Super Bowl Ads: Brett Favre To Pitch Hyundai During Broadcast

Hyundai Scheduled To Run Six Spots  During CBS' Super Bowl Coverage

There are six automakers that will "vie for viewer attention and consideration" during CBS' broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV, but Hyundai "is shaping up as perhaps the brand to beat," according to Stuart Elliott of the N.Y. TIMES. Hyundai Motor America VP/Marketing Joel Ewanick said that the company made a deal with CBS for its package of Super Bowl ads "back in June ... enabling the brand to score some attractive terms for its six scheduled spots." Ewanick noted that the two Hyundai commercials "to appear during the game will run in the first half, ... one in the first quarter and the other in the second quarter." The other four spots will air during the pregame show. Elliott reported Hyundai signed Vikings QB Brett Favre to "appear in one of the two Hyundai spots during the game." That spot will promote Hyundai's "10-year, 100,000-mile warranty with a scene showing [Favre] being interviewed after he wins a most valuable player award in the 2020 football season," mocking his "well-known penchant for changing his mind about retiring from football." Ewanick said that the Favre spot was "filmed last month." Elliott noted actor Jeff Bridges "narrates all six of the Hyundai spots scheduled to appear on Super Bowl Sunday" (NYTIMES.com, 1/26). MARKETING DAILY's Karl Greenberg notes Hyundai's second in-game ad is "set to classical music" and "shows the balletic maneuvers of assembly-line robots applying paint to a Sonata body." Ewanick said of the company's strategy with the ads, "It's a trap for advertisers to be something they're not just to accomplish 'funny.' We sell cars. We aren't a beer brand. We have to stay within who we are" (MARKETING DAILY, 1/27 issue). SPORTINGNEWS.com's Dan Levy writes, "This is what they expect to sell cars now? Brett Favre retirement jokes and paint? Actually, Hyundai, if you throw in a free undercoating and guarantee another summer without Favre's waffling, I'll go buy a Sonata right now" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 1/27).

PANTS ON THE GROUND: USA TODAY's Bruce Horovitz writes under the header, "Super Bowl To Show More Ads With People In Their Underwear." Dockers' in-game ad will features "about 30 men marching in unison in their undies while singing the song 'I Wear No Pants.'" Meanwhile, one of two finalists for CareerBuilder.com's consumer-generated Super Bowl ad "takes place in an office where 'casual Friday' attire means a workforce that's decked out in nothing but underwear." Also, a Bud Light spot posted on the brand's Facebook fan page "features an office full of folks who are only too eager to strip down to their briefs -- or less -- so they can donate their duds to a clothing drive in exchange for free Bud Light." Horovitz writes the commercials are "less about being sexy and more about showing everyday -- very everyday in some cases -- people in their undies" (USA TODAY, 1/27).

SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT: In Boston, Tenley Woodman reported former Patriots cheerleader Elizabeth Hanson is a "finalist in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl commercial competition." Hanson's team is "vying with five others to get the most votes for her original commercial at crashthesuperbowl.com" by Sunday. The winning ad "will air during Super Bowl XLIV and earn a cool" $1M (BOSTON HERALD, 1/26).