The latest pandemic victim? This year’s harvest of the Super Bowl commercial.
Most Super Bowl LV commercials succumbed to the typical traps of Super Sunday, critics said – either they were too safe and worded, or they were clogged with celebrities and bad ideas. The experts blamed the production challenges, and the rope advertisers had to go, given the divided political climate and the increased death toll of COVID.
“Every year, in Super Bowl advertising, there is good, bad and ugly,” said Rob Schwartz, executive director of TBWA Chiat Day. “This year, it wasn’t good enough and it was worse.”
A key exhibit was Scott’s Miracle-Gro commercial, which – despite being one of the few places to allude to the pandemic, saying the yards are “quite a year old” – jammed with a strange mix of celebrities. from Martha Stewart, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and an almost unrecognized John Travolta.
“It was a train wreck,” Schwartz said. “The Super Bowl is a celebrity arming race, but the problem is the random celebrity for the backyard party. I was thinking, “What am I looking at?” It was very confusing. ”
In addition to the many grim and taboo titles from last year, this year’s advertisers have had to contend with the “hype” and persistent pressure they have with having a Super Bowl spot and the hefty price of 5, $ 5 million for a 30-second commercial. said.
“The amount of money you pay alone makes conservative people,” Schwartz said. “Everyone is looking at what has been successful in the past: celebrity, puppy and baby.”
Maybe this was a problem for the Robinhood trading app, which got tired of an ad that was clearly designed before the recent GameStop frenzy. Using stock images of ordinary people doing normal things, such as stroking a stranger’s dog, jogging and FaceTiming with a friend, Robinhood tried to appeal to all people.
“You don’t need to become an investor, you are born one,” the narrator concludes.
Calling the 30-second spot a “true flop,” the executive said: “Robinhood has actually committed the biggest sin of the Super Bowl Spot. What they did was boring. If you’re boring, you’re done. ”
Instead, Reddit, also at the center of the recent trade frenzy scandal, had a unique, disruptive, five-second ad that displayed images as if it were a car ad before posting a text:
“If you read this, it means that our bets have been paid,” the message read. “One thing we learned from our communities last week is that underwater people can achieve almost anything when we meet around a common area.”
Another deal was Fiverr’s spot, which featured Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, where, in an apparent scam, Rudy Giuliani held a press conference for Trump’s presidential campaign instead of the Four Seasons Hotel. The announcement featured landscaping president Marie Siravo riding a futuristic golf cart into the now-dilapidated famous garage to reveal a lush botanical dream landscape full of busy workers caring for butterflies and waterfalls.
In addition to polarizing, Fiverr’s ads weren’t clear about who Siravo was, what Fiverr was doing, and how her company fit in, said Bill Oberlander, co-founder and executive creative director of the Oberland advertising agency.
“There’s a saying, ‘It’s a long way to go for a ham sandwich,'” Oberlander said. “If these are the circles you have to go through to make a point, maybe they don’t deserve a Super Bowl ad.”
M & M’s generally got the top marks for its funny commercial, with Dan Levy, in which an M&M bag is offered as an excuse.
“I’m sorry for the man’s complaint,” one man said as he handed a bag of M&Ms to a younger woman.
“Then he’s a man,” he said before the woman stopped him from complaining. “I know what it is,” she said.
GM’s announcement pushes Americans to buy more electric cars, featuring Will Ferrell and comedians Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina, also garnered top marks from Oberlander for its ability to weave in a targeted towards purpose with humor.
Norway currently surpasses the US in sales of electric cars. “Well, I can’t stand it,” Ferrell says as he hits a globe in the commercial. “With GM’s new Ultium battery, we will crush that luggage. Crush them! Let’s go to America. ”