Opinions Differ In Various Surveys As To Super Bowl Ad Winners And Losers

There was “no noticeable consensus in the polls, surveys and analyses of data from social media that poured in this year” on which ads were the winners and losers of Super Bowl XLVI, according to Stuart Elliott of the N.Y. TIMES. Viewers and computer users “gave their highest and lowest marks to a couple dozen commercials -- and, in some instances, one poll’s best-liked or most effective spot was another’s most disliked or least effective.” Northwestern Univ.'s Kellogg School of Management marketing professor Tim Calkins said because the "downside risk is so big, advertisers clearly played it safe and were careful not to offend, not to push the limits.” Elliott notes spots for four advertisers -- M&M's, Skechers, Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt and Honda -- “shared grades of A in the Kellogg Ad Review.” The lowest grade, D, was given to eight advertisers. The “most common grade was a middle-ground C, which went to 15 advertisers.” Zeta’s Super Bowl Ad Buzz report stated that the “buzz around the 2012 spots was slightly less positive than for last year’s spots.” Zeta Interactive CEO Minna Rhee said that “of the 10 commercials that fared the best ... four -- for Honda, Budweiser and Acura -- had nostalgic themes.” Three of the top 10 TiVo commercials also "invoked popular culture of the past.” The Doritos commercials “scored highly in surveys by Ace Metrix, Akamai, Bluefin Labs, CampusLive, Clearspring, Colle & McVoy, Collective Intellect, TiVo and Visible Measures.” M&M’s “also fared well in many morning-after recaps” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/7). In Boston, Donna Goodison wrote Doritos “won Mullen’s ‘Brand Bowl 2012’ based on 400,000 tweets monitored by the Boston ad agency, which compiled its rankings by the volume of chatter and positive and negative commentaries.” Other top Brand Bowl finishers “were Swedish retailer H&M’s commercial featuring a silent David Beckham showing off his chiseled bod in only underwear and Chrysler’s ‘Halftime in America’ ad.” The Mullen report showed that Go Daddy had “the highest number of negative tweets and ranked as the least-liked brand" (BOSTONHERALD.com, 2/6).

CHANGING THE RULES: USA TODAY’s Bruce Horovitz reports the paper has “made a change" in its annual ad meter voting for the Super Bowl's best commercial.” The Super Bowl Ad Meter historically “has not included ads shown during halftime.” But now that online voting on Facebook and USAToday.com “is offered separately after the game, two halftime ads from Chrysler and Hulu have been added” to the voting. Horovitz noted among yesterday’s “early buzz-leaders” were the two Doritos spots, H&M's ad with Beckham and Clint Eastwood's Chrysler ad (USA TODAY, 2/7). In Detroit, Brent Snavely writes the auto industry's commercials generally “performed well enough in the wake of Sunday's Super Bowl to surprise marketing experts who said the industry has not always distinguished itself with consumers.” Four automotive ads “were ranked in the top 10 of USA TODAY's AdMeter as of 6 p.m. Monday.” Five more commercials “from Chevrolet, Acura, Honda and Fiat were in the top 20.” Calkins said, "The automotive ads did surprisingly well. While there were a lot of them, many of them stood out” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 2/7). Meanwhile, DAILY VARIETY’s Marc Graser asks, “Is the Super Bowl still a valuable platform for studios to promote their movies?” Not one film "wound up on their lists of the most remembered spots” (VARIETY.com, 2/7).

NOSTALGIA FACTOR: The BOSTON HERALD’s Goodison writes Honda’s “Matthew’s Day Off” spot, which “reconnected viewers with Matthew Broderick’s 1986 starring role in the ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ film, and comedian Jerry Seinfield’s turn in Acura’s ‘Transactions’ spot elicited emotional responses with viewers with their nostalgic themes.” Viewers also had “an emotional connection to optimistic commercials.” Innerscope Research Co-founder & CEO Dr. Carl Marci said, “Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler ad using halftime as a metaphor for America pulled on the heartstrings.” Commercials with “surprise comedic endings also touched off emotional responses” (BOSTON HERALD, 2/7). In L.A., Steven Zeitchik notes many of “the best-received commercials during Sunday's Super Bowl referenced movies -- they just weren't for movies heading to the local cineplex any time soon.” Both the "Bueller" and Volkswagen's "Star Wars" commercials “played on the nostalgia that those in key thirty- and fortysomething demographics have for those properties.” Fox “attempted to make use of that nostalgia more literally with its commercial for ‘Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D,’ hoping to kick off a Skywalker revival when the movie opens in 3-D this Friday.” A classic era of American filmmaking “was also referenced in another way, with one of the most buzzed-about spots Sunday featuring preeminent filmmaker Clint Eastwood” (L.A. TIMES, 2/7).

"HALFTIME" SHOW BLACKED OUT: In Baltimore, Gus Sentementes wrote the NFL “did not ask Google/Youtube to take down Chrysler’s popular ‘Halftime in America’ commercial.” NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy in an e-mail said, “The NFL did not file a copyright complaining about this ad with Google. We have asked Google to reinstate the ad immediately. Google is looking into why the ad was removed” (BALTIMORESUN.com, 2/6). Meanwhile, the AP’s Corey Williams wrote the Chrysler ad has “generated fierce debate about whether it accurately portrays the country’s economically distressed city or amounts to a campaign ad for President Barack Obama and the auto bailouts.” The ad “holds up Detroit as a model for American recovery while idealistic images of families, middle class workers and factories scroll across the screen” (AP, 2/6). In N.Y., Geoff Earle notes both Chrysler and the White House yesterday “denied having anything to do with the attention grabbing spot.” Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne: “It has zero political content. It was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part. We are as apolitical as you can make us” (N.Y. POST, 2/7). Marchionne added, “We need to be careful, and God knows, I mean I can’t stop anybody from associating themselves with a message” (VARIETY.com, 2/6). MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said, "This is a ‘yay America’ ad, and if talking about the country being in economic recovery and jobs coming back and Detroit coming back is a partisan statement, then we are in a weird universe” (“Today,” NBC, 2/7).

GOING OUTSIDE THE NORMAL DEFINITION: CNBC's Jim Cramer said the Super Bowl ad that “struck me as the most honest, most riveting and most compelling of them all” was not an actual ad that ran during NBC's broadcast. When Pro Football HOFer Raymond Berry brought the Lombardi Trophy on the field, it suddenly seemed "like every other player for the Giants is pulling out an iPhone to snap pictures of the moment, one after another after another." Cramer: "I said to myself, ‘There it is.' Not some pet dragging a bag of chips, some headlights killing vampires, King Elton getting trap-doored. No, there was an ad worthy of Steve Jobs and the company he built." He added, "Of course, it wasn’t an actual advertisement at all. It was just a collection of the coolest, most idolized athletes in the world shipping out their favorite device which they had on the field ready for action for free. ... What matters to me is when everyone else is paying $3.5 million for a commercial, Apple paid nothing and easily had the best ad of all” (“Mad Money,” CNBC, 2/6).

HAVING SOME FUN: During his monologue, CBS’ David Letterman aired a “Super Bowl Commercial Recap.” Letterman said, “A lot of times people watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials, right? That’s no surprise. Time for the Super Bowl Commercial Recap. I hope you enjoy this.” The broadcast then showed quick images of the Super Bowl commercials, with the announcer saying of each image, “Sex, sex, wacky dog, sex, wacky dog, wacky dog, wacky baby, wacky dog, sex, sex, made me think I might be gay (David Beckham commercial), sex, wacky dog, wacky baby, wacky monkey, Leno likes to steal stuff from fellow comedians (Acura commercial)” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/6).