No recession of ‘Super Ads’ this Sunday

January 29, 2009 by Eric Loy 

Plenty of entertaining commercials airing during Super Bowl

 

Super Sunday approaches.  Starting lineups and armchair quarterbacks have been preparing for this day all season.  It’s a day of beer, football, nachos, more beer, giant TV’s and some good ol’ fashioned American capitalism.

Commercial advertising during the Super Bowl – consistently one of the highest rated TV programs of any given year, duh – has ceased to be simply a TV event and has become a cultural phenomenon.  From those classic Coca-Cola polar bears to the Spike Jonze directed “Crazy Legs” ad by Levi’s to last year’s E-Trade talking baby, it’s becoming common to hear more chatter about game day commercials around the water cooler on Monday than about the game itself.

While 30-second spots are going for as much as $3 million these days, you might be thinking that the downturn in the economy will finally allow you to skip off to the bathroom without missing anything.  After doing a little online snooping, I think you may want to consider investing in a diaper and toughing it out on the couch.

 Here’s some good stuff to look for this Sunday:

• Don’t blink.  Miller High Life will be challenging the entire conception of high-profile ads during the Super Bowl by premiering their very own “One Second Ad.”  The outrageously cheap beer brand of Anhauser-Busch seems confident that they can sell by example, enforcing their slogan of “good, honest beer at a tasty price” with the non-extravagant smallest amount of commercial time ever.  How post-modern.  Check out failed one-second ads and a 30-second teaser at 1SecondAd.com.

• CareerBuilder.com – a personal favorite commercial supplier of mine – is coming back with two commercials this year full of more off-beat comedy on how much your job probably sucks.  Their message, it seems, is if your job makes you want to scream in your car or punch koalas, you might want to check out their Web site and change careers.  

• H&R Block is supplying a commercial featuring Abe Vigoda.  What more could you possibly need?  As a sidebar:  visit abevigoda.com to check whether or not he’s still alive.

• Anheuser-Busch is also continuing its promotion for Bud Light’s “drinkability” by “documenting” a failed commercial project in Sweden featuring Conan O’Brien.  O’Brien often documents goofy trips abroad on “Late Night” and this commercial – the first ever for O’Brien – will most likely pack that hilarity into a few seconds of enjoyment.

• On a more mysterious note, Hulu.com – that free Web site you’ve been streaming episodes of “House” and “30 Rock” from for the past four months – is officially starting its very first ad campaign during this year’s Super Bowl.  The details behind the ad campaign have been sealed tight from the public, but the company does promise that it will “reveal the secret behind Hulu.”  My guess is a broadband connection and Jesus.

• GoDaddy.com is giving the family crowd the metaphorical finger by stepping up the sex appeal (again).  This time it’s Indy car driver slash hottie Danica Patrick providing the curves in both of GoDaddy.com’s Super Bowl spots.  The already-leaked TV cuts of both commercials are none too racy (see what I did there?), but GoDaddy.com promises a “Too Hot for TV Internet-Only Commercial” to upload on Super Bowl Sunday at kick-off.   

• Plenty of upcoming movies will air new or extended trailers during the big game, including “Star Trek,” “Angels and Demons,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “Land of the Lost” starring Will Ferrell.  Unfortunately, none look as promising or innovative as last year’s “Semi-Pro” and Old Spice deodorant ad campaign featuring Ferrell in those short shorts – the only ad campaign, also, that was even better than the movie it hyped.

So whether you’re screaming your face out at Fitzy to get in the end zone this Sunday or yelling at Ben Roethlisberger to be a man and step up in the pocket, I invite you to sit back, stop and smell the nachos and enjoy some of the finest entertainment our American industries have to offer.

It’s just too bad no one can afford anything they’re selling.