Instead of pictures as we usually have in this space on Sunday I’m embedding my favorite commercials from the game. Tonight’s winner: ad agencies. Tonight’s loser: other ad agencies.
In reverse order of my personal favorites, and because I needed a sixth:
I’ve mentioned here before my love of nostalgic commercials — and if you didn’t read that specifically you might have guessed it by other context clues — and there were a few nostalgia spots. This one was the best, because it was produced by people that understand their product and know the place where it belongs. (Budweiser missed on their nostalgia pieces. Toyota’s was fine, but it was more of a personal nostalgia than a historic one.) So this one wins:
I do enjoy the irony that the last thing you see before “making the next century safer” is the attempted horse collar tackle, which is one of your more dangerous and banned parts of the game.
The local ad, supposedly shot with Hyundai’s employees in Montgomery, with Mary stealing the show:
And since we now need to cleanse our mind of Gonna Fly Now, I give you the best song in, perhaps, the worst commercial of the night. They lost all of America with “It’s got a pen? This is awesome.” They redeemed themselves mightily when the bizarrely unforgettable Justin Hawkins is found standing on a San Francisco street corner, being his over-the-top self and somehow warping the continent to be in four cities at once:
That song made it to nine on the Billboard, the album climbed to 33. It was top of the charts in the UK. They may never do anything that gets popular attention — a new albums is forthcoming, Wikipedia says — but The Darkness will always have one of the great pop tunes to their credit.
After the game Chevrolet teased this video. I surfed over, found the page down — the television audience visited en mass, perhaps. When the servers found their footing again there was the newest OK Go video which is, naturally, incredible. Stick with it through the end:
That’s one of the most involved musical performance art acts of all time, a foley artist in desperate need for an award or possibly both.
My favorite ad actually aired just before the game. And it was apparently released last fall. But it is real and emotional and does not feel the need to be outlandish to be outstanding:
What were your favorite ads? What did I miss? (I missed most of the second quarter.) Tell me in the comments.
