Out to Launch
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Allstate's Super Bowl ad shows Mayhem throughout history. Teamwork reigns supreme in Hyundai's big-game spot. Let's launch!
  • SpeedstickSpeed Stick is making its Super Bowl ad debut with an ad crowdsourced by Tongal and developed by Red Fuse. Airing in the third quarter, “Unattended Laundry” is part of the brand’s Handle It campaign, featuring men who are sweating on the inside but cool and collected on the outside. Tired of waiting for an open dryer at the laundromat, a man moves someone’s finished clothes to a nearby basket. He drops one item of clothing, a skimpy pair of yellow panties, just as the owner comes for her clothes. The man plays it cool by telling the woman that he was folding her clothes so they won’t get wrinkled. Rather than wonder why this guy is holding her undies, she finds this act sweet. He almost gets away unscathed until he adds, “I’d fold your panties any day.” See it here. This reminds me of the Twix “Need a Moment” campaign, where a guy says something stupid and eats a Twix while figuring out how to right the situation.

    AllstateAllstate is running a 30-second ad, featuring Mayhem, played by Dean Winters, in Position 1A, immediately after the Super Bowl ends. A 60-second version of the ad launched on the company’s YouTube channel, which is really good and probably didn’t cost $4 million, since it technically airs post-game. Well done. The long-form ad shows the important roles Mayhem played throughout history. He’s the apple that Eve gives to Adam: "I'm a forbidden fruit and not to brag or nothing, but I'm pretty much the most amazing apple ever." He’s the reason why dinosaurs are extinct, and why the Trojan horse made it into Troy; he’s the cow responsible for the Chicago fire, why the Liberty Bell is cracked, why the leaning tower of Pisa is slanted, and why the NFL referees went on strike. The spot ends with Mayhem biting an apple as the voiceover states: “Mayhem has been and always will be everywhere.” See it here, created by Leo Burnett.

    HyundaiHyundai is running two ads during the big game, promoting its Santa Fe and Sonata Turbo vehicles. In “Team,” a 30-second spot running in the first quarter, a bully messes with the wrong kid. After taking a kid’s football, the bully tells the kid to come back when he has a team. No problem. The kid and his mom rustle up a group of kids around town to assemble a dream team. There’s the boy lifting weights in his driveway; the kid welding with his father; the boy holding a bear in a headlock; and a kid carrying an adult man out of a burning building. When the finished team returns to the park, they opt for tackle, rather than touch football. See it here. It’s better to lead than follow in “Stuck,” a 30-second spot running in the second quarter. I mean, who wants to be stuck driving behind a pair of horses’ behinds, drooling dogs, a fireworks truck or motorcycle man with visible butt crack? The sonata Turbo lets you pass these eyesores with ease. Watch it here. Innocean USA created the campaign.

    SamsungMobileSamsung Mobile launched a teaser spot on its YouTube page for its two-minute big game ad. In it, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd pitch ideas to Bob Odenkirk, reprising his role as Saul Goodman, a sleazy lawyer from “Breaking Bad.” Rogen and Rudd are told that trademarked words can’t be used, like Super Bowl, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens. They refer to the game as El Plato Supreme and the teams as The San Francisco 50 minus 1ers and the Baltimore Black Birds. See it here, created by 72andSunny.