Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on bringing home the Lombardi Trophy. It was a well deserved victory and Drew Brees and his cast played an excellent game. However, I thought the Super Bowl itself was, dare I say, disappointing. Two things really bothered me and I'll start with football talk followed by a Marketers take on the dismal advertising. 

Make no mistake, we all watched a quality football game last night. The refs really "let the boys play" and there was a lack of "dirty laundry" on the field so to speak (very few penalties). Besides a huge mistake by the Colts Peyton Manning, the play was far some sloppy. So what bothered me? It starts with the lack of excitement and lackluster play-calling. I'll give the Saints the edge for calling a surprise on-side kick to begin the second half. It was bold, exciting, and a complete game-changer. However, we watched two of the most high-powered offenses in the National Football League play very conservatively. Besides a couple of nice plays, no quarterback was able to stretch the field with the long-ball and no offense was very creative with their play calling. While a Super Bowl record was broken having the most passes thrown between both teams, it was actually really boring. 

Despite this "boring" game by my standards, I still was entertained. I just didn't think this year compared to last years exciting and dramatic Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl with so many more headlines. What bothered me even more than the conservative play on the field were the conservative calls off the field. A marketers perspective of the commercials.

 

Terrible. I don't think there's another way to describe a collective group of mundane Super Bowl commercials. The sad thing is that people can't blame the economy for the quality of these 30 second spots. The advertisers that were present paid roughly $3.8 million for thirty seconds of airtime had no creativity, and those that did were creative four years ago when the same-themed ads first appeared (GoDaddy.com, Budweiser Horses, Doritos). It's well known that many of us spend time watching these commercials, yet I don't think any one of the ads were creative and entertaining (maybe the Budweiser/Bud Light ones were acceptable). Also, there was noticeably lack of corresponding internet campaigns to go along with the ads. 

 

This particular ad was funny because it's less conservative and isn't so reserved when poking fun at the difference in gender. Since September 11, 2001, advertisers have been much more conservative. But is this a good thing? Instead of producing ads that are entertaining that get the message across, the fear of offending people has made contemporary ads mundane, boring, and a chance to see what's going on with a different channel. 

If you were watching the Super Bowl in 1985, then you know about the Super Bowl Shuffle and the Chicago Bears. This ad generates some nostalgia but for someone like myself born after the fact (I know of it because of general football knowledge) the ad has no meaning. 

As far as entertainment value is concerned, Budweiser still gets it. By catering to a younger audience, their humor gets through on all different levels. 

I did find that a handful of ads were very successful in conveying their intended message to consumers, but the Super Bowl commercial we all long for is one that will make us laugh over and over again. I think this year, the ads failed greatly and next year and could create a problem for advertisers next year since many people will feel more comfortable missing a few than feeling the need to watch them all.