Horses, Cookies and Patriotism

Horses

Way long before my first sip of beer… before I even knew what beer was, Budweiser made me want a horse. Like many little girls, I loved horses. Every year during the Super Bowl that Budweiser features a spot with at least one Clydesdale, I got back to my childhood.

(This year, I may have been enjoying a Yuengling Light during that spot however…)

Patriotism

Chrysler has turned things around in the past few years (I guess since I stopped working for one of their dealers). They consistently produce half time spots that make you stop whatever you’re doing or saying and listen. The Jeep spot this year was no different. The heart-felt message was not about selling Jeeps, it was about promoting what Chrysler supports. (If you don’t know, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep are the same company.)

When I saw the Jeep-USO ad, I consulted the internet to see what types of support the company gives the USO and came across Operation Safe Return as well as other community service efforts. People online talked about the ad being inappropriate or misplaced money, but honestly, it was one of the few commercials that gave you something to hold onto when it was done. Likewise the God Made a Farmer Dodge Ram spot also made you stop, listen and appreciate.

Cookies

I wasn’t crazy about the Oreo library commercial. But Oreo really pulled out with a social media win during the power outage. Some quick-thinking genius in their marketing department got this picture out there and it’s immediately made it’s rounds on Twitter. High five to that… I guess the vague Instagram plug helped them some.

Some other Super Bowl ad thoughts:

I’m pretty sure that I still don’t like Go Daddy. Sure their commercials get people to talk about them… but do they motivate people to use them? I saw tweets across the board from bloggers who refuse to use Go Daddy services and agencies that advise their clients against using the company. Solely due to their advertising, I’d choose against them too.

I am completely over hashtags on ads. In fact, the words after the # don’t even register in my mind. Do people really use the tags?

Taco Bell made us all laugh with it’s spot featuring the elderly partying then hitting up Taco Bell before heading back to the nursing home. I remember evening Taco Bell runs in college, but I can guarantee that none of us partied as hard back then as the old people in the commercial.

I was unimpressed by most car commercials (aside from the ones mentioned above). Lincoln kind of dissed on their own product and the rest of them were confusing or didn’t actually send a message. One other standout was the Mercedes commercial. Selling a Mercedes for “under 30,000” is definitely a departure from the norm and a direct target to a younger buying segment. Brad immediately pulled out is phone and started researching how exactly they could offer a legitimate Mercedes for that price. I completely understand this move by many car companies but are the luxury brands concerned about becoming every day brands or diluting their images?

If you missed any of the commercials or want to go back and rewatch them, there’s a website dedicated to them.