• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 3, 2014

So which agency won the Super Bowl? I know, I know. Yesterday I said I wouldn't talk about it but, come on, this is Madison Avenue Daily. How can we bypass the biggest event of the year? After all, you agency types need as many pats on the back as you can get! So who do I think won the Super Bowl? While I don't they created the best spot -- that honor goes to GSD&M for their hilarious eighties homage for RadioShack -- I'm going to honor Anomaly which did great work for Budweiser with "Puppy Love" and Hero's Welcome." Yes, there were other good spots but Anomaly delivered a worthy two-fer.

And while I'm congratulating agencies, we should all give a shout out to Grey, which was just named Agency of the Year in Advertising Age's Agency A-List which evaluates "agencies based on creativity, financial performance, and their ability to positively impact a client's business." Why the need for another list? Ad Age Associate Publisher Abbey Klaassen said, “At a time of major transition in the agency space, identifying the leaders among all agency disciplines has never been more important…It identifies for both marketers and agency peers the shops defining the future of the business and what the industry must do to survive: innovate, think creatively and become essential business partners to their clients.” She's got a point. It's a virtual cluster-f... uh...really messed up in the agency space these days and anything that lends clarity can only help. Rounding out the top 10 were Mullen, 360i, Droga5, Anomaly, 72andSunny, Weber Shandwick, 180LA, LatinWorks and R/GA.

Ever heard of Sorenson Advertising? Neither have I. They are based in St. George Utah and they had what they call "a different kind of Super Bowl party." How was it different? Ready? Wait for it? They watched the ads! They celebrated the ads, not the game! And they sent out a press release to share this radical move. OMG, this is, like, really bleeding edge! But sharing a modicum of normalcy (even though it sounds like agency PR wrote it), Sorenson Advertising Creative Director Colby Remund said, “This edition of Super Bowl ads, as in recent years has shown that simple concepts, solid narratives and straight forward execution that captures the audience and win out over weak strategies, smashing walls, and useless celebrity endorsements,. Too often these big money ads become a lost cause by trying so desperately hard to make fireworks. In the end they miss out on big opportunities to connect emotionally with their target audience.”

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