NBC has the Super Bowl this year, and they’re working an odd angle with their commercials. They are encouraging advertisers to release spots in advance of the Super Bowl, under the assumption that they will get more eyes because everyone who is seeing the ads will be watching the Super Bowl anyway. It does help them to justify the $3.5 – $4 million they are charging for a 30-second spot. On the other hand, there’s not a lot of incentive now for people who watch the Super Bowl only for the ads to tune in. Will that help or hurt ratings? Or will it even matter given a match-up that’s ideal for monster ratings this Sunday?
At any rate, a lot of this Sunday’s commercials have already been released to the Internet in the form of full-length commercials or teasers for the commercials (yes, commercials advertising commercials. Welcome to the future). So far, I’m not incredibly impressed with the offerings. The top ad is brilliant, and the next three are pretty great, but after that, they’re kind of “eh,” especially for ad spots that cost millions to put on the air.
However, releasing the ads ahead of time does allow us to jump the gun on ranking them, so instead of dribbling them out in individual posts over the last week to ten days, we’ve compiled and ordered them below. Check ’em out, and give us your assessment of the Super Bowl ads so far.
15. Godaddy (Body painting with Danica Patrick)
14. H&M (with David Beckham)
13. Cars.com (Talking appendage)
12. Audi (Vampire Party)
11. Career Builder (Teaser with more chimps)
Business Trip | CareerBuilder 2012 Big Game Commercial from CareerBuilder For Employers on Vimeo.
10. Samsung (Anti-Apple Teaser directed by Bobby Farrelly)
9. Firstbank (urges you to go pee)
8. Hyandai (Car performs CPR on boss)
7. Hulu (Teaser starring Will Arnett)
6. Kia (Featuring Motley Crue)
5. Downey (Send up of the classic Mean Joe Greene ad featuring Amy Sedaris)
4. Honda (Ferris Bueller ad)
3. Acura (featuring Jerry Seinfeld and, unfortunately, Jay Leno, who nearly ruins the ad)
2. Volkswagon (Follow up to last year’s “The Force”)
1. Volkswagon (Teaser featuring dogs barking the Imperial March)
