Super Bowl 54. What a time— you had Chiefs leading, 49ers coming back, Chiefs slamming the door hard on a victory.
More importantly, you had ads. As a marketing team who focuses on MVT for ad creative, we love to analyze ads. Super Bowl ads are supposed to be the best ads each year. Needless to say, we were hyped to sit down as a squad and watch the Super Bowl.
We saw many ads, some excellent, some off, some combinations of excellent and off. Together, we voted on how good an ad was and what the vibe was. Thus spawned a new form of ad analysis.
Throughout this article we introduce that new form of ad examination: Marpipe's Ratings x Vibes methodology.
Here's a distribution of Super Bowl Ads using that methodology as voted on by the Marpipe team on 02/02/20:
We'll move left to right across the chart to understand each rating and vibe, starting with what we thought was one of the worst ads to come out of the 2020 super bowl: Michelob Ultra's Jimmy Works It Out.
I love a cold Michelob Ultra, don't get me wrong— it happens to be my dad's favorite beer— but the truth is, this ad is trash and the vibes are off. Way off.
Why?
Exercise is basically the opposite of alcohol. In fact, drinking reverses gains. And while elements of the ad made sense, like the live band motivating Jimmy Fallon's run, as a whole, the narrative of "It's only worth it if you enjoy it" is off.
Let's look at what 'It' could mean here to see how off Michelob is:
- Exercising is only worth exercising if you enjoy exercising
- Drinking a beer is only worth drinking a beer if you enjoy drinking a beer
Alternatively, they simply mean, doing anything at all is only worth doing it if you enjoy doing it, but then what does that uniquely have to do with exercise or drinking or more importantly, Michelob?
Clearly something's off.
But why was it trash?
Two main reasons:
- The ad didn't make me want to buy Michelob
- The ad promotes a negative health outcome i.e. ruining exercise with beer
Let's move onto the next one.
Another product I absolutely adore; another ad I absolutely disagree with. Hint is actually adding significant value to the world. People drink too little water and making it taste better without adding inordinate amounts of sugar (or any at all) is a modern engineering miracle.
That being said, choosing to use the Bizarreness Effect for their ads is ironically boring. And threatening.
Boring: According to Benign Value Theory, humor is effective when 3 condition are met:
- Norms are threatened
- The threat seems insignificant
- Both thoughts arise at the same time
Norms were not threatened by the blackberry eating contest and the threat of getting licked by a man covered in blackberry jam felt very significant.
Next.
Kraft-Heinz, owner of Planters does itself justice with their "Tribute" ad. KHC has plummeted over the past few years.
Given Planters is a flagship brand, reviving their mascot through a Kool-Aid tear (flagship #2), provides a chaotic combination of cute, bizarre, and clever that works well as a metaphor for KHC's potential resurrection.
All around, an excellent ad.
We've all been there. On both sides. You want to explain something important, your partner is trying to fix your appearance. You want to fix your partner's appearance, they think you're referring to what they're saying. It's like not knowing someone else is on the phone when you're responding to what they say.
This ad is relatable, and that's why it's good. But not only is the narrative centered around a misunderstanding, until the last second of the ad, we misunderstood what the product was.
"Love Takes Action." "Be Good at Life."
This ad tries too hard to make you feel something. In a world where meta-awareness dominates, anything taking itself so seriously is a tough sell. Caked between comedies, it stood out, but only due to it's overdone emotion.
Now you might think this ad is an easy fit for a good rating. But become aware of the context, and ideals are complicated. Yes, they are promoting moral action. However, they're doing it in an ad... for life insurance...
NY Life's true vibe is True Neutral.
Pepe Silvia.
See the similarities for yourself.
This ad is trash.
Unrealistic. A thousand cuts. Over-produced look and feel. It's like Hard Rock poured millions into each second, focusing too much on the high-end materials and not enough on the low-end experience of the ad.
Slammed with celebrities for the sake of it and more pea-cocking than a billionaires summit makes this ad unapologetically capitalist.
But, to be fair, Hard Rock's entire model hinges on celebrities staying by them, and that's what gives this ad a certified premium vibe.
Wow. So much to unpack here. Both cool king (Khal Drago) and successful superhero (Aquaman) in his daily life, Jason Momoa is the perfect man to show some authenticity. Removing his outer layer to reveal a real person beneath the actor's typical appearance was just bizarre enough to exude a wavy vibe without going over the top like Hint water's face-licker did.
The ad made sense, it made me feel comfortable, it reminded me of home, and it even made me smile a warm smile. To top it off, they finished showing one of the most masculine manly men on TV in a vulnerable position, directly related to strength, "a core trait" of masculinity, coached by a presumably superior woman. Not only does this show attention to current social trends, but it also stands out for ending on a scene that did not include their brand and logo (like nearly every other TV ad ever).
This one's my personal favorite.
Excellent vibes.
To close out our exploration of the Ratings x Vibes ad ranking dichotomy, we have a very special ad. one that is both good and actually checks out.
More than any other ad on this list, it made me want the product: avocados. The ad knows it's audience, it knows that many people are currently eating guac with their chips, it's meta-aware i.e. it acknowledges the fact that it's an ad by adding false infomercial ads, it's bizarre, obviously, and it doesn't take itself too seriously.
Overall, it just plain checks out.
If you've made it this far, I have two asks:
- Send me your ads. I'll send you a rating.
- Debate me. Feedback on both the ratings system and it's application are encouraged.
Cheers,
Brett@marpipe.com
