The Dogs Of The Super Bowl

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: February 7th, 2012

Nah, not those dogs. We are not referring to the cute canines that populated many commercials aired during the Super Bowl last Sunday. We are referring to the dogs that didn’t hunt, we are talking bad ads, bad, bad, bad, baaaaad ones. The worst. Ads imported from Yucksville. Those we make you watch again today.

Yesterday, we showed you the best commercials, as voted by the people. The data come from Edmunds. How did they measure it? Advertisers expect from their commercials what women expect from a bra: A lift. A lift in interest for the wares being hawked. That lifted interest resonates in the respected pages being hit at Edmunds.com, because people rush to their computer to research the car they just saw on TV. Or so the theory goes.

Yesterday, we showed you the ads that lifted like a multistage rocket. This time, we show you the duds. These ads don’t lift. They suck.

Third worst: The Toyota Camry commercial (above.) I’m sure the creative were pretty proud of that one until the research came in. But I tend to agree: I don’t like it when guys get reinvented as girls. And I like them real, not 3D rendered.

Second worst: The Honda CR-V commercial. What a waste of money.

Worst of the worst: The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 commercial. Looks like people are not moved by frogs falling from the air. Or whatever.

Marketing Directors responsible for the aforementioned ads: Don’t fire your agency just yet. Hold off on putting the account on review. Look, it could have been worse. Says Edmunds in a letter to TTAC:

“At least this year no one’s consideration was flat after their ads ran. Last year, BMW saw no lift from its “Defying Logic” ad for the X3 in the second quarter, and Lexus aired a number of pre-game ads and saw no lift in consideration for its models or the make.”

In case you want to know how the unmentioned middling commercials fared, here the complete Edmunds tally as a bonus:

MakeModelSegmentLiftFiat500Subcompact Car203%AudiS7Premium Luxury Car195%ChevroletSonicSubcompact Car188%LexusGS 350Midrange Luxury Car144%HyundaiVelosterCompact Car137%HyundaiGenesis coupeEntry Sport Car88%VolkswagenBeetleSubcompact Car80%KiaOptimaMidsize Car62%ChevroletCamaroEntry Sport Car45%CadillacATSEntry Luxury Car37%LexusES 350Entry Luxury Car31%ToyotaCamryMidsize Car8%HondaCR-VCompact Crossover SUV5%ChevroletSilverado 1500Large Truck2%

You may notice that today’s percentages are slightly different than yesterday’s, and that the ranking is different as well. We saw that too. This is market research, not the table of primes, for crying out loud. People change their minds. Or something to that effect.

#BertelSchmitt #BestAds #Edmunds #SuperBowl

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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2 of 27 comments

John Horner on Feb 07, 2012

That Camry ad gets my vote for the most lame. It wasn't thought provoking, exciting, interesting or anything. It was just dumb.

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Obbop on Feb 08, 2012

Didn't see the Silverado ad until the mention/link here. Out of boredom slept through much of the superbrawl. Basically never watch ANY sport at any level. But, if a non-stop showing of cheerleaders was offered........

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