Post Super Bowl commercial evaluations

As a student here at Michigan State University whose major is Advertising, I watched the super bowl for the football of course, but I also waited patiently to see the long awaited commercials. We all know who the primary players are when it comes to big money ads;  Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Doritos and of course the two big winners from last years super bowl Chrysler with its eminem ad and Volkswagon Darth vador commercial. 

As the commercials ran yesterday, I must say I was pleasantly disappointed with alot of the commercials I witnessed on Sunday. Before I get into my views on these ads, I must ask was anyone surprised to see that Ford Motor didn't advertise during the big game. I couldn't believe my eyes because with the automobile market making a comeback, its crazy to see that one of  major players in this market didn't have a presence, especially since all of its competitors went pretty big with their ads.

Now back to all the companies that did advertise during the super bowl. I think that Chrysler let me and all of the city of Detroit down. When I say this I don't want to imply that their commercial was not good, because it was. It did exactly what they wanted it to do, they used a popular person, Clint Eastwood, to appeal to not only youth but the older demographic. This was smart because the other spokes people they have used in the past; Suh, and Eminem, had primarily a youth culture appeal. They created  a great emotional connection with its consumer. But what they didn't calculate was the backlash they would get once true Detroiters realized Clint isn't of Michigan.  My personal opinion is that they used a two minute spot right before half time to bore me with the same campaign they have been running all year. The  super bowl is where you are supposed to debut and wow the consumer and they did not do that.

General Electric made a strong showing in the super bowl. I thought that may have been really a persuasion tactic. If you have been paying attention GE has been having some trouble lately with its tax situation, so they used this platform to try to win back over consumer perception for the company, and I think they did well especially with collaborating with Budweiser on one of their ads.

I want to also recognize Daanon and John Stamos for a very funny commercial and also M & M for providing us with fall to our knees humor during the super bowl. They used humor to create brand recognition. I believe with comedic commercials like that, people will recall these brands when making a purchase decisions.

Now my overall winner for the night  goes Chevy and their Silverado commercial. If you didn't see it then click  below.

As a Ford man myself, and also being named Dave, it was hard to accept this commercial. But I will say Chevy took it all the way home, they not only showed off their new hardware -- award for being "most dependable truck on the road-- but they also took a jab at the largest player in the pick up truck market, Ford. This commercial was not only funny, but it also informed its primary target about the durability of their trucks. I love the fact that when the trucks came together at the end they included an older silverado just to subliminally show that they have always made durable and dependable trucks.  Chevy knows that they won't be winning over any Ford truck users with this ad (because consumers in this market are very brand loyal) but they did give their fans something to brag about, give each other high fives to and smile about. Hats off to you Chevy you did a good job.