Super Bowl Commercial round up of 2010

The Super Bowl has come and gone with the Saints marching on as the victors. But there were other winners during last night’s game, and those were the companies who paid millions for advertising holy grail. And how did those commercials shape up? Here are my favorites, the ones I thought were mediocre and then finally those that were the worst.

Want to see the commercials again? Check them out on the CBS website.

Let’s start with the best, divided up by quarter:

1st Quarter:

Bud Light House: A house built entirely out of Bud Light? That’s almost as classic as the Heineken walk-in fridge where the guys are screaming like women. The best part is the end with the Bud Light shower window and the guy’s wife screaming. Sorry dude, but “sorry” ain’t gonna cut it in a situation like that.

Simpsons Coca-Cola: I’m not a huge Simpsons fan anymore. The show was funny when I was a kid and we had lines like “don’t have a cow, man!” to say in class to one another. But last night’s commercial with Mr. Burns losing it all shows how a commercial can be funny and touching all at the same time. Plus, who would have thought that Apu had such a big heart?

T-Pain: My dad had to ask me what “auto tune” was in order to get this commercial, but it was almost as funny as “Wassup” and the Budweiser frogs from years back. T-Pain at the end asking to pass the guacamole was an especially nice touch, Bud Light.

Bachelor Party: Free Willy meets The Hangover in this commercial. How can you beat that? Also, flipping the whale into the water was a great move for Bridgestone to “show off the capabilities of their tires.” As if that wasn’t done on a closed course by a professional driver. PS – Loved the “It’s in my mouth!” moment of the commercial and the whale screaming.

2nd Quarter:

Human Bridge: Who couldn’t love this commercial. The bridge is out, and Budwesier is on the other side. “Come on everybody, lend a hand!” The only other thing that would have made this commercial any better would have been a cameo appearance by the General Lee.

I Wear No Pants: Both a co-worker and I agreed that this was a strange way to sell pants. But you know what? I went to check out the Dockers website and try to win a free pair of pants. I didn’t but maybe you will?

Plane Wreck: Take the premise of Lost, add in a plane radio and a beverage cart full of Bud Light. Which do the stranded islanders go for? The Bud Light, of course. Bonus points for making a jacuzzi out of a plane engine and for tuning the radio from emergency response to music for the party.

Punxsutawney Polamalu: Any commercial with Troy Polamalu is automatically funny in my book. Once the grand marshal says “six more weeks of football,” the look on the mini Polamalu is priceless. I expect my dad to say at some point “they should make a special Wii avatar for him.” Indeed Dad, they should.

3rd Quarter:

Punch Buggy: I used to play this game as a kid with my sister and our friends. My question is, why did it take so long to make this into a Volkswagen commercial. Using Stevie Wonder with Tracy Morgan at the end was also a good call for that director. “How do you do that?” was the perfect way to end it.

Get Out of Town Chickens: Denny’s has got something up their sleeve with this commercial. I just wish I lived close to one so I can get my free Grand Slam breakfast. Like the Taco Bell dog, the Budweiser frogs and lizards and the Geico lizard, animals always do well when personified.

Wolf Style: I love the baby commercials. They’re hilarious and take a different spin on something every time they make a new one. “Milka-what?” from the girl who pops in at the end is the best part of this commercial.

Search On: Google is finally getting that good advertising can take them a long way. The Droid commercials were kind of stupid, but I got them. This one was the perfect use of Google in all its different ways, and reminds people why they love their favorite search engine. It helps them find information for everything from long distance relationships to how to put together a crib. Bonus points for showing off the contextual search based on what you type in.

4th Quarter:

Human Dolphins: In a reverse of personifying animals, Pop Secret and Emeralds Nuts took humans and made them into aquatic creatures who can do all sorts of cool tricks. Tacky wardrobe aside, it really made me laugh. That is the sign of any good commercial.

Calf Grows Up: I’d been waiting for a Clydesdale Budweiser commercial all night, and this one didn’t disappoint. “You can’t keep friends apart” was a great way to end the somewhat touching commercial.

Removed Spine: Flo TV had some excellent commercials, but I thought this one was the best. It resonated with me the most because I know how that guy felt shopping with his girlfriend.

Mediocre:

(I’m simply going to list here instead of explain why I thought they were mediocre.)

1st Quarter: Tebow, The Shuffle (?), Massage (Go Daddy), Timothy Richmond (cars.com)

2nd Quarter: Casual Friday, Brett Farve, Flowers in a Box

3rd Quarter: Lance Armstrong, The Griswalds, Sumo Wrestler

4th Quarter: Internet TV, Stealing Squirrel, Just One Box

Note: Who ever gave permission for white guys or Charles Barkley to rap?

The Worst:

Hyundai: They made some pretty crappy commercials, except for the Brett Farve one. That one was OK, but only because I chuckled at the “I’m 50, older than everyone in the league and I’m the MVP. Is it time for me to retire? I don’t know…)

Man’s Last Stand: Dear Chrysler – You really want to piss off your female customer base and lose more money? Run this commercial again about a thousand times. Girlfriends and wives everywhere will stay away from dealerships and by association, guys will too. Bad move on your part.

Round Up: So let me get this straight, Round Up. You spend that much money on a Super Bowl spot in the third quarter, one shot only, and you use it on a “let’s show off how effective our product is” commercial. Someone needs to fire the creative people at that advertising agency, or the in-house people who let that commercial run. I could have come up with a thousand better commercials than that…

Too Hot for TV: Go Daddy, we get it. You guys are “on the edge” of consumer entertainment and are trying to get more people to register domain names. You know what the problem is? You’re in the wrong venue for such advertising. Sure, hot chicks and Danika Patrick are awesome. But come on, you really expect to get average folks to buy domain names? Seriously? I would have used the money on something else.

Dr. Pepper Cherry: As if we didn’t see mini-Kiss and Kiss playing together coming from a mile away. These commercials were good at first, but now they’re just LAME.

So what was the best commercial of the night? In my opinion, I think it ends up being a tie for Human Bridge and Wolf Style. Let’s face it, the folks who are making these beer commercials know exactly what they’re doing. Heck they don’t even have to make the commercial about the beer, only feature it in some sort of insane way. And Etrade really has a good thing going for itself with the talking babies. My only hope is that they don’t take it too far and ruin the image for themselves.

What was your favorite or hated super bowl commercial? Do you agree with me? Leave a comment.