Four of the Best Super Bowl Ads

Our round-up of the most anticipated advertising campaigns during this year’s Super Bowl…

1. Amazon

Amazon rarely do things by halves and this year’s Super Bowl ad is no exception. Featuring a wealth of celebrities from Gordon Ramsay to Rebel Wilson and Sir Anthony Hopkins, the ad showed Amazon’s back up plan if Alexa was ever to lose her voice. Celebrities stepped in and offered some helpful and not-so-helpful responses to Alexa users’ questions. Anything which features Rebel Wilson has our vote!

2. Tourism Australia

Tourism Australia would not be the most obvious contender for best Super Bowl ad, however, the tourism board’s spoof of the Australian classic Crocodile Dundee had viewers fooled with what appeared to be a trailer for an upcoming movie.  The ad was so popular that there is already a petition for a real film to be made – success indeed.

3. Skittles

Skittles took a very different approach. Instead of using the advertising slot to reach the masses, they showed this year’s ad to just one person, Marcos Menendez. Marcos watched the ad, which apparently featured David Schwimmer and Marcos’ parents, in a secure room, and his reaction was streamed on Facebook Live. The footage of Marcos watching the ad formed Skittle’s content during the end of the first quarter of the game. As it stands, only 41,000 people have watched the video on Facebook, so the jury is still out as the whether this was actually a success – it was certainly different if nothing else.

4. Netflix

Never one to disappoint, Netflix used the prime-time advertising spot as an opportunity to launch the sequel to The Cloverfield films, The Cloverfield Paradox. The ad (shown in the second quarter of the game) announced that the film would air ‘very soon’. Immediately after the ad, Netflix announced that the film would be available to stream straight after the game.

Regardless of whichever ad won your vote, Kylie Jenner was surely the real winner of the night. Kylie announced the birth of her little girl during the game, which critics are saying has the work of Kris Jenner all over it. It’s a lesson to all brands, that even the most planned ad campaign can be overshadowed by the power of breaking news.

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The author: Jane Ainsworth is managing director of WPR. She has over 20 years’ experience in developing and delivering communications strategies for consumer brands including Dunelm, Tesco, Mothercare, Greene King, John Lewis, Bullring, Beaverbrooks and Westfield.