In his Super Bowl "Ferris Bueller" spoof, Matthew Broderick says “life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you'd miss it." Same goes for Super Bowl ad commentary.
It still takes up newspaper inches and lots of TV time, but the bulk flies around on Twitter in near real-time. Patience remains a virtue, however and Monday afternoon quarterbacking is necessary.
So, here are some late-breaking tweets (which is probably an oxymoron). Some of the missives top the 140-character limit, so apologies to any of the Twitterati who believe that’s sacrilegious.
-Here's a trend that's cheaper than $3.5 million: brands paying Twitter to blast out instant responses to their competitors' spots. Seinfeld’s ad for Acura, where Leno got the coveted ride, prompted Nissan to tweet: “Note to Jerry Seinfeld: Jay getting that car is probably for the best. Means you can pick up the 545 HP Nissan GT-R!” After the E-Trade baby’s return, Fidelity offered up: “Trading like a baby? Start investing with the grown-ups.”
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-Ford didn't pay for a promoted tweet apparently. But after the GM spot suggesting a Ford truck isn’t powerful enough to survive armageddon, it instantly tweeted out: “We're satisfied with our 35 years of having the best selling truck in America.” (Thanks to Mr. Youth’s Christian Borges on the retweet.)
-Forget about the ads that try for 30 seconds of humor. Love the quick-hitters. There was Chevy’s joke about Twinkies being able to survive the apocalypse (a Big Mac should also have been included). And Best Buy’s poking fun at Alec Baldwin ripping into a flight attendant who wouldn’t let him play Words with Friends.
-Ford didn’t buy national time in the big game, but went for a home run in New York with two local spots starring Yankee legend Derek Jeter. Word is Ford couldn't convince Mr. Perfect to take a shot at GM.
-Deion Sanders is the new Peyton Manning (actually, Eli is). He was all over the ad breaks, starring in spots for Bridgestone and Century 21, while his nickname “Prime Time” was on a sign in an NFL ad.
-Tim Duncan, the quiet superstar rarely seen in the ad world, finally made it to the big stage in Bridgestone ad.
-NFL boldly took concussion issue head-on (terrible pun) with its ad about history of the game that ended with: “Here’s to making the next century safer and more exciting than ever.”
-Dog ads filled the game. Makes sense. About half of U.S. homes were tuned in and the Humane Society says about 39% own at least one canine.
-Clint Eastwood contributed to John McCain in 2008. Yet, his fantastic Chrysler spot could have been an Obama campaign ad. Noting America’s struggles, Clint said Detroit almost lost everything, but it’s “showing us (a comeback) can be done.” Wouldn't the Motor City be stuck in reverse had Obama not orchestrated the GM and Chrysler bailouts. Clint also suggested it's "Halftime in America." If Reagan won with “Morning in America,” doesn’t that mean Obama has the country further along?
-Anna Wintour scored with massive images of Vogue cover appearing as Madonna sung eponymous song at halftime. WWD reports Madonna’s people asked Wintour’s about using the mag's logo. They said yes and got the publicity for no charge.
-Coke had a very cold night. After so many super spots -- Mean Joe Greene, James Carville playing jinx – Coke wasted two minutes and three spots on polar bears.
-Bud Light better sell a lot of its new “Platinum” after using its two first-quarter spots for the brand. The first one at least could have some mistaking it for a premium vodka, for better or worse.
-All these years later and the Soup Nazi continues to fascinate. He didn’t just appear with Jerry for Acura, but Elton John played off his catchphrase with “No Pepsi For You!”
-Lame job by Volkswagen. Should have let last year's great mini-Darth Vader spot stand alone. Instead, there was a contrived attempt to include the “Star Wars” character again.
-If so many people watch the ads later on sites like YouTube and Hulu, it's not a bad idea to sponsor the replays. Chevy's the presenting sponsor on YouTube/NBC Sports platform and Toyota on Hulu. Both were in the game. Wonder if an outsider could swoop in, buy a bunch of pre-rolls and save a few bucks?
I didn't see any of the ads in advance so I enjoyed the anticipation - but almost all of them were of the ho-hum variety. Sad that Anheuser Busch throws so much money away with such a sorry slate of ads. My favorite of all the ads was the one for Fiat in the second half. The model reminded me of Sofia Vergara's younger sister. The whipped cream sequence also made it the sexiest ad - topping even the David Beckham undies ad for H&M.
interesting factual points but how in the world you managed to infer and contort political meaning from Clint Eastwood's commercial is beyond me. If anything, it paid homage to the Reagan commercial.
Al the ladies at Curves (50+) today agreed the ads were nothing special this year and the game was a lot better. Go figure.