Why USA Today Ad Meter Sucks

The best commercials of the Super Bowl, according to respondents using USA Today's Ad Meter, were as follows:

1. Mars’ Snickers — Guy plays football like Betty White
2. Doritos — Dog puts shock collar on owner
3. Bud Light — Man builds house out of beer cans
4. Budweiser — Fences don’t come in between friends
5. Coca-Cola — African sleepwalker finally gets Coke

The problems with the system are several:

A) The winning commercials all ran during the first quarter, if not the first commercial break. People are expecting funny and will choke on their Doritos laughing at the first amusing thing that happens in a commercial because they are waiting with baited breath for Betty White to get trucked. By the time a lot of the best (in my opinion) commercials ran (like Google's, which many many people thought was the best), people were already bored and were just comparing every spot to the last silly Bud Light ad they saw.

B) The "best" ads reward humor in the opening of the spots, because they'll score highly at the beginning, whereas a good ad does not necessarily need to be funny in the first 5 seconds to be successful. Betty White getting tackled probably got the Snickers spot scoring 10s on the Ad Meter right away, whereas ads like Google's took some time to develop and only would have scored highly at the end (and by people who paid attention).

C) The ads deemed the "best" just means that a room of 250 people thought they were the most entertaining. Good ads aren't always the most entertaining - David Ogilvy started his agency around the idea that the primary purpose of ads was to sell products (or ideas). While branding and entertainment is great, it needs to work toward the purpose of generating sales, which is how the success of advertising is actually measured, whether USA Today likes it or not.

Quite frankly, while I did chuckle at the Bud Light house and I thought it was a decent piece of advertising, it doesn't compel me to buy Bud Light, and therefore I don't think it's among the best ads on the industry's biggest stage.

50th post: Best ad on TV 11/10/09 - Captain Morgan

The reaction has to be mixed for this one. Some are amazed by the ability to pour 40 shots from one container of booze. Some probably find the spot and/or the campaign amusing if not hysterical. And others are just freaked out by the reverse ventriloquist.

While it may indeed be a great example of a "random act of creativity," the ad in general is great because the branding is pretty clear (plus "Calling All Captains" at the end, which has been a campaign going for most of 2009) and the USP is made known in the first 2 seconds of the ad.

Besides Captain Big Shot, there are also Captain Improv, Captain Keymaster, and for Halloween Captains Monster Party and Extra Mile:



The spots are all the work of Grey Worldwide

Best ad on TV 10/22: Mac vs Windows 7

Thursday night prime time is always a great time to debut commercials, in my opinion. I'm not a big TV viewer and yet I can sit down and watch straight through for more than two hours (this week, if you're curious, was Flash Forward, the Office, 30 Rock, and It's Always Sunny. It helps to have a roommate who's a TV nerd).

Combine this time slot with a lot of young viewers, and you'll usually see some good ads. Throw in the launch of a new Windows OS and it's war.



Despite my last two posts endorsing anti-Mac ads, I have to find some way to appear non-biased. As far as the commercials go, Mac won on Thursday night. It may not really be prudent to buy a Mac instead of just upgrading your OS, but it becomes an inticing alternative for people entering the new computer market, especially if they've had a negative experience with a Windows upgrade or with a computer that started with Vista.

That's exactly what this one touches on. John Hodgman is always great as "PC," but he takes it to a new level in this one. I don't know what I like more, the 1995 flipping aviators or the creepy "trust me" smile.

It's tough to go against a 90% market share behemoth in any category, but TBWA time after time does a wonderful job playing David to Microsoft's Goliath.

RIP: Kobe and Lebron Puppets

RIP 5.30.09

Lebron James' dreams of a 2009 NBA title with the Cavaliers weren't the only casualty following Cleveland's loss to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. Also destroyed was the potential for some Nike on Nike play between the two best players in the world, and consequently, an epic advertising opportunity for the country's biggest shoe brand.

Of course, the company had been showing the Kobe/Lebron puppet commercials, which portray the pair of superstars as Sesame Street esque puppets talking smack to one another, in order to hype up the inevitable match up in the NBA finals:



Uuuuunfortunately for Nike and for funny commercial loving folk everywhere, the campaign must now die a quiet, painful death as King James will not be participating in the Finals. In his stead will be Dwight "Superman" Howard and his Orlando Magic. As great a character as Howard is...



...you won't be seeing him in stuffed, stringed effigy form. Howard is a spokesman for rival adidas. This poses an unbelievable opportunity for the Germans to strike back. Their arch nemesis just had a campaign blow up in their face, and they now have their Super spokesman battling with Kobe and the Lakers. If they can throw something together in time, it'd be an awesome shot at Nike. They have until Thursday, Game 1 of the Finals, to get something on TV, assuming they were forward thinking enough to have purchased some spots.

If not, a giant puppet of Superman in downtown Orlando (or Cleveland, if they were ballsy) would suffice.

As for Nike and the rest of the sports and advertising worlds, we continue to wait for a modern version of Magic/Bird. I'm sure ESPN will do just fine in the mean time.

Greased Lightbox

→←+-↻

Loading image

Click anywhere to cancel

Image unavailable

I love hamsters

Now, I understand the cute metaphor, but really I think they're just playing to people's love of fuzzy lil' rodents. Who DOESN'T love a hamster fiddling with an mp3 player? It's kind of funny how that's a feature that is compelling about the product, despite the fact that I can play my iPod in my 97 Mercury with a $5 gadget that goes into the tape deck...

"I know what'll make it sell...put another hamster in the passenger seat, picking a song on the iPod! And make the other hamsters bob their heads! Brilliant!"

I don't know why more agencies don't experiment with the hamster realm, they make it too adorable to look away:



This all being said, I grew up with two hamsters. One day, one of them escaped and my dad went to the pet store and bought a new one that looked like the first. My siblings and I were fooled. For 8 years.

Expect the unexpected

I can't help but crack up at this every time. Lebron sounds so heartfelt when he sings, and I was always wondering how he gets pumped up. Certainly not the whole chalk thing...

How you say, the strip tease?

I realize this ad has been out for a while (came out about a year ago, has been on TV for months at least), but I saw it for the first time the other day and laughed out loud.

Too bad no one really drinks bourbon. Pretty sure I've never had bourbon. I guess that's why my girlfriend doesn't have an Eastern European accent.

Best ad on TV 1/13

My fantasy season in a nutshell:



I can't help but laugh at this one every time around. The people genuinely look sad. Great stuff, compelling really. "House of Cards" reminds me of myself on a few occasions this season.

Also, an unrelated note, I heard this song playing at the casino the other night. Who's idea was that, and what were they thinking serenading people on the brink of suicide with a depressing song?

One more gift to wrap up

This cute viral ad combines a few of my favorite things...



1) Christmas
2) Crude sexual humor

Thanks, Trojan!

I love their working with college humor, which has always been great for original videos (animated and otherwise). It just seems like another rediculous CHTV production until the very end when the sponsorship becomes obvious. The best kind of ad doesn't seem like an ad, and the folks at Trojan got it right with this one.

אז, זהו חג האורים

For, our Jewish friends, I have one for you, too.



The Words:
Be warned holy land
of the hi definition
go out and erase this "toeivah" (sin)

Oy Vey, the "toeivah" is here
He said Oy Vey
now the detail's so clear
YES brought HD
Groise Tate (Father in heaven) please help
It's a "broch" this HD on YES

Gevald it's Sedom and Gemorah
HDTV it's against the torah
HDTV oy voi voi voi
Now the shikses look well
you will all go to hell
Or in Hebrew Yishmor HoKel (g-d save us)

Cause the HD is now on YES

So, this is Christmas.

Stay out of the doghouse this Christmas.



Bravo, JC Penney and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Best ad on TV 12/21

You've all seen it by now, but I have to go with the McCafe commercial: