A "funny, cameo-filled ad" for Amazon's Echo device won USA Today's Ad Meter for Super Bowl LII last night, according to Erik Brady of USA TODAY. Amazon "won Ad Meter for the first time." The NFL "finished second in razor-close voting" with a spot featuring Giants QB Eli Manning and WR Odell Beckham Jr. as the duo "staged a two-stepping touchdown celebration as a spot-on parody of the Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey dance scene" from the '87 movie "Dirty Dancing." Rounding out the top 5 were Budweiser, Doritos/Mtn Dew and Toyota's Paralympian ad. The "themes of the night were humor, as in Alexa and NFL dirty dancing, and humanitarianism, as in Bud’s and Toyota’s ads" (USATODAY.com, 2/5). In San Jose, Chuck Barney writes there were "enough funny, clever and even uplifting spots to seize our attention." The Amazon-Alexa spot was "clever and funny," while Toyota's spot with Canadian Paralympic skier Lauren Woolstencroft "gave us the feels -- and fired us up." Sprint in its spot "called out Verizon" in an "instant classic." Avocados from Mexico also "maintained their winning streak" of "hilarious ads." PepsiCo using actors Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman for the Doritos/Mtn Dew spots was "pure genius" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 2/5). In DC, Judkis & Rao write celebrity cameos like those in ads for Amazon Alexa and Tourism Australia "brought out the best in the spots." While viewers "saw a few of them coming" with pre-Super Bowl releases for spots like Amazon and Doritos, others, like actor David Harbour's ads for Tide, "took us by surprise." The Tide ads also "managed to be surprising and memorable, and made many people forget that people were poisoning themselves with the 'Tide pod challenge'" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/5).
POD RACING: In N.Y., Max Jaeger writes Amazon "set the tone with a spot" with its Alexa spot, but Tide "cleaned up, too, with its parodies of Super Bowl ads starring David Harbour of 'Stranger Things' fame." The spot "plays up the trope that Big Game ads don’t reveal what they’re hocking until the last moment" (N.Y. POST, 2/5). VARIETY's Kirsten Chuba wrote Harbour "does it all" in the Tide ads, "appearing in commercials seemingly for cars, beer, jewelry, fitness programs and more, only to reveal they are actually all ads for the detergent" (VARIETY.com, 2/4). AD AGE's Brian Braiker wrote Tide "gets uber-meta" with its four "increasingly funny spots" (ADAGE.com, 2/4). In Chicago, Steve Johnson writes Tide "absolutely nails it" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/5). DIGIDAY's Ilyse Liffreing wrote Tide "took control of the Super Bowl on the TV and second screen with commercials in every quarter" (DIGIDAY.com, 2/4). FAST COMPANY's Jeff Beer wrote selecting Harbour was a "pitch-perfect piece of casting," as he was "charming his way through the entire game" (FASTCOMPANY.com, 2/4).
PLAYING THE ODDS: On Long Island, Verne Gray writes Toyota's spot featuring Woolstencroft was "flawless." The automaker's spot, dubbed "Good Odds," also had "not a car in sight" (NEWSDAY, 2/5). The CHICAGO TRIBUNE's Johnson writes "feel-good ads are a thing" in '18, and the Paralympics-themed spot is "one of the feel-goodest" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/5).
THROWING A CHANGEUP: CNN.com's Brian Lowry writes Netflix -- "living up to its reputation as a disruptive, unpredictable force in the entertainment business" -- not only promoted its recent acquisition of the film "The Cloverfield Paradox," but "proceeded to drop the movie immediately after the game -- thumbing its nose not only at conventional distribution models, but NBC's grandiose postgame plans." Lowry: "If the principal goal is to use the Super Bowl to get noticed, Netflix achieved that and then some" (CNN.com, 2/5). VANITY FAIR's Joanna Robinson wrote the "stunt nature" of Netflix' release alone is "enough to generate the kind of social media buzz money can’t even buy" (VANITYFAIR.com, 2/4). The Hollywood Reporter's Matthew Belloni: "Gotta hand it to Netflix, of all these movies with pricey Super Bowl ads, only one is available to watch TONIGHT." THR's Daniel Fienberg: "Next time anybody tries saying Super Bowl ads aren't worth the money, I give you Netflix turning a movie that nobody wanted to give a theatrical release into a streaming event in 30 seconds."
JOB WELL DONE: In Cleveland, Marc Bona wrote, "Considering Coca-Cola is sold in more than 200 countries, its frequent emphasis on diversity is both a message of inclusion and smart marketing." Meanwhile, the Doritos/Mtn Dew spot was a "good one." The Dinklage-Freeman spot "grabs your attention, and you're not going to look away" (CLEVELAND.com, 2/4). In Chicago, Curt Wagner writes Sprint had one of the "funnier commercials of the night thanks to a devious robot named Evelyn and a bunch of her mean friends making fun of a scientist working with the AI because he hasn’t switched to Sprint" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/5).
BEST OF THE REST: ADWEEK's Tim Nudd wrote the "Bud Knight" spot was "not the most triumphant ending to the #DillyDilly trilogy, but it has its moments." Bud Light "deserves props for making the one campaign everyone's been talking about this year." Rapper Pras used a spot to "launch his new media platform, Blackture." It was an "unusual move, but one that will generate incomparable awareness for the project." HBO's trailer for Season 2 of "Westworld" was a "great tease." HBO using the Super Bowl to launch the trailer was the "perfect venue for the message." While advertisers usually "can't go wrong" with Peyton Manning as a pitchman, the Universal Parks spot was "nothing special." But Manning "delivers the goods as usual." The ad for Monster Products, which was created by NBCU's in-house creative agency, was "quirky in all the right ways, and kept our attention" (ADWEEK.com, 2/4).
SWINGS & MISSES: NEWSDAY's Gay writes Fiat Chrysler has "two really terrible" spots among the five it aired that ended up being the "worst of the [Super Bowl]." The "first bad one was merely a noxious commercial encouraging [Jeep] Cherokee owners to take their four-wheeler off-road." But the "worst of the two" was the Ram Trucks spot that used a Martin Luther King Jr. speech. Procter & Gamble's ad for Febreze and Groupon also were among the worst (NEWSDAY, 2/5). CNN.com's Lowry wrote Ram Trucks, Budweiser, Squarespace and Kia all "fumbled" with their spots (CNN.com, 2/5). In San Diego, Kirk Kenney writes Turkish Airways' spot featuring Dr. Oz "stunk." But the "worst" was the Jeep ad with Jeff Goldblum that "resembled a 'Jurassic Park' movie trailer" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/5). The PLAIN DEALER's Bona wrote actor Keanu Reeves "standing on a motorcycle is not going to entice me to use squarespace.com" (CLEVELAND.com, 2/4).
WORK TO BE DONE: ADWEEK's Nudd wrote not even Cindy Crawford could save Pepsi's "idea-less commercial," while Michelob Ultra's "Perfect Fit" spot featuring Chris Pratt "doesn't really take off in the end." The "convoluted setup" for the Febreze ad also "doesn't really work." While the "Family" spot for Kraft Heinz was "well intentioned," the finished product "didn't feel as uplifting as it should have." Wix.com's spot was "reportedly thrown together at the last minute, and it feels like it." Kia's ad starring Steven Tyler also "manages to be pretty boring" (ADWEEK.com, 2/4).
