Yaffe Tidbits

10 Good Super Bowl 2012 Ads & An Ugly One

The 2012 Super Bowl and accompanying Brand Bowl has come and gone. There were some good ads and some really bad ads, but none stood out to me as truly great ads. In the last few years, picking a number one ad was either easy because it was a standout or hard because, like last year, there were two standouts (VW Vader spot and Chrysler's Imported from Detroit spot). This year it was hard because I really didn't have strong feelings about any one spot. But be that as it may, here's my top 10 spots and my worst of the year pick.

10. Honda - "Matthew's Day Off"

So many people loved this ad, that I had to make it a top 10. But truthfully, I'm not a big fan. I think part of it was that Honda used VW's Vader kid "leak the spot online" strategy and it backfired. Instead of endearing the spot to me with all the coverage it got before the Super Bowl, I was already tired of it. I think if I saw it and it was a surprise, I might have felt - oh wow, look what they did. Instead, I felt, meh... they took an iconic movie character and reinacted some movie stuff and it didn't tie in to the car at all. If I hadn't looked up the spot, I wouldn't have been able to tell you which car it was.

 

9. Oikos Greek Yogurt - "The Tease"

This one made the list simply because it's got a woman head butting John Stamos to the floor. And who doesn't want to see that again?

 

8. The Voice - "Vocal Kombat"

Props to NBC's The Voice for creating something far more engaging than a montage of clips for a show promo. This was entertaining, had high action, cool graphics and still got across the premise of the show, which is the judges fighting to get the best voice to choose them. Love the "Kill Bill" sequences and graphics, down to Cee-Lo's outfit. And the twist at the end made me laugh.

 

7. Doritos - "Man's Best Friend"

What's the Super Bowl without dog spots. Here's the first one to make my list. One of the winners of Doritos annual Super Bowl ad contest. Clever concept, the dog gives his master Doritos as "hush money" after "offing" the cat. Nice.

 

6. Sex Sells for H&M and Teleflora

We always see examples of good and bad use of the time honored tradition of sex sells. Here's two good examples - one for the men and one for the ladies. First, there was Teleflora. I would actually call this a great product benefit spot. Guys may think giving flowers is stupid. But, with Valentine's Day coming up, Teleflora reminds us dumb guys the real product benefit of buying flowers, mixing metaphors with Christmas, using the line, "give, and you shall receive."

 

On the other hand, we have David Beckham for men's underwear for H&M. Now, you may think they're targeting the wrong market - getting the ladies attention for a men's underwear product. But, I'm sure their research shows that most of the men's underwear is actually bought by the women in their lives. Let's face it, most of us guys will keep wearing shabby, holey underwear rather than go buy new stuff. Also, judging by a lot of the tweets I read, a lot of women are buying this stuff just because they're buying whatever he's selling.

 

5. Chrysler - "Halftime in America"

I have mixed feelings about this one. For one thing, it must have run during the one time I got up and left the set - so I didn't see it in context, just later on the web. It suffers by comparison. Last year's imported from Detroit spot featuring Eminem was so powerful and poignant. Trying to recapture the magic of a special spot is very hard to do. I think they did a valiant job here, but it pales in comparison. For one thing, as someone living in Detroit, I don't remember that "we almost lost it all" - sure time have been tough and we were hit harder than most, but I don't remember ever thinking we were going to lose everything. It's a well written, well produced spot with an icon to lead the charge. But, it's not last year's spot. Not even close.

 

4. Budweiser - Eternal Optimism

Don't love the beer, but I love this ad. And I wish my clients had this kind of budgets! It's a lot of fun, with a great soundtrack featuring a mash-up The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" and Flo Rida's "Good Feelin'." It basically shows that over time, people have always gathered together with their buds for a good time gathering - and often it's involved their favorite beer. It's a spot that works well with Budweiser's tagline "Grab some Buds."

 

3. Volkswagen - "The Dog Strikes Back"

This is really two spots in one. One spot about a dog that sees the new VW Beetle and really wants to chase it, but needs to get in shape to do so. And another that takes place in a galaxy far, far away. I think VW did a much better job of trying to top last year's special ad, than Chrysler. They didn't succeed either, but I like what they did better. Instead of the new and improved version, they went with a new spot that gives a nod to the old classic. I didn't see the twist at the end coming and I loved it. I know some think they should have just ended it with the dog's story. Personally, I think it could have come off as schmaltzy by itself. With the commercial shifting to the Star Wars bar and a blatant reference to last year's spot - I thought it was great. I also like that the pre-Super Bowl spot released on the web (dogs barking out the Darth Vader theme) was a nice hint to the eventual spot without actually being the spot.

 

2. Accura - "Transactions"

I originally had this as my number one ad, but upon further review, it turns out I like the Chevy ad better. I did really like this one though. Of all the ads, this one got the biggest laughs from me. Sure, it was a bit over the top. But, Leno in a flying squirrel jet back to steal the deal just as Jerry Seinfeld was about to seal it? Loved it. What can I say, you make me laugh, you're gonna get high marks from me. It's just how I roll.

 

1. Chevy Silverado - "2012 Mayan Calendar"

I love this ad. Talk about a brand promise - buy our product and survive the apocalypse. Sure, it's not realistic, but it's fun. And I don't mind at all that they took a poke at the competition. I come from a rural area where guys drive trucks and if you're a Chevy guy, you look at the Ford and Dodge guys with disdain and vise versa. It just taps into the target market mindset.

I like that they took something topical like the predicted end of the world and had fun with it. They didn't just stick with one reason either - you see alien spacecraft, volcanoes, meteors and even the more biblical rain of frogs. Loved the burning Big Boy statue and a play on the old joke (and recent Zombie movie) idea that one of the things that will last forever is twinkies. Nice co-branding opportunity, too, I'm sure. Added bonus for the counter intuitive Barry Manalow track.

 

And 1 Ugly One.

That's my take on the best spots. There were plenty of disappointments, too. I think the eTrade baby spots have lost their luster. Career Builder brought back the chimps and it wasn't bad, but it was just a rehash of previous spots. I thought the Cars.com one with the extra head singing was just creepy. But one advertiser was just ugly. I bet you know who it was. Go Daddy once again stunk up the place with horrible ads that just ticked off at least half of the possible customers right off the bat. As one woman tweeted, "what? Women don't buy domain names?" Where H&M and Teleflora (and even Fiat) used sex to sell in a good way, these people use it all wrong. Their spots are sexist. They play the bait and switch game - Oooo, come to our website and maybe you'll see these women naked (you won't). And to make matters worse, it's just bad, reheated creative. They've basically run the same idea for I don't know how many Super Bowls now. Time to banish them from the event, if you ask me.

So, what were your favorites? Did I miss some? Do you think I'm a moron for including one of these? I'd love to hear your take on the best and worst of 2012 Super Bowl ads.

Mike McClure, Ad Junkie

The Magic of Macy's Outshines the Rest of the Best

I was reading through Ad Age's list of best Christmas ads for the year and noticed that all of them other than Macy's focus on the stress of the season, and how they can make it better. Best Buy actually takes it to a whole other level by trying to out do Santa. Sorta funny, but all of them left me feeling like the person who bemoans what the holidays have become—stress-o-shop-o-mania. All of them except Macy's, that is. I re-watched this spot several times after finishing the others, trying to wash the cynicism away, and it worked. 

This spot reminded me that though it's our job as advertisers to solve customers' problems, there's a fine line between solving a problem and exacerbating the problem by embellishing it over, and over, and over again.

Sometimes we shop because we have a problem that needs solving. That's generally true everyday of the year. But that's not how any of us really want to think about Christmas. Even though Macy's campaign evokes the magical spirit of Christmas for children, it inspires all of us in the process to WANT to buy. Not have to. And under which circumstance would you prefer to bring people into your store?

The fact that they also built in an in-store magical red box that brings the inspiration (and customers) into the stores AND gives back to charity—win, win, win.

Watch, be inspired, shop, and Happy Holidays, all!

  

 

 Jen Wright, Inspired Yaffe Account gal

 

 

 

The D Show Winners Make Good Ads of the Week

Last night I attended The D Show, Detroit's annual award show for excellence in advertising and marketing. I saw some great work being done here in the D and thought I'd share some of them here in our regular Ad of the Week feature. The best of show went to Chrysler's moving Super Bowl spot, "Born of Choir" featuring the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" and the imported from Detroit theme. We've already featured this spot in our Super Bowl recap, where we named it our favorite ad of the event. You can go to that post to see it. There were several previous AOTW recipients who also won last night.

So, here are some of my favorites of the night. They are not necessarily the best in category winners, just winners that I found outstanding. One of my favorites also won last year and I kind of forgot about it until it won again this year. It's the Del Taco Super Special show. A series of weird and wacky skit webisodes designed to appeal to the off kilter, all night taco crowd. Here's a couple webisodes.

 Del Taco Super Special Show, When Tacos Ruled The Earth

 

 Del Taco Super Special Show, Bean There, Done That

The next D Show winner that I'd like to share is a spot for Carhartt. It's a bunch of guys camping, when one of them gets attacked by a pack of wolves. But once the attack ends, the guy is left unharmed and one of the wolves is left without a tooth.

 Carhartt - Wolves

I saw a lot of great work, interestingly one of the best storytelling videos is one that one in the music category. It's a non-broadcast video for the US Navy about how an Indian born Muslim who was a Kuwaiti refugee from Operation Desert Storm became a Navy Chaplin. It's a compelling human story told well.

 US Navy - Chaplain Balbale

And finally, I'd like to share another winner in the non-broadcast video, it's part of the Ford Explorer Live series, featuring Nelly talking about the awesome sound system. It's a funny video with a douche bag director who keeps trying to add a lot of bells and whistles to the video and Nelly, who is trying to just have the video be a simple one with him showing you what great sound you can get in the Explorer. It's a fun bit that pokes fun at our side of the business. Enjoy

 Ford Explorer - Nelly 2011 Video

Well, that's just a taste of the great work here in the D that was honored last night at The D Show. What do you think? And if you went to the show, what were your favorites that I left out? And as always, if you have a suggestion for ad of the week, just leave it here in the comment section, email it to info@yaffe.com, send us a tweet @TheYaffeGroup or drop us a note on Facebook.

Mike McClure, Exec Creative Director - feeling a little D envy today.

Did internet kill the video star?

Video killed the radio star in 1979. But did internet kill the video star in 2011? Take the Sarah Bareilles video “Uncharted” for example. For those who have not seen it, the video features clips of fans and even a few familiar faces singing along to the song in their webcams. Stars like Benjamin Folds of Ben Folds Five, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Tegan & Sara and Mr. viral video himself, Keenan Cahill, make appearances.  

 

Instead of a mash-up of piano shots, happy b-roll and Sarah Bareilles close-ups, “Uncharted” takes on new media to create a successful, fun music video. Sarah pops up on the screen only a few times throughout the video, but it works. She has given others a chance to express their love of the song and, well, their webcams. “Uncharted” becomes something very much relatable because who doesn’t love to sing along and dance to their favorite songs?  

Another artist taking the idea of incorporating fan-made videos into a project is Lady Gaga. Just in time for her third album debut, Gaga's Google Chrome Commercial has hit the airwaves. I may be a little biased because I am such a huge fan, aka Little Monster, but the commercial really has a cool concept.

The Google Chrome slogan is “the web is what you make of it” and that is exactly what this piece shows. As Google has become the number one search engine, this commercial features Lady Gaga googling her fans to see what they have put on the web. This too is relatable, not only to fellow Gaga fans but to anyone who uses Google.

 

The moral of the story is, we the people of the internet, are becoming the focal point in artist materials. It is a cool, new take on video creation that could be a stepping stone to something awesomely innovative in the future. It's the nextevolution from brands asking customers to create content, like the Doritos Super Bowl commercial. So the internet didn’t necessarily kill the video star, the internet just shifted the stardom a little bit.

How do you like the “Uncharted” video and Gaga Google Chrome commercial and the use of fan-made videos?

Jessica Mosley, Little Monster

 

2011 Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl commercials were an interesting mix this year. Some that always have favorites (like Budweiser) feel a little short this year. Some breakthrough ads of old, seem to be wearing thin. The monkeys for Carrier Builder could have been anyone and it would still have not worked. And although still funny, I think the eTrade baby is starting to look a little creepy as he grows up. There were probably more different auto companies in this Super Bowl than ever before - and as a group, I think they mostly did a great job. And finally, some of the perennial purveyors of awful ads, produced again some of the worst ads (I'm looking at you, Go Daddy).

But without further ado, here's my personal top 10 ads of the 2011 Super Bowl:

10. Car Max "Service Station" - in this world where even the grocery store is trying to get you to do all the check out yourself, the kind of service you got back in the 50's can be kind of scary. That's what happens in this spot. It's over the top, which makes it funny. But it also makes a good point about the brand, that you'll actually get the kind of good service you're not used to seeing anymore. I like it. (assuming the brand can deliver on the promise)

 

9. NFL.com "Best Fans Ever" This spot shows how over the years, the NFL has become a part of our culture. And what better way to say that than to use pop culture to say it.

 

8. Bridgestone Tire "Reply All" "Carma" Besides sponsoring the badly mixed music during the halftime show, Bridgestone had a couple of pretty good spots in the big game. I personally like the "Reply All" one and their "Carma" one, featuring a beaver who pays back a motorist who didn't hit him, just fell out of the top 10 for me. But, so many others here at Yaffe love the beaver spot that I'm putting them both in here at number 8:

 

 

7. Coca-Cola"Border" Coke did its usual stellar job of putting a wide variety of great looking spots in the Super Bowl. Some like the "Siege" spot were beautiful and extravagant, but seemed overproduced and with a convoluted storyline. I liked the simplicity of their "Border" spot. It proves that a simple story of shared human emotion is where they always shine best.

 

6. Audi "Release the Hounds" Yes, it seems that every luxury car is doing an ad about how it's the "new" luxury not the stuffy old luxury. But, this one is just done so well. It has two rich guys breaking out of a "rich person" prison. All the little details along the way are priceless. Piping in Kenny G music to get them to turn back just tickles my funny bone, what can I say?

 

A5. Chevy "Status" Another wonderfully simple spot that does a great job of highlighting a product benefit. It's well casted and acted. Love the little quiver in his voice as he gets his car to read his Facebook updates. Of all the spots in the big game, this was just simply... sweet.

 

4. Best Buy "Bieber and Ozzy" Loved this spot. Really told the story well of how fast technology changes today. It was told in how Bieber replaced Ozzy as spokes person and by the end an old version of Bieber as looking on. It was also told by the technology changing so fast they can't get the commercial done fast enough. Can't keep up? Best Buy will buy it back and get you upgraded. Good stuff.

 

3. Doritos "The Best Part" This ad had my biggest laugh out loud moment of the Super Bowl. When the Doritos loving guy just grabs his coworker's fingers to suck off the cheese residue - that's comedy gold. Plus, you can never go wrong with tear away pants!

 

2. Volkswagen "The Force" This ad was leaked online early and was actually our ad of the week in this space last week, you can see my full thoughts on it in that post. It held up well when placed among the rest of the Super Bowl ads. Still great stuff.

 

1. Chrysler "Eminem - Imported From Detroit" Okay, I'm a jaded ad guy, but this ad actually gave me goose bumps. Perhaps it's because I'm a part of Detroit and all that goes with that. But this was an ad so well done that, even if you aren't from Detroit the emotion touched you. Here in the D, the twitter feed blew up for hours after it ran, it exploded all over people's Facebook status updates. I've never seen anything like it. But, "Chrysler" wasn't just trending here in Detroit - if you followed the twitter feeds, it was trending in cities all across the country. Kudos to Chrysler for creating a buzz about a new product by tapping into human emotons and a community rather than car attributes. It's where marketing is going in this new digital world and it's nice to see Detroit's big 3 leading the way rather than waitng to see what happens.

 

The Best of the Worst. Of course, there were some stinkers out there. Go Daddy, even with the surprise twist of Joan Rivers head, still managed to be badly done sexist tripe. The Chevy Cruz Eco spot with the old folks who can't hear the commercial repeatedly saying key copy points is a horrible device in a so-so commercial. I thought the Mercedes spot with all the different cars taking off on their own to go to the dealership or wherever that was they were going was as pointless as the random Sean Combs sighting in it. And Teleflora wasted Faith Hill in a childish ad where a studio engineer sends flowers with a note "from the heart" about the girl's awesome rack.

In other words, it was  typical Super Bowl of ads, some great commercials, some bad and some in between. What were your favorites?

Mike McClure, Executive Creative Director and big ad fan

In Fact, You DO Like Commercials in Your TV Shows

Admittedly, I'm not normal. I have been known to yell "Hey, I was watching that!" when my daughter changes the channel in the middle of a commercial. But it turns out, admit it or not, that you like TV commercials, too. Or at least they add to your enjoyment of the TV shows you're watching. That was one of the research nuggets I heard on last month's HBR (Harvard Business Review) podcast entitled, "Strange-But-True Research Insights."

In the podcast, they cited research from a professor at Berkley. In his study, when people were asked if they liked commercials or not, most said no, they did not. However, when he tested how much enjoyment people got out of a show they were watching, those who saw the same show with commercials rated their enjoyment much higher than those who watched it commercial free. He attributed this to a process he calls adaptation, where we adapt to something, even if it's pleasurable, over a period of time, so it lessens the pleasure. By interrupting the flow of the show, our pleasure mechanisms get restarted after each commercial. So, having commercial breaks really do add to our enjoyment of a show.

What about great shows on HBO and Showtime, you say? They had an answer to that, too. If you look at the kinds of shows that are popular on pay TV channels, they have 4 or 5 intricate plot lines woven into the main storyline. So, as they switch from one to another, they are creating the same interruption patterns that commercial breaks give you.

For my own self, besides the fact that I'm not normal and enjoy watching commercials for their own aesthetic value, I have found myself getting restless if we DVR something and spend an evening fast forwarding through commercials. Apparently, fast forwarding isn't enough of a break, especially since you have to concentrate to see when you need to press play again.

So, you may think you hate commercial TV, but in reality, it adds to your enjoyment. Now, if an advertising actually creates good advertising on top of that, your pleasure increases. For those who say, no one watches commercials - I say no one likes watching bad commercials. Just look at the numbers for views on YouTube for ads that we all enjoy, like the Old Spice "I'm on a horse" campaign. In this case, people are actually going out of their way to watch TV ads.

Go ahead, sit back and enjoy the commercials. You know you want to.

Mike McClure, Executive Creative Director & commercial fan

Ad of the Week: Nissan Leaf - Polar Bear

Marketing green has been a significant trend for awhile now. So, when this ad opens up with a shot of huge chunks of ice crashing off the polar ice shelf as a lone polar bear watches from his tiny ice flow it seems it could be an ad for almost anything. We've seen spots with ice and polar bears representing global warming issues before. But, this spot is not only beautifully shot, it's engaging.

The next thing you see is our bear swimming off and then coming on shore. But the shore isn't anywhere near the arctic. The camera follows our lone bear as he pads his way though the countryside, down railways and highways, occasionally snarling at a passing truck. Then he ambles into the city and up someone's driveway. He rears on his hind legs behind some poor unsuspecting soul. But, he doesn't rip the guy to shreds. He's not angry at all - he just wanted to give the driver of this all electric car a big bear hug.

The spot is good storytelling without any words till the end. And it makes a salient point about the key product attribute. Nice job, Nissan.

Nissan Leaf: Polar Bear

Got a suggestion for Ad of the Week? Leave your comment here, send us an email at fans@yaffe.com, send us a tweet or post on our Facebook page.

Mike McClure, Exec Creative Director & Social Media Guy

Ad of the Week: Your Funniest Ads Ever

This week, on our Facebook page, we asked what was the funniest ad you ever saw - from any era, any medium. We got some interesting answers. So, for this week's Ad of the Week, we thought we'd post some of those ads.

Kim Fujiwara said the funniest ad he saw was the FedEx caveman commercial from the 2006 Super Bowl. He also sited the spots for Zazoo condoms with the kid throwing a temper tantrum in the grocery store.

FedEx - Caveman

Zazoo condoms - kids

Jim Buckley fondly remembered the Cracker Jack campaign from the 60's featuring Jack Guilford.

Cracker Jacks - Jack Guilford Elevator

Birgit Keil went with something more contemporary by going with the Meijer's Spinach spot with the little girl who thinks the Meijer's brand tastes just as bad as the national brand.

Meijer - Spinach

Laura Parker Shaw went with the classic Detroit Zoo spot from the early 80's with all the animals getting ready for the opening of the park.

Detroit Zoo - Zoo Stars

And Kim Proctor, via twitter, went with EDS's Super Bowl commercial called "cat herders" as her favorite LOL commercial.

EDS - Cat Herders

Thank you to everyone who told us what ads have tickled their funny bone over the years. Did we miss your favorite? What ad made you laugh the most?

Mike McClure, Yaffe Group Exec Creative Director & Social Media Guy

How to use YouTube as a cheap, effective way to test your creative.

Agencies and brands spend hundreds of thousands of dollars testing TV commercials to see what version is liked better or what is more effective or what resonates best with consumers. Especially if it's going to be in a high profile medium, like the Super Bowl. Last year's Super Bowl ad that we picked as our favorite was Google's boy meets French girl ad.  Apparently Google tested this ad without spending a cent. And you can, too.

I was listening to the Beancast Marketing Podcast this morning and heard them talking about how Google tested different versions of their Super Bowl ad by posting them on YouTube and seeing which one fared the best. What a great idea! You can produce multiple executions and see which ones draw the most heat. And you can look at different metrics: What got the most views? What got the highest ratings? Which generated the most conversation in the comments section. Which had the most positive comments?

This is something any marketer can do. Of course, if you're a bigger brand or you have developed a strong online community, it's going to be easier for you. If you've never developed a YouTube channel or any other online community, getting the word out there will be harder and take longer. Then again, if it's only your raving fans that are watching and judging, is that indicative of the entire audience you're looking for with your advertising? Still, it's a pretty good way to get some feedback for free.

In fact, it seems a lot of companies are starting to release their ads ahead of time on channels like YouTube before breaking them on TV or other more traditional channels. Besides finding out things they many need to tweak, they are trying to build some buzz ahead of time and give their own community a sense of getting first peak. You can see that great creative has it's own life online, becoming more than just ads, but becoming content that gets passed around and drives traffic.

How about you? How are you using online tools to either improve or repurpose your marketing materials?

Mike McClure, Yaffe Group Exec Creative Director & Social Media Guy

You Can Create Social Change Through Marketing. Here's How.

America's been on the social marketing and cause related marketing bandwagon for a couple years now. But can you use marketing to get a community to pass a bond millage when they've never passed one before? Yes, you can. In fact, we did - in the conservative state of Texas, no less.

The Yaffe Group was working to establish a position for our client, Houston Community College (HCC), for a number of strategic initiatives. One of the most important of those was an upcoming bond election. Passing the bond was critical to the on-going success of the college. We conducted research designed to  understand the performance, attitudes and value drivers of the voting public in the area. After reviewing the research and a strategic planning session with the client, we decided to position HCC as key to the success of the city of Houston and the surrounding districts.

One thing about social marketing, you usually have a big job to do and a limited budget.This was no exception. The good news is that you can usually get the media to give you more added-value bonus spots if it's for a good cause. I't a matter of positioning the client with the media reps, just as you have to with the general public. We managed to get tens of thousands of dollars worth of bonus spots and online adverting for the initiative.

Then we put together a campaign designed to influence the public awareness and attitudes towards HCC. Our main objective was to get people to vote yes on the bond issue. But, we had a number of secondary objectives. We wanted to foster public esteem as it related to HCC and their reputation. We wanted to talk about HCC's value to the community and as a valuable asset to Houston. And we wanted to attract more students and have communication efforts still be aimed at driving student registration.

While we did want to target the 18+ general public, which includes possible students, those looking to go back to school in this economy to find a second career and the 50+ adult population that has the heaviest voter turnout. However, we also targeted all the niches that were key to getting the bond passed. We targeted each niche with different media selection and different messaging. We targeted those in the 50+ segment since they represented a critical voting segment. We also targeted both students and prospective students, as both the end users and as important influencers. We had targeted marketing for the Hispanic, African American and Asian American population as well.  

We used TV, outdoor boards, posters, print, social media and online advertising to reach these targets. The results were terrific. there was a dramatic increase n regard for HCC which resulted in the first-ever passage of a $151-million bond initiative. It received overwhelming voter response and an 11% increase in recruitment of new student registrations, a new all time high.

So, it can be done. You can create significant changes in behavior using social marketing. How about you? What successes have you had? We'd love to hear them.

Mike McClure, Yaffe Exec Creative Director & Social Media Guy