I'm not your target audience.
10 quick thoughts on Super Bowl 2024
I can see the budgets, the briefs, the buys, and the backroom conversations that go into each spot (And this year for Verizon, the budget, brief, buy, and backroom were all just one word: Beyoncé).
We all know ad space during the big game is a function of the above, but I’m much more interested in how the brands who decide to play actually show up, aka, the creative choices in each individual ad. Whose strategists were on target? Who had the courage of their convictions? Who trusted their creative team? Who really went for it?
It’s one of my core professional tenets that if you’re spending money to make creative work - ANY amount of money, ANY creative work - you should make it really work. Start with strategy. Sweat the details. Sharpen everything. Be brave. Be REALLY brave.
And creative bravery truly does start with strategy. Full Stop. It also should *never* correlate to a production budget, big game or not. But for the Super Bowl, when you know you’re in for millions and millions of media dollars, playing it safe becomes genuinely silly. Come on: Even if you miss, for that much money, why not take a real swing?
Overall, I wasn’t blown away by anything this year. And as usual, I silently toasted the two amazing Super Bowl commercials I’ve worked on that were both left on the shelf, one due to lack of media budget and one because the client didn’t renew talent rights (again, budget).
Ben Affleck could have handed Dunkin’ Donuts their SuperBowl creative brief on a silver platter (or in a pink and orange box) for YEARS and they finally went for it. Everything Ben & Matt & Jen & Boston everywhere all at once. Over the top and fully stupid, but missing nothing. Finally. They can move on now.
Volkswagen was perfection.
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A perfectly chosen verse of (Jewish grandson of immigrants) Neil Diamond’s “I am…I said” underscored nods to immigrant journeys and contributions, the decades-long cultural relevance of the brand, nostalgia for simpler times, beloved previous commercials, American manufacturing, technology, innovation, StarWars, and the Simpsons. Could have been overly obvious, but showed intelligence and restraint. This is what comes from a tight strategy.
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For a German brand - with a very very spotty history - to land an ad dedicated to America that was at its core beautifully American could not have been easy. (The Johannes Leonardo crew makes REALLY good work.)
I know, I know, bring on the hate, but I find the dorky Instacart “I’m at the combination football game and grocery store” ad strangely endearing. (Yes, I know where the song is from. Yes, it’s annoying. It makes me giggle.) What ruins it for me is the insistence of putting “This is grocery shopping” as a walkup line to the logo. If the ad is doing its job correctly, everyone will have “grocery store” running through their heads already. Just land the brand.
Poppi did a great job of visually transmitting their brand, but it was ruined by a too-long script that said the same thing over and over and over again and a (killer!) song that had little relevance to the actual work. Future of soda. Next chapter. Not a dirty word. Not your mom’s soda. Soda but not soda! Pick a line - ONE line - and (again) land the brand.
Cheers to a :60 that didn’t try to cram EVERYTHING in. Well paced, funny, and a perfect use of a 3rd quarter buy. “Basil Babes? Paprika Girls?” Please Special Group, release the lines you rejected for this scene. They’ve got to be gold.
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I usually resent high-buzz ads that debut early, but thank God Uber Eats’s ad did. Kudos to the unsung producers, editors, and post teams that turned around a new ad for the actual game.
Kia
I’ve seen some love for the Kia ad with the ice skating granddaughter but all I could see was white upper class privilege. An expensive sport. A grandfather with a huge house. A beautifully lit ice rink in his backyard? I guarantee that’s not what Kia wanted me to see.
(My guess? This was a direct aim at a specific - and likely new - target demographic.)
Kawasaki
In the same vein...who on earth was Kawasaki targeting with that mullet commercial? Who buys their products, people who have mullets or the people who make fun of people who have mullets? I can’t imagine either group liked it.
Disney+
Wow Disney has a lot of IP.
Verizon
Wow Verizon has a lot of money.