I'm David and I like marketing. I also get paid to do it. I post cool marketing things that interest or inspire me. Once in a while I may post an original idea or thought.
The 2012 Super Bowl ad slate had it’s share of hits and misses. Plenty is being written about those commercials today. Here are two regional ads that aired during the Super Bowl (and released in the weeks prior) that much of the audience missed and won’t be talking about.
Budweiser Canada Flash Fans
I’ve never played hockey, but I’ve played enough sports to understand the unrecognized passion these athletes possess. Kudos to Budweiser Canada for appealing to a male emotion other than lust.
1st Bank Break
A regional spot for the Colorado bank. The “break” is a great way to illustrate that the customer’s needs are the priority. It’s a spot that I’ve always wanted to do.
These regional ads definitely beat the one for bail bonds I was subjected to here in Des Moines, Iowa.
Groupon, like my Steelers, fumbles away Super Bowl chance
Groupon walked a thin between clever and classless with their Super Bowl campaign. It is impossible to make fun of a cause and not come out unscathed. You will likely lose those die hard supporters. The whale watching one was fairly harmless in the grand scheme of things. But the Tibet commercial? Mocking an entire society is a little different than a few whale lovers.
As Kenneth Cole showed us this week, using political strife and an uprising of an oppressed people is not a good idea. It will be interesting to see what Groupon does next. Do they apologize? or do they come out with a lame “we were bringing attention to this cause?” Or, do they ignore it completely.
Groupon has momentum. These Super Bowl ads could have given them a good push as competing services are beginning to appear. Was this a calculated risk to generate blog posts and YouTube shares after the game (doh, guilty).
What really gets me is that someone, somewhere, who makes considerably more than I do thought this ad was a good idea. As an advertising professional, that makes me sick.
I get it, but it still makes me roll my eyes. “Super Bowl” is part of the vernacular now. It’s not going to be the next Kleenex or Rollerblade. It just seems petty.
