Commentary

Out To Launch: Super Bowl Edition, Day 1

CokeI wasn’t a huge fan of Coca-Cola’s multiscreen Super Bowl campaign last year with the real-time polar bears, but this year’s campaign has me changing my tune. “Mirage,” a 60-second spot running during the first half of the game, has already debuted online. Viewers will decide the ad’s conclusion, with the winning plot airing after the Super Bowl. The ad takes place in the desert where a band of cowboys, a group of badlanders and bus full of Vegas showgirls are looking to quench their thirst. In the horizon is a bottle of Coca-Cola, which each of the three groups are determined to reach first, even if it means glitter-bombing a cowboy with purple glitter. The bottle of Coke turns out to be a large billboard with directions for an actual Coke 50 miles away. Undeterred, the groups continue their quest for Coke and fans are directed to CokeChase.com to vote for the most deserving group. See it here. Once a vote has been cast, fans can sabotage a rival group. For example, cowboys can be delayed by a railroad crossing while the other groups continue onward. Fifteen different sabotages were filmed – five against each group. Additional content can be found on Facebook, Twitter (#CokeShowgirls, #CokeCowboys or #CokeBadlanders), Tumblr, YouTube and Instagram. Whom will you vote for? Wieden + Kennedy Portland created the campaign.

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Go DaddyThis is the ninth consecutive year that GoDaddy has advertised in the Super Bowl. Boy, do I feel old. I remember the days when the brand would submit risqué ads to be rejected and publicized in ad trades. Now, the brand has an agency and releases creative prior to the big game that’s best defined as your average Super Bowl spot: forgettable. “YourBigIdea.CO” will air during the fourth quarter at the two-minute warning break. A group of husbands are in no rush to put their big idea online because they think it’s one in a million. Each wife doesn’t believe her couch potato-husband’s nonsense, and rightfully so. Each guy had the same idea but only one put it online and he’s living large, traveling in a private jet piloted by Danica Patrick. Watch it here, created by Deutsch, NY.

VWVolkswagen teased its big game ad with “Sunny Side,” a 60-second ad that gives famous YouTube breakdowns a “web redemption,” as Tosh.0 would say. The ad begins with memorable meltdowns preserved on YouTube. There’s the eHarmony gal who gets emotional about cats; a screaming politician, rival mascots fighting, and a guy who destroys his Xbox because someone called him fat. These folks reunite in greener pastures, singing “Get Happy” alongside reggae musician Jimmy Cliff. See it here. Released today was “Get Happy,” a 60-second spot airing during the second quarter. While it’s not “The Force” or “The Dog Strikes Back,” I dare you to watch this ad and not smile back at your computer. An office worker sees the bright side to every situation at work. What’s puzzling is where this Minnesotan’s Jamaican accent came from. Despite dismal company earnings shared at a recent staff meeting, our office optimist takes on the task of making his co-workers smile, by taking them for a ride in his Volkswagen Beetle. The man’s two passengers return to work with an upbeat attitude and Jamaican accent. “Don’t be no cloud on a sunny day,” says one convert to a Debbie Downer. Watch it here, created by Deutsch LA.

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