It’s been a while since I’ve written about one of my favorite topics – commercials.
Fortunately, the Super Bowl took place a week ago, and as always, it’s a showcase for companies’ best ads.
According to USA Today, there were 56 commercials this year.
I’ve picked my top six. This review is mainly based on whether I liked the ad, but I will admit to being influenced by the Top 10 list at USA Today, the ADPLAN ratings of the Kellogg School of Business MBAs, and Advertising Age’s published ratings of the ads.
However, I always start my look at Super Bowl ads by reading the in-depth review written at Forbes by my friend and fellow Villanova colleague, Ray Taylor. Ray offers his top five, and a set of honorable mentions. I am happy to say that I have two of the same ads that are in his top five, and one of his honorable mentions.
Without further ado, here are my six favorite adverts, in no particular order.
Toyota’s wonderful ad, looking at the power of brotherly love and determination:
My guess I would have picked any ad that had Anna Kendrick ad in it, but this is actually a great ad:
Another ad from Toyota, this one featuring the Joneses, plus a Jonas. The best line is the last one, uttered by Tommy Lee Jones. And it’s got Tom Jones singing in the background; what more could you ask for.
A touching ad from Kia, featuring a classic song, Total Eclipse of the Heart. A wonderful ending.
I think this next one from Amazon Alexa is the one made me laugh the most. Features Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost.
How could I not include an ad that features one of my favorite comedians – Larry David. He’s just like he is on his show, Curb Your Enthusiasm – what more could you ask for?!
*image from InBusiness Madison
On the last one, my grandpa used to tell me that us city people were disgusting because we went to the bathroom in our house.
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did your grandpa ever use the indoor bathroom?
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I think the last one with Larry David was my favorite. He’s brilliant in just about anything. I also like both Toyota ads and the Amazon one. I think commercials continue to get better in most cases.
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there were a few good ones this year, I think more than the past few years…
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Alexa ads are always good for a laugh.
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they have have had some good ones…
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Larry was my fun fav and I loved the sentiment of the brothers spot
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there was a good one for flamin hot cheetos as well 🙂
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that was cute too
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I can’t believe I just watched six ads! That’s more than I’ve watched all week. I recognised Castle Grey Skull in the Barbie ad. My son had one of those a million aeons ago. Love that Kia. It’s pretty cool. Alexa’s too scary.
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These are all entertaining and great choices. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the Alexa ad. It was hilarious. The only thing that would have made it better is if Anna Kendrick was in it too!
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that would have been an amazing combination, but it was fun having a real-life married couple doing the Alexa ad…
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Agreed, and Scarlett is no slouch! 😍
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quite true…
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Haha, great choices! Funny, I was thinking about you when I saw the Toyota brothers commercial, thinking that you could write something about it 🙂
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I do like to write about ads – and that was a great one…
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So far I haven’t purchased any of the items that were being advertised during the Super Bowl. So from my observation, they have all failed.
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you wouldn’t want Castle Grayskull in the Rocket Mortgage ad? They even created a listing for it on their web site: https://www.rockethomes.com/homes/castlegrayskull
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Impressive. Are you getting a commission?
Seems most of the things businesses advertise are things I’m not interested in. But I will admit that when I’ve had an interest in buying something, and an ad comes on for it, my ears perk up and I do pay close attention.
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I admit to being influened by ads on occasion…
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An interesting set, but I hope the game was better! That first Toyota ad says nothing about cars, it’s just a meaningless slogan – did they use the same agency as the Leave campaign in our referendum? To be honest, these mostly left me cold, but I’m probably not their target market. I enjoyed watching Scarlett though, whatever the ad was about 😉
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I think some ads just try to pull at your heart strings, like the first Toyota ad. I think it was just associating itself with the Olympics…
and the Scarlett one was great…
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I thought it was more cynical than a genuine attempt at sincerity, to be honest. And it had nothing to do with their product!
My problem with watching Scarlett is that I tend to get distracted from what is being said 😉
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but apparently Scarlett has morning breath like the rest of us 🙂
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A small fault, easily rectified and forgiven. The problem for the rest of us is that we don’t have her looks…
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life just isn’t fair…
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Ok so I am torn between Alexa and Rocket mortgage. Both were very funny. Or at least my definition of funny and in my books, that’s what counts. I like to be entertained.
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I watched Puppy Bowl so I missed all of those. My favorites were Rocket Homes and Kia! Thanks for posting.
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I missed the Puppy Bowl this year! I didn’t watch much of the game either…
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I liked all of these but Larry David’s is my favourite of course!
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LD is the best!
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Thanks, Jim! I showed three of them to my kids. The Toyota one about the brothers made me cry; I know someone with that condition.
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that was a moving commercial, and I am sure knowing someone made it hit close to home.
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Thank you so much for the great LD!
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the LD ad was great…
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Yes. Would love to buy him a pint. Cheers!
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if you get the chance, please invite me…
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Wil do 😃
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👍
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I loved the Alexa ad. I think the Larry David ad is the one that crashed the company’s website.
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those were both great ads. I did not hear about the Larry David ad crashing the web site!
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I assume that’s the one – I didn’t verify. Saw a headline that a superbowl ad caused such a rush that a crypto site crashed.
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I just looked it up – it was an add for Coinbase…
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Yep. The headline I found was messed up. Thx for the correction!
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and coinbase is the app I use for my minuscule investment in bitcoin…
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Confirmed.
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I loved the Dorito ad, and laughed my head off at the Sam Adams beer ad by the Boston robots. Where are these on your list, Jim (just kidding)?
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those were both great as well – so many good ones to choose from this year…
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Yes!
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Love the Superbowl ads better than the halftime show lol 🙂 Brutal loss for Bengals at the end. 🙂
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I rarely watch the halftime show, but I always try to catch the commercials.
While I didn’t care too much about the outcome, I think was secretly rooting for the Bengals…
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With you on all counts 🙂
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👍
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