It's that time of the year again...

Super Ad Sunday!

Posted on January 23, 2007 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

The Saints didn’t make the big game, but they did give New Orleans and much of the rest of the country a reason to hope. It was a good year; unfortunately it ended before the Super Bowl….Speaking of the Super Bowl....

We are coming to what has become the advertising event of the year. Yes, the game is a big reason most will turn on their TV sets that Sunday, but there is a second reason: the Super Bowl ads! This is one time of the year when most of us turn the volume up instead of down during the commercial breaks.

And for good reason: This is when advertisers try to outdo each other in producing the best TV spots. And, at $2.6 million a pop just for the time they had better be VERY good! Usually we aren’t disappointed, and I don’t expect we will be this year either.

We can expect some outstanding and very funny commercials from the likes of Coke, Emerald Nuts, Bud Light, Careerbuilder Honda, Toyota, Pepsi, and others. For a look at past year’s offerings here are some links that have the old ads up for your viewing pleasure. Many of those advertisers from 2006 will be back with bigger and better spots this year. Here is a link to comments on the best and worst of the 2006 Super Bowl ads.

And it is no accident these ads are showing up on the web after the big game. This furthers the reach of the ad as viewers seek them out and view them again as entertainment.

Some advertisers are injecting some new elements this year. Coke and Doritos have “commissioned” their customers to create a Super Bowl ad to run during the game. Doritos has some of their entries already up on YouTube. My personal favorite (so far) is this one.

I like it because it does such a good job of presenting the product in a context that appeals to our emotions. You can’t help but feel sorry for the love-struck driver after his accident. He is kind of goofy-looking, and that enhances his appeal. Then you are hit again when his “new girlfriend” comes to his rescue. They manage to invoke sympathy for their new relationship and the hazards associated with it – and present the product in a very memorable way.

Some of the Doritos entries are pretty lame, and some must have been done by ad agencies as a chance to get their work out there before a wider audience and a big client like Coke or Doritos. The advertiser gets the benefit of having very creative work done for "free."

More Dorios SB ads are up on the WSJ web site.

So, on Super Bowl Sunday keep the volume turned up and enjoy the commercial breaks.