There’s a lot of pressure in making ads for a hugely watched event. It costs a considerable amount just to get a commercial on one of these broadcasts, not to mention the stress of wanting to do a good job. How will people react? Will the message get across? Did the celebrity cameo pay off?
What we end up seeing is the final product and not just the hours upon hours spent concepting, storyboarding, pitching to the client, getting revisions back from the client, getting revisions back from legal. We just see the end. Sometimes that works – and when it does, it’s really a testament to everyone involved – but sometimes it’s just too much.
Even with a good ad, something odd can happen. In a situation like the NCAA Tournament, all ads become tiresome. It could just be the song usage. It could be how the pitchman sounds, or looks, that drives you nuts. A catchphrase could set you off. Because you’re seeing these commercials so many times you start to lose it.
In advance of the National Championship between Duke and Wisconsin on Monday night, here’s a quick list of the ads from the 2015 NCAA Tournament that left me cackling in the corner with my right eye twitching far too often for most of March.
Buick – “The Garcias”
This almost isn’t fair because Buick had a big head start during college football season, and this ad ran again and again to the point where those of us who were held hostage in front of TVs for 14 hours or more on a Saturday were in a blood rage before the Garcias were brought back into our lives during the tournament. Heck, Danger already tried to break down this ad months ago.
The commercial has it all, including a song that you can’t get out of your head (thanks to the group Matt and Kim this time) and an annoying sentence (“Looks like the Garcias got a new car”). It also has the added benefit of being the ad I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the most this tournament. They even shortened the ad for the tournament and gave it a facelift. It didn’t help. It’s still too much.
Buick, please retire this ad. You’re killing SB Nation’s Steven Godfrey, and I like him.
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/547559248498921473
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/547567545499136000
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/548587491801182210
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/548688175598563328
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/549004158020624385
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/549706207796031488
https://twitter.com/38Godfrey/status/549787866411192320
Oberto Beef Jerky
Here’s the thing: I love beef jerky. Like a lot. I have no problem with Oberto either. In a pinch at a gas station or when you’re at Target and nothing else is on sale, I’m totally fine with it.
I also have no problem with Dickie V. It’s fun to make jokes about him, but that’s only because he’s such a good sport and he loves life more than I ever will. I’m jealous of his outlook (sincerely) and his ability to see the good in everything and everyone. Other people may dislike him, but I can’t, because he’s had a hugely successful career with his main tenets being (1) smile, (2) treat everyone like you’ll meet them again, (3) help others, (4) be positive, (5) enjoy everything. I swear I try to do that stuff and I fail at it constantly, and I suffer the consequences of my failures all the time. If only I were more like Dick Vitale, maybe I’d have fewer regrets in life. Maybe I’d be happier.
That doesn’t have anything to do with the frustration of having to hear Stephen A. Smith on a couch in Dickie V’s stomach talking about beef jerky.
“O.B.J. OBERTO BEEF JERKY. THIS STUFF IS AWESOME BABY.”
Although I do have to give props to ad agencies now on year 20 or so of deciding their tournament advertising strategy is simply having Dickie V say something is awesome. “SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE – IT’S AWESOME BABY.”
McDonald’s – “Tenderness”
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Nothing about the ad itself *or* the music is bad really. The shots are fine. People are eating chicken fingers. Chicken fingers are delicious. Otis Redding is playing. Otis Redding is great. What is not great is using an Otis Redding song to sell chicken fingers. This is fundamentally wrong. “Try A Little Tenderness” is not about eating chicken fingers. It never was. It never will be. My brain is unable to handle the fundamental dichotomy in this.
Target – “Groove Is In The Heart”
(This isn’t the exact ad, but it’s close enough.)
When you hear a song in 15-second snippets, even a song you’ve heard for 20-or-so years, and that 15-second snippet is playing every commercial break on every station when there are games on so you almost hear that 15-second snippet echoing throughout a bar when you’re trying to watch four games at once and you just ate a wing so spicy you forgot how to be a human being, that 15-second snippet then becomes your death hymn. Do we all really want 15 seconds of “Groove Is In The Heart” to be playing at our funeral on repeat?
Burger King – “2 For $5”
Not a bad concept here, again, done in by the volume of plays. Toss a couple basketball commentators in a Burger King and have them analyze people’s orders in real time. I like it. It’s neat. It’s playful. What it isn’t, though, is immune from a huge ad buy during the NCAA Tournament. So when you start hearing “THE BIG KINNNNGGGGGG … AND THE FOUL!” just in your daily life when you’re unloading the dishwasher or stopped at a stoplight even though you haven’t been to a Burger King in over half a decade, this is a problem. I shouldn’t be hearing Seth Davis’ voice in my head unless I am Seth Davis.
I only now am realizing this entire post is likely going to be used against me if I’m ever committed to a psych ward.
Honorable Mentions: The Pixels movie ad, Get Hard movie ad, Powerade “Don’t Ask Me Why,” The thing with the Cat Hat (Geico maybe?), Audi SUV “Don’t Look The Same,” Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust with David Robinson and Dickie V, Sonic commercials, Rob Lowe DirecTV (they never stop)
