What worked for the Ad Bowl? SHIFT staff weigh in!

We asked the SHIFT team what worked last night for them in the Super Bowl’s advertising and marketing. Let’s see what the staff had to say.

Reshma Fernandes: Oreo’s response to the power outage, unquestionably! It was clever, timely, required no ad spend and went viral in seconds on Twitter.

Peter McCormack: I’d just like to second the Oreo “nomination”. That was PHENOMENAL and timely.

Katie Tully: Agreed that Oreo’s response was amazing. Tide also hopped on the news jacking bandwagon with a Twitter response that received a ton of attention as well.

Katie Boucher: I have to back the Tide and Oreo responses to the blackout. I believe that real-time marketing and advertising will win out most of the time.

Emily Wienberg: Ditto to the quick thinking on behalf of Oreo, but I personally liked Dodge Ram’s “So God Made a Farmer” spot – the copy instantly caught my attention and my eyes didn’t leave the screen for the entire commercial.

Cathy Summers: Tide/Montana Stain, Budweiser/Clydesdales and Dodge/God made a Farmer. Otherwise, weak ads this year.

But, I think the biggest response, was when almost instantly after the commercial aired, Ford posted a tweet about their longstanding relationship with farmers.

Sarah Borup: My vote, hands down, goes to Taco Bell. The entire commercial was spot on and captured the essence of their “Live Mas” tag line while still being unexpected in terms of the age and behavior of their actors – which helped it appeal to audiences of every age. It was also nice to see them depart from the commercials of the chef using “healthy” and “fresh” ingredients – probably not the top reason consumers go to Taco Bell – to do something more fun.

Denise Bertrand: For some reason I liked the Taco Bell commercial as well! I couldn’t stop watching during it. It was just very unexpected and mainly probably caught my attention because I didn’t know what the commercial was for until the end.

Karen DeVincent: I was generally pretty unimpressed with the Super Bowl #ads this year, except for the Budweiser Clydesdale foal ad with “Landslide” playing in the background. I might have gotten a *little* choked up on that one, as someone who grew up raising horses. From a social/PR perspective, I also really liked how they got consumers engaged by asking folks to help name the little guy over Twitter!

Scott Baldwin: I think Budweiser hit a home run with the Clydesdale ad. They’re iconic to the brand and everyone loves them as they usually touch on the audiences emotions. On the other side of the Budweiser fence was new Budweiser Black lager which seemed to fall flat. Nobody thinks (or will ever) think of Budweiser when they’re at a swanky, black cocktail dress/suit party. Sorry, but stick with what you know.

Jim Joyal: Like the “farmer” ad, I was touched by the Jeep ad featuring returning veterans and their impact on “us” as a whole. Let’s not forget what they were driving (other than Hummers) in every war since WW II.

Brittany Topham: I may be a little biased as a Jeep owner, but last night’s commercial was great and reminded consumers of the brand’s rich history while focusing on today. I thought the ad paid beautiful tribute to the troops and didn’t flood the TV set with branding — though everyone definitely saw it coming.

Katie Clark-AlSadder: I loved the VW “get happy” commercial. I thought it summed up the attitude of their customer and who they’d aspire to be, were they not in actuality the sort of person who had a job that allowed them to buy a brand new Volkswagen, so perfectly. It was a smart, funny, evocative spot that furthered their tradition of being a car company with commercials that don’t scream that, cementing their place as a true lifestyle brand.

Joel Richman: The Bar Refaeli kisses the “Walter” (Jesee Heinman) GoDaddy ad. Only because it was was an assault on your senses. It sounded like you were actually IN their mouths.

What were your favorites that helped to advance brands and build word of mouth?

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