Best and Worst Super Bowl Tech Commercials
Super Bowl commercials? They're one of the major attractions--for some of us, the major attraction--of the big game. But the ugly truth about them is this: For every really one, there are several really bad ones. And for every really bad one, there have been dozens--maybe hundreds--that are worthy of no comment whatsoever.
At least that's my take at the moment, after having spent the last few days watching more old Super Bowl commercials than anyone ought to subject themselves to. Which I did because we had come up with the brilliant idea of doing a roundup of old Super Bowl ads (hey, only every other site on the Web is doing it!).
Since this is PC World, our idea did have one twist: We decided to limit our picks to commercials for technology products. There must be ten memorably good ones and ten memorably bad ones out there, right?
The project sounded easy...but turned out to be impossible, at least in the way we initially envisioned it. For one thing, our assumption that all the stuff we wanted to cover would be readily available on YouTube turned out to be false, false, false. Some interesting commercials are, but others aren't....and the really lousy ads aren't ther, for the most part. (Unaccountably, few people have chosen to devote their time to uploading inferior advertising material to YouTube.)
The amazing Web site Adland has a vast archive of Super Bowl ads dating back to 1969. But we can't embed its stuff, and you have to pay even to watch it over there. (I forked over the 5-euro charge and can testify that it's a bargain if you're a sucker for old TV commericials, tech-related or otherwise.)
But online availability of ads isn't the only gotcha. Like I said, the most noteworthy thing about most technology-related ads aired on the Super Bowl is that they've been...boring. So my lists of best and worst ads are shorter than I'd hoped for. Here they are, anyway.
The Best Super Bowl Tech Ads of All Time (or at least my seven favorite, in reverse order)
7. Pets.com, "If You Leave Me Now" (2000). I wasn't that big a fan of the Pets.com sock puppet (who's still on the tube, though he's been reduced to pitching car loans for people with bad credit). But this ad, with him doing karaoke to the Chicago tune, is a work of minor genius (okay, very minor genius...or maybe no genius at all, but I do get a kick out of it). The weeping turtle is a fine touch, too. I don't know how much Pets.com paid for the spot, but like many, many Super Bowl commercials--including some of the best ones--it was probably a total waste of money. (The company discontinued operations within months of this ad's airing.)
6. Pepsi, ?I Fought the Law? (2004). Okay, so this is a soft-drink commercial rather than a tech one, strictly speaking. But the ad (whose cover of the Bobby Fuller Four?s ?I Fought the Law? is by Green Day) involves an iTunes giveaway. And the subject matter--appearances by music-downloading kids targeted by the RIAA's legal machine--is a more clever and topical technology reference than most of those in ads from actual technology companies. It is undeniable, though, that if Apple had made this commercial it would probably have been even better.
5. Apple, "Hal" (1999). Speaking of Apple, here's a Mac ad! But not the original 1984 one that's going to show up somewhere in this list! The combination of the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme and the references to the Y2K bug give this a two-tiered, entertainingly retro-futuristic feel. (Thankfully, Hal's reference to a global economic disruption" turned out to be one Apple slam against PCs that turned out not to be true.) Sadly, that's an impersonator rather than 2001's original Hal, actor Douglas Rain. If Apple had been classy enough to hire Rain, I'd have bumped this up a spot or two on this list.
4. Monster.com, ?When I Grow Up? (1999). I'm not sure why such a high percentage of Super Bowl ads are for employment-related Web sites. (Are football fans more likely than the average American to be unhappy in their work?) But I do know this Monster.com spot is the only one I can think of that not only aspired to greatness but achieved it...even if many folks seem to remember it as having been for HotJobs, CareerBuilder, or some other site.
3. Xerox, ?Brother Dominic? (1977). Yup, Super Bowl ads for tech products date back to the early days--ones for color TVs were once common. This reasonably early ad, for a high-speed Xerox photocopier, was an influential hit whose combination of sales pitch and humorous storytelling (he's a monk! Makin' copies!) served as a template for many Super Bowl commercials to come. Trivia: Brother Dominic was played by comedian Jack Eagle.
2. Apple, "1984" (1984). Is it contrarian for me not to rate this as the greatest Super Bowl tech ad of all time? Probably, given that it's been called the best commercial ever made, period. For me, it's too pompous and humorless to take the top spot. Even so, it does hold up pretty well, and for my money, it might be the second best thing that director Ridley Scott ever did (after Thelma and Louise).
1. EDS "Herding Cats" (2000). I'm not entirely sure why EDS (the mammoth technology consulting firm founded by Ross Perot) thought that it was worth the bucks to advertise on the Super Bowl. You'd think that the percentage of viewers who might spend a million bucks or two with EDS would be...well, limited. But I'm glad it made this ad, whose clever idea, deadpan style, and flawless special effects add up to everything a Super Bowl commercial should be. Somehow, it's both laugh-out-loud funny and oddly moving at the same time. Is it a coincidence that this is one of two ads on this list (along with the Pets.com one) that features cats? You tell me...
The Worst Super Bowl Tech Ads of All Time
Sorry, no list--it would just include any and every GoDaddy commercial ever produced. They're all the same, and they all not only don't make me want to use GoDaddy's services, but leave me feeling like I should go door to door beseeching other people not to. Actually, they make feel a little unclean to be a human being.
If you must, you can watch the ads, as well as "rejected" ones and outtakes here. But I wouldn't...
PC World's Marketplace
PC World's Free Whitepapers
tech news tech blogs community & forums laptop prices software reviews downloads
And do you know who Jack "Brother Dominic" Eagle's son is? CBS sportscaster Ian Eagle, involved with today's coverage of the Super Bowl. Comes full circle, doesn't it?
GoDaddy is pushing themselves off a cliff. They are seeing how close they can get to what is appropriate on TV. Seems completely out of line with a company who offers internet domain names/web hosting. Maybe Cartier should start featuring a bunch of overweight men with their shirts off to sell their jewelry?
Funny Bob "I love to show boobs on TV when more children than ever are watching TV" Parsons said, about this article, and I quote - "In a nutshell, Mr. McCracken told me that our commercials are indeed working. You see, after most people read his review, if they look up any commercial at all, they will look up Go Daddy and watch our commercials. And after watching our commercials, the vast majority will smile, then try our company. " ( http://www.bobparsons.com/SuperBowlXLISunday.html)
Anyone here thnks his reasoning makes absolutely no marketing sense? Well, I know for me, whose responsible for registering domains for my company, goDaddy.com won't get ANY of my business!