Out to Launch
Monday, February 1, 2016
And so begins Super Bowl craziness. Ready for a daily dose of Out to Launch?
  • Blink and you'll easily forget Acura's Super Bowl ad. I know I already did. It's red, white, blue and mechanical. And a waste of a perfectly good Van Halen tune: "Running With The Devil." "What He Said" is 30 seconds of watching a 2017 Acura NSX as it's built, with flashes of red, white and blue strewn throughout. Add David Lee Roth "Whooo!"ing and a closing line of "What He Said" -- and there's your $5 million forgettable spot. See it here, created by Mullen Lowe.

  • Tell me where Ryanville is located and I'll relocate ASAP. Hopefully, it's not the town adjacent to Springfield in "The Simpsons." Hyundai is promoting the 2017 Elantra during the second quarter of Super Bowl 50. The 45-second ad promotes the Elantra's automatic emergency braking system and pedestrian detection technology by visiting a town where the residents have trouble focusing behind the wheel. In "Ryanville," all the men look like Ryan Reynolds. The town sign reads: Welcome to Ryanville. Population: Yes. While two women drive through town, listening to "Whatta Man" by Salt-n-Pepa and En Vogue, all they see are hunky men. Ryan Reynolds is the local policeman, construction worker, bike rider and tackle football player. The spot ends when the pair needs to pull over and stop driving, because they would have hit Ryan Reynolds, dog walker, along with his clientele, had the Elantra not braked for them. See it here, created by Innocean. Hyundai will also debut "The Chase" during Super Bowl 50, but it's less swoon-worthy and more animal hijinks. A hike in the woods turns life-threatening when a couple are chased by two bears. The man uses his voice-activated Blue Link Remote Start to get his Hyundai ready for a quick getaway. The spot ends with the bears talking. One wanted to give the pair a hug; the other wanted to eat them, even tough he's vegan. See it here.

  • Intuit's Small Business Big Game program is back for a second year, awarding a small business an all-expenses-paid spot in the Super Bowl. The three finalists were Death Wish Coffee, Chubbies Shorts and Vidler’s 5 & 10. Death Wish Coffee Company, a New York-based firm that touts itself as seller of the world's strongest coffee, won a 30-second spot created by Intuit's agency, RPA. The small start-up scored big, besting 15,000 entrants for the win. "Storm's A Brewin'," running in the third quarter, features a Viking ship navigating stormy weather. The men are prepared to die for their cause -- and as their ship falls, it goes into the mouth of a thirsty man, drinking his coffee before going to work. See it here.

  • Shock Top beer, an Anheuser-Busch brand, is launching its first Super Bowl ad starring comedian T.J. Miller trading barbs with the Shock Top mascot, a mohawked orange wearing sunglasses. Created by Anomaly Toronto, the Super Bowl spot will be 30 seconds; a 1:25 extended version, "Unfiltered Talk," was released and will be pared down for the big game. Sitting at a bar, Miller orders a Shock Top and within seconds, the abrasive Shock Top mascot, atop the beer tap, starts hassling Miller. The pair go tit for tap, insulting one another with lines like: "You look like you're about to get evicted from your parent's basement" and "Do you consider fresh-squeezed orange juice murder?" The mascot gets quite a few clever jabs in, even making Miller laugh a few times. "Live Live Unfiltered" closes the ad, seen here.

  • Outdoor clothing and sporting goods company, Marmot, is launching its first Super Bowl ad during the first half of the big game. The 30-second ad won't feature weekend warriors or extreme athletes. It will, however, showcase a sharp-dressed, adorable marmot. A series of three 15-second ads are now running online, showing the marmot enjoying life outdoors. In one ad, marmot enjoys campfire marshmallows. Too bad his fur makes for sticky situations. See it here. Another ad shows marmot peeing over a cliff, while the final ad consists of marmot and his human pal making dirt angels. Watch it here. GS&P created the campaign.

  • Are you a monochromatic dresser? If so, Kia's teaser for its Super Bowl ad might stress you out. Running in the third quarter and promoting the 2016 Kia Optima, "Walken Closet" stars Christopher Walken as a disruptor for a man whose attire is all beige. When the man can't find a beige pair of socks, he enters his walk-in closet to find Walken holding the socks hostage. All we know so far is that Walken's there to add some pizzazz, so my money's on bold colors and polka dots. See the teaser here, created by David&Goliath.

  • Good luck getting the theme song to "The Jeffersons" out of your head once you watch the Super Bowl teaser for Apartments.com. There's a new, and odd, George and Weezy in "#MovinOnUp:" George Washington and Lil' Wayne (aka Weezy). This is the brand's first trip to the Super Bowl, and the full-length ad will explain to viewers how a wood grill and a golden grill relate to moving on up. Brad Bellflower, the company spokesman played by Jeff Goldblum, will also appear in the ad. See the teaser here, created by RPA.