredients for a great commercial. Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones singing the theme song from Disney’s Frozen – “Let It Go,” while driving through chaos in an Audi. However, if the real objective was to introduce their Electric car, the creative destroyed the recipe for making that point.
McDonald’s – Here is a brilliant commercial that features what celebrities like Kim Kardashian,Whoopi Goldberg, Julius Caesar, Marty McFly and Dracula order at McDonald’s. But unless this is designed to be some form of subliminal advertising, the names and the trays come out so fast, it is hard to digest.
About Mike Wien – As a former corporate marketing leader, Wien held senior marketing and sales positions with Frito-Lay, Pepsi, Omni Hotels, CitiBank, and Deloitte. He recently retired as an adjunct professor of marketing and franchising at the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality at Georgia State University and moved to Boulder, Colorado. He delivers keynote speeches primarily to franchise organizations on gaining a competitive advantage or Specific Edge and still actively trains for triathlon world championships in his age group.
Mike Wien
The Specific Edge Institute
345 Erie Drive
Boulder, Colorado 80303