Yesterday we examined the first 5 entries on our top 10 list of the best Super Bowl ads of all time. Today we reach the pinnacle of marketing magic. We reveal our top 5 commercials in the history of the Super Bowl.
Of course, we must also acknowledge the almosts. These are the ads that were good, but....just....quite....not....good....enough to make our featured list. I present to you the honorable mentions.
Budweiser Clydesdales-Extra point (2003)
We'll see the famous Clydesdales a couple times today. When the one rancher asks the other if they do that all the time, we get the now famous line, "No, they usually go for 2." The Clydesdale Football League (often referred to by their acronym CFL) allows two men moving at the line of scrimmage and you only get 3 downs, so you better make them count. Also, a 150 yard field is necessary because of the size of these magnificent creatures. Don't want anybody to break a hoof from playing in close quarters.
Budweiser Clydesdales-Zebra referee (2003)
Borrowing technology from the rival National Football League, the Clydesdale Football League now uses instant replay. That does not mean that game officials are any more protected from the standard ridicule thrown their way by players, coaches, and fans alike. ("This referee's a jackass." "No, I believe that's a zebra.")
Bud Light-Flying (2008)
It was a tie between this one and the X-ray vision ad as to making our top 10. X-ray vision made it, and this one didn't. Really could have been switched. If Bud Light really gave you the ability to fly, you wouldn't be able to watch the Clydesdale Football League. So stick to Budwesier. Perhaps X-ray vision might be able to help the referee...er jackass...er zebra. Better get on that AB-InBev.
Cialis-When the moment is right (2003)
No video here (YouTube can never be too careful...you never know who's watching) but this was where we were first introduced to the now ubiquitous scene of a man and a woman in bathtubs. Take Cialis to cure your ED...and you too could end up in a bathtub (wink wink). Mike Ditka and Bob Dole are still laughing.
Doritos-House Rules (2010)
Doritos tries hard. They really do. Those marketing geniuses allow anybody and everybody to make their ads. I wish I had $3 million dollars to show off 30 seconds of somebody else's work. This ad makes the HMs because of all of the Doritos ads over the years, it was probably the only one that I remember was funny. I got an honest question. In the last 2 or 3 years, when have any of you seen Doritos ads that didn't air during the Super Bowl.
AK also submits two ads for the HM list.
Reebok-Terry Tate: Office Linebacker (2003)
"YOU KNOW YOU NEED A COVER SHEET FOR YOUR TPS REPORTS, RICHARD! THAT AIN'T YOU BABY!" "Hi, Terry." "Hey, Jannnice!...MOTHER F***"
Budweiser-Wassup (2000)
Just watchin the game, drinking a Bud. Hey, pick up the phone!WASAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP?
Before we get to the main event, please allow me to take this opportunity to thank you, my faithful audience for this last month, one more time for making Caputo's Corner what it has become so far in 2011. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this special series on the Super Bowl as much as I enjoyed making it. Hopefully you've learned something about the big game from a slightly different perspective than before. Part of our job here at the blog is to educate of course.
And now, Caputo's Corner's Super Bowl Preview Week 2011 comes to a close with the coup d'grace of commercial countdowns: Nick's Lists-Top 10 Super Bowl Ads of All Time #'s 5 to 1!
5) Nationwide Insurance-FEDERLINE! FRIES! (Kevin Federline) (2007)
Oh my, how the mighty have fallen, but then again, it was somewhat of a stretch to call poor K-Fed "mighty" during his now infamous courtship of one Britney Spears. In some people's view, he got a little closer to mighty after she kicked him to the curb. In his defense, he was a very good sport about it, agreeing to do this ad as part of Nationwide's "Life Comes at you Fast" series, complete with some of the most bizarre ways to destroy a home or automobile that you can think of. When the ad starts, you see K-Fed all pimped out throwing dollar bills around like they're nothing. You're probably expecting him to be plugging some record label for another artist (surely that couldn't actually be K-Fed spending that kind of money to plug something K-Fed did. What did he do anyway?). When we see him in the lobby of the fast food restaurant getting ridiculed by his boss (in now one of the signature phrases in all of Super Bowl ad-dom), serving fries, and dancing to himself in the security camera, we have a nice chuckle, feel assured that all is right with the world, and move on to making fun of the next waste of millions of dollars.
4) McDonalds-Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing HORSE (1993)
OK food police, hide your kids, hide your wife, and call your lawyers. Big Macs are bad for you. We all know that. There are enough calories in one of those things to keep you going for a week. However, back in 1993, McDonalds was not quite as reviled as they are today and Super Size Me was not even a figment in Morgan Spurlock's eye. Back then, it was still cool to eat at McDonalds and parents would frequently cave into the demands for Big Macs, McNuggets, and Happy Meals. Michael Jordan was eating a Big Mac, and Larry Bird wanted it. What followed was one of the craziest games of HORSE this side of Phog Allen Fieldhouse. The best part of it was after each guy called out exactly how the ball would bounce off each obstacle, they ended it with "nothin' but net." This was an ad that was spoofed in 2010 with a dunk contest between LeBron James and Dwight Howard for a Big Mac and fries. Instead of Be Like Mike, we tried to Dunk Like Dwight (or something like that). When Dwight shatters the backboard, they are greeted with a playful clap by a grinning Bird, who conveniently decided to eat LeBron's lunch. Don't worry about it, guys. Pro basketball players shouldn't be eating that garbage anyway. Remember, kids are looking up to you.
3) Apple-Macintosh (1984)
George Orwell's 1984 is one of the few books I have read for fun, if you can call reading a book like that "fun." Anybody who has read it probably remembers the story of "Big Brother" and how "Big Brother" was essentially running everybody's life because "Big Brother" obviously knew better than any mere peasant what was good for them. Obviously, Apple was going for the connection between the content of the book and the actual year they released the ad. The Mac would break the people from the bonds that have held them down for all these years and allow them to express themselves in ways they would have never thought possible...or something quasi-inspirational like that. After all, the woman used a hammer throw to shut "Big Brother" up. The ad was successful in no uncertain terms. We never had a Mac in our house. We had an Apple IIc (remember those?!), and it was my favorite toy for years (until it finally broke). However, that ad is what really launched Apple into the forefront of the computing world. Today, it's not just Mac, but iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iHome, iBook, iThis, iThat. I don't even think Steve Jobs could have envisioned the direction of Apple's product line in the nearly 30 years since that initial release. He has that ground-breaking ad to thank.
2) Coca Cola-Mean Joe Greene (1980)
"Hey kid, catch." Mean Joe Greene. Anchor of the Steel curtain that made quarterbacks cringe for 13 seasons. The Steelers of the 70s had earned a reputation of being one of the toughest, nastiest group of athletes this side of the Atlantic Ocean. This ad humanized a man who could probably frighten a crowded room of people just by standing up. The look on the kid's face when he caught Joe's jersey was priceless. Nowadays, kids don't get excited over simple things anymore (not that Joe Greene's game-worn jersey is simple...that could command quite the fortune at a trade show), but you could tell even in the advertisement for Coke that the kid looked genuinely happy that Joe Greene did that for him. There's sort of a (not really) hidden message in there too that if you do nice things for people, regardless of who they are, you're going to get nice things in return. Perhaps not quite as quick as the kid in this ad, but you will. This ad has obviously maintained staying power over the years. Another modernized version of this ad involved Troy Polamalu getting a Coke Zero from a kid in the tunnel, just like Joe Greene. Then the thought police from Coke barge in and try to do their thing before Polamalu tackles the guy from behind, rips the guy's shirt off, and then tosses that to the kid. I'm sure the kid would've much rather caught Polamalu's jersey. I think he felt cheated.
And we have reached the top. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you number...
1) Budweiser-The Clydesdales honor 9-11 (2002)
This ad being number one is a no-brainer. This one still gives me goosebumps. The ads at Super Bowl XXXVI had their fair share of nonsense to be sure, but seeing the Clydesdales take a knee before the Manhattan skyline had to make everyone feel just a little bit better than how they felt only 5 months prior. Granted, a beer commercial of all things isn't supposed to make you feel good in the wake of a terrorist attack, but the marketing wizards at Anheuser Busch have been to this rodeo before. They know exactly what buttons to push that will tug at just the right heart strings. When they want (or need) to be funny, they are. When they try to make a point, they make that point very well. Somebody knows what they're doing over there, to the tune of 6 Anheuser Busch ads making this list either in the featured 10 or the honorable mentions. Six! This particular ad aired in the first quarter of the game...and has not aired on TV since. Anheuser Busch had no intention of profiting financially from this ad, as what happened on 9-11 touched every American in some way shape or form. As I noted in yesterday's post, Bud and Bud Light are increasingly becoming more symbolic of Americana than any of the things that Don McLean sung about in the song. This includes the entire zoo of Bud characters: from frogs to lizards to Clydesdales. People don't need to see ads like this to influence their decision to drink or not to drink Budweiser or any of its AB-InBev counterparts. That's one reason why ads like this work and stand the test of time (9 years and counting) despite airing on TV a grand total of once. Ads like this remind me that there is still some honesty and dignity left in the marketing industry in this country. In 2002, a 30-second commercial cost about $2 million, not quite as expensive as they are today, but still pretty pricy. You will not hear me say this often...in fact, you haven't at all during this countdown, but this was one case where it was $2 million very well spent.
That's it, folks. I hope you enjoyed our list of the top 10 Super Bowl ads of all time, as well as our entire series on previewing Super Bowl XLV. If you want to revisit any of our posts this week. All you have to do is click on the "Super Bowl" link at the top of this page. I might make a short post or two tomorrow before the game, but that's it. I'll be in Reston tomorrow watching the game, playing Madden, and making fun of commercials. Enjoy Super Bowl Sunday everyone...may the best team win, and look out, Indy. The Redskins are coming in 2012! (Hey, a man can dream, right :-).
Oh, and by the way, Packers 31 Steelers 24 :-)
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