The Super Bowl was indeed super this year. The ads? Not so much. The general consensus among the black-turtleneck-wearing ad types is it was a down year for Super Bowl advertising. Although my turtleneck is dark gray, I concur.
The New York Giants weren’t the only winners. Advertisers saw their ads (good and bad) played all over the Internet as the media and bloggers used the buzz of the event to drive audience participation. You’ve never seen so many Top 10 lists!
If you need one last dose of Super Bowl advertising, I’ve reviewed dozens of websites and here are a few lists that summed the year up nicely:
The Best: YouTube’s Adblitz
The Worst: Fox Sports 10 Worst of 2008
While hunting, there were several Top 10 Lists of All Time. MSNBC’s Top 10 Best Super Bowl Ads of All Time was my fave.
I’m sure the suspense is killing you, so I’ll get on with what you are really here for. The Most Responsible Super Bowl Ad for Super Bowl XLII is:
Tide’s ad entitled “The Interview” was voted Most Responsible by The Responsible Marketing Blog visitors.
This very simple ad respected the audience, had breakthrough, original creative, and delivered Tide’s key message in a powerful way (a stain on your shirt is a very big deal). It blended logic and magic, the necessary ingredients for great advertising. People remembered it, and remembered that it was for Tide.
Indeed, it’s the same ad voted #1 for 2008 by YouTube visitors, and though I’m not sure if I can draw any conclusions, it’s nice to see some correlation between responsible and what people like.
To see how the rest of the ads fared in the Responsible Marketing poll, check out Responsible Super Bowl ads: You decide.
Great blog, Patrick! I’ve just come out of my post-SuperBowl depression (over the loss of my undefeated Patriots). Your post reminded me that I’ve blocked out memory of most of what occurred that night, including the ads. I agree that the stained shirt was memorable, albeit really annoying.
I’m sure this crowd would agree with me that the least Responsible ad was the GoDaddy commercial. True, the point of the ad is to get the audience to take action, and the ad undoubtedly prompted lots of traffic to their website. But for me, seeing Danika Patrick’s zipper action was not a big draw, and while it takes a lot to offend me (this didn’t), as a female web marketer who buys services like the one GoDaddy offers, I felt ignored. I guess it’s not called “GoMommy” for a reason.
Now, substitute Tom Brady for Danika, we might have a different ball game! Michelle – http://www.TheSassyLadies.com