To say that the Super Bowl is a spectacle of advertising as much as it is of sport has been an understatement for many years now. Indeed, were it not for the advertisements, what entertainment would there be for those who have no particular inclination for football? Companies this year will be paying some $4 million for every 30 seconds of air time during the game’s commercial breaks. This is an obscene amount of money, so we should at least expect some really creative and, hopefully, tasteful work from the advertising agencies. Of course, there are likely to be some flops as is always the case, but here are some commercials that have been leaked or previewed that are especially notable, in my humble opinion at least.
SodaStream (SODA) is one possible favorite for several reasons. The Israeli company has been performing very well on the NASDAQ, but the commercial they have slated for the Super Bowl is truly impressive. The company offers consumers a practical and aesthetically tasteful means of making carbonated beverages in the comfort of their own homes, and without the usual scroll of multi-syllabic additives and chemicals found in store-brand soft drinks like Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsi (PEP). The advertisement itself reflects the company’s confidence in its product, and this confidence translates into the content of the commercial with a delightful helping of poetic flare. The relatively short spot features SodaStream users who, every time they press the button that carbonates their very own soda, cause the bottles of commercial soda brands in stores and warehouses to explode and disappear. It is a delightfully literal depiction of what the company would like to do to the mainstream soda market, and the whole thing has a very enjoyable arrogance. One gets the impression that SodaStream may just have a good enough product to pull it off, at least in some measure. This is a company that could actually benefit significantly from the exposure of a Super Bowl spot.
Another promising spot could be Unilever’s (UL) Axe Apollo line of deodorant. Axe commercials are generally a guilty pleasure for its targeted demographic, what with their ad absurdum exploitation of stereotypical gender relations. Their commercial for this year’s Super Bowl has for its theme the “damsel in distress”, but with a twist. It’s somewhat of a knee-slapper, like the entire lot of Axe’s highly-stylized commercials, but it has its appeal all the same.
A familiar name for perennial viewers of the Super Bowl is E*Trade (ETFC). It is yet another spot featuring the popular E*Trade baby. While it may not be anything new, the campaign has served the online brokerage firm well in the past.
Which Super Bowl commercials were your favorites this year?
