Paul W. Flowers, President
Flowers & Partners, Inc.
Dallas, TX
Touchdown:
The two Ameriquest Mortgage commercials were the strongest of the 2005 Super Bowl advertising in my opinion. Each presented a vignette that had a very funny, surprising twist at the end that set up the Ameriquest promise: "Don’t judge too quickly. We won’t."
It’s a great message from a lending company that promises to fully understand your financial situation before deciding on a mortgage loan, and was presented in a manner that draws the viewer into the commercial and holds his attention to the end.
The three-commercial campaign struck a responsive chord with any worker who is not happy in his or her current job. Interestingly, the spots targeted the disgruntled worker, rather than the person who is out of work. The preposterous scenario of a single human working in an office full of monkeys is an attention-getter that establishes its premise from the very beginning. And did you notice the name of the company: "YEKNOM?"
While the Budweiser salute to the U.S. soldiers ran the risk of seemingly pandering to viewers’ emotions, the commercial was poignant and without pretense. It simply said "thank you" to the men and women who have been fighting overseas.
Also, I do not think the fact that Budweiser spent $2.4-million to honor our military was lost on the tens of thousands of soldiers and their loved ones who were watching the Super Bowl.
Fumbles:
This commercial for a company that manufactures bathtubs, countertops, etc. featured ex-Chicago Bears players, Jim McMahon, “Refrigerator” Perry, Mike Ditka and ex-Chicago Bulls’ Dennis Rodman. All kept asking, “Who is Diana Pearl?” I still don’t know who Diana Pearl is.
The two commercials about a guy who finds fame because he found a McDonald's French fry that looked like the head of Abraham Lincoln were created to generate Web site traffic, as I understand it. Early reports suggest that this tactic worked, but I still don’t get it.
There was no appetite appeal. The brand identification was not particularly strong. I could not figure out how or why these commercials would encourage me to eat at McDonald's.
While I applaud the attempt to parody last year’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl halftime performance, this commercial was just stupid in my opinion – and in questionable taste.
The National Football League apparently felt the same way. They instructed FOX to pull the commercial, which was scheduled to air a second time later in the game, after it aired the first time.
Next in the Zone: