Sunday, February 1, 2015

11 Super Bowl Commercials that Nailed It

The Super Bowl is a great time to remind the companies of the world that people love targeted advertisements.

When you do advertising right, people look forward to them and will watch them for hours.

When you do it really right, people share your advertisements on social media and give you a free billboard to all their friends and family.

So while many sites are ranking the Super Bowl commercials from best to worst, I’m going to list the ones I think are the most targeted that will ultimately get the most targeted shares and bang for their buck. Here they are—in no particular order.

1. Always: #likeagirl 

If you’re a girl, no one needs to tell you how true this ad is. And to have a big company trying to change how growing girls feel about being girls? I'm the target market, and I’d buy that.



2. BMW: Newfangled Idea i3 

BMW finds a humorous and monumental way to position their technology as the status quo of the future. Don’t know what it is? You’d better look it up, because it’s the new normal.



3. eSurance: Sorta You 

This commercial is maybe more guilty pleasure the laser-targeted marketing, but the fact is that eSurance found a pop culture trend with the same audience and used it. Very smart, and a great way to grab your target market’s attention.



4. Dove: Men+Care: Real Strength 

Remember that even though this is a man’s product, this commercial is targeting wives who buy for their husbands (depicting the father she sees in her husband). The ad creates an emotion which will likely result in a purchase. But this ad also does double duty. It gets a buy from a woman while simultaneously creating an image fathers are okay with when they see the products appear in their shower.



5. Mophie: Stay Powerful 

We live in a world where many people experience true anxiety if they leave home without their phone. And a dead battery in the middle of nowhere? Did the air just get thinner at the thought, or is it just me?

If you’re a person who cares about battery life, this ad is for you.


6. Reebok: Be more Human 

CrossFit athletes may or may not have been shouting “amens” at the screen while this commercial played. Reebok knows their customer and this commercial is 100% on point.



7. NoMore.org: Stand Up Against Domestic Abuse 

If you’re the target demographic for this commercial, I’m betting there’s a 50/50 chance you already shared the transcript of this commercial on your Facebook wall a few months back. You know what happens the moment you hear the first line, because you read the transcript in a news story and now you're hearing the actual recording.

No way you're muting this commercial, and the advertiser knows it!

The commercial is uncomfortably real and invites discussion on a topic most people have been trained not to talk about outside of their home. Well, it’s time to start talking.



8. Weight Watchers: All You Can Eat 

How do you make pretty food so gross that people see it and want to shun it? Seems a daunting task, but Weight Watchers took it on, and I think they nailed it.



9. Dodge: 100 Years/Wisdom 

This commercial has gotten some hate on the “Best of” lists, but I disagree. I think it hits its target demographic in exactly the right spot. If they hadn't put the years each person was born under each person speaking, I think the commercial would have been more flat, but they did put the year which gave everyone--including Dodge--more credibility.



10. Clash of the Clans: Liam 

I know this is a great ad, because I hated it. As it kept going and going and going, all I could think was “Less is more, people…this monologue needs an editing axe. Is this seriously 30 seconds? This feels way longer than 30 seconds…aaaaand he’s still talking. Is this a minute commercial? Longer? How much does a one-minute commercial cost? Maybe I have time to go to the store…” But I’m not their target customer. And I’m betting if you are, you loved it!



11. T-Mobile: Save the Data 

A commercial that works whether you love or hate the celebrity endorser? Brilliant. And yes, I can see that tens of thousands of people have hated the video out of the (current) 12,000,000+ people who have watched it. But if you want to see how narrowly targeting your audience leads to greater traction, then track the views of this ad. What do you want to bet it gets more voluntary views than any of the other ads listed?


What do you think? Were these the most targeted commercials, or did I miss one you thought was perfect?

Feel free to share which commercial and how and why it made you want to buy.

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