Why do you watch the Super Bowl: for the game or the ads? If you watch the biggest game in American football for the ads, you’re in luck. According to Vox, only 10 percent of the 4- to 5-hour segment is of actual gameplay. Commercials take up 24 percent (a high number, but “players standing around” has it beat, taking up 35 percent of the time).
Still not convinced that commercials are the best part of the night? According to AdWeek, the first overtime in Super Bowl history gave Fox an additional $20 million in ad revenue (and overtime didn’t even last that long).
Some commercials made us cringe (looking at you Febreze and TurboTax), and others made us ask, “Do Beliebers even still exist?” While many Americans expressed disappointment with 2017’s most-anticipated commercials of the year, there were a few that stuck out to us above all the rest.
Buick
Anything involving little league sports and Cam Newton is bound to be good. You can picture the brainstorming session that Buick’s marketing team had:
Leader: What do people love?
Brainstormer 1: Kids!
Brainstormer 2 (obviously an Auburn grad): Cam Newton!
Brainstormer 3: Pretty girls in convertibles!
Leader: Okay, we’ve got our 2017 Super Bowl commercial.
Whatever conversation it was that took place, it paid off.
Bai
You have no idea where this ad is going when it starts. But, it had us hooked from the beginning: What company is this? Is this supposed to be funny or serious? A car commercial? A Geico commercial? The awkwardness of the situation between Christopher Walken and Justin Timberlake along with the reference to everyone’s favorite 90s band was the perfect combination. #BaiBaiBai
Tide
Don’t deny it. You made a comment about Terry Bradshaw’s shirt stain during his perfectly normal, non-staged “What’s Up Next” segment. Guilty. And, you probably laughed when you realized during the next commercial break that it was all a setup. Guilty again. While it may not have been the most well-executed commercial, it definitely made us laugh and it got people talking, which is exactly what they wanted.
Airbnb
Yes, a little controversial (okay, a lot), but it was a beautifully made commercial that made millennials feel *all the feels.* The hashtag #WeAccept was still trending on Monday morning.
84 Lumber
Fox actually rejected this ad before the Super Bowl as being too political and too controversial. So, 84 Lumber retooled it a bit. The company gave the first half of the story and directed viewers to watch the rest online. The website crashed. That’s how many people were interested in this story (yes, story – not ad). It turned out to be the best ad of the Super Bowl.
From AdWeek’s Facebook comments: “I wasn’t in the market for lumber before today. I am now, and I don’t particularly need it for anything. I just want to buy some.”
The best part of all these top commercials: The brands weren’t the focus. Of course, they have to put their product placement in there somewhere, but more importantly, they told stories. Some were funny, some were serious and some were political. No matter how the story was told, they got people talking. And, that’s all any advertiser could ever want.