One of the pleasures of being both a sports fan and working in advertising is watching the Super Bowl.

For both industries it is the biggest night, on the biggest stage, where the best of both put on a show that has the world watching. While advertisers don’t have a trophy (nay Aaron Rodger’s championship belt) on the line, the sheer amount of dollars spent per spot puts a lot of pressure on advertisers to have a commercial that will return that investment. To be successful, you need to do more than get a laugh. You need to create an impression that will change the behavior of the viewers. After seeing these spots, advertisers hope you will buy a car, move your 401(k), eat these snacks, or down a beer – or their money wasn’t very well spent.

I would consider this year’s batch of commercials average. There were some really memorable spots, and there were commercials that were memorable for being terrible.

Here are my favorites and why:

1. Volkswagen Passat

Volkswagen: The Force @ Yahoo! Video

This spot features a kid dressed as Darth Vader, trying to harness his Sith powers to little effect. The cuteness factor really rises as he tries to use The Force against a doll, his dog and with his mother, all while the “Imperial March” gives his an air of authority and presence normally reserved for an actor nearly 7 feet tall and voiced by the legendary James Earl Jones. When his father returns home, our little Vader tries to use his powers on the new Passat. The dad slyly activates the remote start, leaving young Skywalker believing he can use The Force.

I thought the ad was brilliant! While I don’t have any kids of my own, I have to believe that the target audience for this spot is aimed at someone about my age who grew up on the original Star Wars trilogy and now has kids who are discovering the movies. The whole thing wraps up with a “cool dad” moment that says, “I get my kid.” Volkswagen says, “I get you.”

2. Teleflora

Teleflora: Help Me Faith @ Yahoo! Video

In this spot, a young man asks country music singer Faith Hill what he should write on his card for his girlfriend’s flowers for Valentine’s Day. Hill suggests he write something from the heart and tell her how he feels. So, the guy writes that he loves her rack.

While this ad isn’t really technically complicated and Faith Hill was kind of unnecessary, the gag was priceless! Everything revolved around a common problem that many men feel in that situation and the spot actually featured people using the product/service. Teleflora has jumped to the top of my list of places to order flowers.

3. Motorola – Tablet

Motorola: 1984 Revisited @ Yahoo! Video

Motorola does its best William Tell impression and takes aim at the Apple on our heads. In 30 seconds, the company turned the tables on the maker of the “i” products to paint Apple as the bland, mega company that has turned everyone into colorless sheep. The metaphor is strong and the production was fantastic.

4. Chrysler

Chrysler 200: Eminem @ Yahoo! Video

Instead of jokes, Chrysler went for the heart. This spot features Eminem, a very vocal supporter of Detroit, a stirring voice-over and images about hard work and the things that make Motor City and American automobiles unique. The target audience seems to be a little more focused on younger generations than I suspect you’d see in most other Chrysler advertising. This spot looks to be aimed at the group that is now struggling with adulthood and is making that transition from college to professional life – the kind of young adult who will drive a sedan to keep up with the office rat race but still play hip-hop on the way to work. Awesome camera work, powerful images and music.

Honorable Mentions:

1. Doritos – Finger Licking

This ad made me laugh and feel a bit squeamish at the same time. The spot was very memorable, but I’m not sure if it makes me want Doritos. However, they are right – we all have licked our fingers and wiped cheese crumbs on our pants.

2. Stella Artois

One of my favorite actors was pitching one of my favorite beers, but somehow this ad didn’t quite come together. Adrian Brody is singing in a smoky, ’50s jazz club (probably in Belgium) about how his girl has gone away. It turns out his gal is Stella, the lyrics about love, loss and discovering new love, and mirror shots of hot women drinking beer. On the surface, I love everything about this scenario, but it just lacked that little bit of magic that would make this a great commercial. Great technical work with coloring and camera in this spot, though.

3. Career Builder.com – Monkeys!

Yes, life sucks and we all have to fight our way around a bunch of idiots to get ahead in life, or to simply get to work. I’m a sap for a simian.

The Worst:

1. Groupon – Tibet
This spot starts off as a tribute to the struggles of a culturally rich people who are under the rule of an oppressive regime. Then, it turns out you can capitalize on that and get a discount for great food at a local restaurant. Suddenly, I felt bad for taking advantage of a deal that didn’t help anyone but myself. This was in bad taste, Groupon.

2. ETRADE – Babies
OK, the gag’s over. It’s an advertising maxim that if you want a cheap way to grab attention, use a baby, puppy or hot chick. For years ETRADE has been riding what was once a very snappy series of spots, and it’s starting to get tired. The production value has gone way down, and the baby faces are obviously CG but still contain flaws and jump-cuts to give the appearance of real footage cut to match dialog that the early spots featured. I don’t remember what ETRADE was selling about their services, other than you can have an Italian tailor fit your kid for a suit.

3. Snickers – Richard Lewis and Rosanne Barr
The first spot with Betty White and Abe Vegoda that said, “Don’t act so old,” was aces! The second batch with Liza Minnelli and Aretha Franklin that said, “Don’t be a diva,” was gold! This year’s spot with Richard Lewis and Rosanne Barr says, “Don’t be so Jewish.” I think the company meant “Don’t whine,” but the ad just comes off as blah and a tad racist.

4. Facebook car
Really? I know this ad was targeted at younger car buyers, but I hope we aren’t that self-absorbed. Plus, I don’t think I want other drivers trying to figure out if they can play Farmville through OnStar or trying to listen to posts from their friends as they whine about work, their kids or root for “city name sports team”!

Thanks, Dustin, for the awesome recap, and thank you to the 32 folks who participated in our live Twitter conversation. It’s not too late to jump in, though. We’d love to hear what you think – which commercials really shined, which are the talk of the office and which fell flat.

Now, the Super Bowl is all fun and great – and by now you should know it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Green Bay Packers – but what we’re really excited about are the commercials. So excited, in fact, that for the third year in a row members of the jhP team will be tweeting their impressions live. You can follow along at #jhPSBXLV.

Snickers, Skechers … and beer

If you enjoyed the Snickers ads last year chances are you’ll enjoy them again. Get ready for round two of the “you’re not you”-themed commercials, only this time without the great Betty White. Instead, Roseanne Barr – you might remember her from the sitcom “Roseanne” – will star in the Snickers spots alongside comedian Richard Lewis.

Skechers also made the commitment to return to Super Bowl XLV except this year with Kim Kardashian as Shape-ups spokesperson. The company’s decision to run an ad last year only came after an opening in the lineup appeared two weeks before game day. Despite how unmemorable the ad was, sales soared. So here’s Skechers again (only this time more prepared!).

Anheuser-Busch is also making an appearance . . . of course. In addition to their normal showing of the Clydesdales (we love them) and Bud Light commercials, Anheuser-Busch will air a 60-second spot featuring Stella Artois, the company’s premium Belgian brew.

Pets and PepsiCo

Dog lovers will be thrilled to learn the Puppy Bowl will also be back. For those who favor cats, there’s no need to be jealous – Animal Planet will feature kittens during its half-time show.

PepsiCo is doing more than just Doritos commercials this year. Although last year’s ads were fun, here at jhP we’re eager to see what they’ve come up with. Officially PepsiCo has six spots for its 2011 “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, but according to Ad Age, another spot may be in the works. Brisk Iced Tea is in the running for the seventh spot, but PepsiCo has plenty of brands to choose from. It’s also possible that PepsiCo may sell the seventh spot back to Fox.

A no-show … and room for improvement

So who’s not going to be in the Super Bowl? Denny’s dropped out of the deal after running ads in 2009 and 2010 promoting their free-breakfast giveaways. Some ads we’re not too excited to see? Go Daddy’s. This year the company has two spots in the Super Bowl lineup, and at least one will feature “Biggest Loser” star Jillian Michael. Who knows? Maybe Go Daddy’s commercials will blow us away this year. I guess we’ll just have to see!

Stay tuned for our post-Super Bowl rundown, where we’ll highlight our favorite spots – and call out the ones that let us down. May your Sunday be full of football, good commercials and junk food!

Underage Drinking Task Force
Shawnee County’s Safe Streets Coalition signed formal agreements with Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Topeka Police Department and the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office to create an Underage Drinking Task Force. Working together, law enforcement coordinated their procedures to strengthen their response to underage drinking. Next, Crime Stoppers agreed to offer substantial rewards for anonymous tips about underage drinking parties. Now existing laws could be rigorously enforced.

Getting the word out
Working with Safe Streets, jones huyett Partners helped let the community know that engaging in – and supporting – underage drinking can have severe legal consequences. And we promoted how people can provide their anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers. We created a set of high-impact, informational posters for schools and public places, informational pocket cards, billboards, banners and a pair of memorable TV commercials. With support from area schools and local media, Shawnee County got the message that law enforcement is serious about reducing underage drinking.

Citations more than double!
During the previous 12-month period, only 88 citations related to underage drinking had been issued in Shawnee County. But now, tips started coming in and law enforcement took action. In less than eight months, Crime Stoppers had received 80 tips. More than 186 citations were issued for underage possession and consumption, buying alcohol for minors and hosting underage drinking parties. Citations more than doubled in only two-thirds the time!

Consequences we can live with
Not everyone agrees underage drinking should be a law enforcement issue. But the laws on the books are there to be enforced. When youth and adults recognize the legal consequences of underage drinking, and know the laws will be enforced, perhaps they’ll think twice before attending or hosting underage drinking parties. We at jhP believe promoting the legal consequences may save Shawnee County families from underage drinking’s potentially life-shattering consequences.

But what about the Important Stuff – the Commercials? From pantless colleagues to chickens in space, The jhP team and friends had fun performing via Twitter as your official commercial commentators. Check out #jhpXLIV for our insights and opinions on this year’s ads.

Now what did YOU think? Use the poll below to rate your favorite spots of Super Bowl XLIV.

You must have Adobe Flash Player 9
or higher installed to view this content

src="http://www.adobe.com/images/shared/download_buttons/get_flash_player.gif"/>

jhP will be covering the Super Bowl commercial action via real-time tweets. Follow our reactions to the latest and, hopefully, greatest ads at Twitter handle @jhpadv, @alissasheley, @brieengelken,  @mcstubbs, or follow the hashtag #jhpXLIV.

Be sure to visit our blog on Monday morning to participate in the jhP Poll for the best Super Bowl spot of 2010!

Super Bowl Sunday is like Christmas morning to those of us in the ad business. Not only do we get to watch the biggest football game of the year, most times indulging in our favorite foods with our closest friends, but we also get a present – critiquing and enjoying the commercials – a major part of our livelihood!
 
This year jhP conducted a live Twitter feed with our initial opinions. Upon several replays on YouTube, the jhP team was polled and the results are in. This year’s favorite Super Bowl commercial was a three-way tie!

Doritos “Crystal Ball”

Cash4Gold.com “Heeere’s Money”

Careerbuilder.com “Tips”

We also felt that Bridgestone’s “Taters” spot, the Bud Light "Meeting" spot and the Pepsi Max “I’m Good” spot were noteworthy. 

We would love to hear from you and your opinion of this year’s commercials! What were your favorites?

E-Trade is creating pre-game excitement for their spots with their “Out-takes” trailer in movie theaters and on YouTube:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Ev5HgGACg [/youtube]

And Doritos is building anticipation through their “Crash the Superbowl” competition:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXFilOnK7os [/youtube]

Although some of these pre-advertisements are as simple as web banners and as traditional as television commercials, others include uses of social media and email blasts. E-Trade created a Twitter account specifically for the event. And Audi re-skinned their home page and sent out email blasts inviting people to pre-register to see their new spot 24-hours before its national debut during the game.
 
What cool pre-advertisements have you seen for Superbowl XLIII?

While you’re watching the big game this Sunday, be sure you check out (and follow) @jhpadv on Twitter! We’ll be posting live commentary throughout the game – giving our take on the commercials as they appear. We’d love to hear from you and get your opinions. Tweet back by replying to @jhpadv or leave a comment here on our blog.

Enjoy the new Superbowl ads! And the game, too, if you like that sort of thing.

The producers seamlessly combine a timeless song with their own line-up. The unique personality of each show/host is spotlighted while tying a diverse group of programs together. The song and images are so catchy that I find myself humming the tune long after I’ve seen the spot.

Plus, Steven Hawking sings.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

1. E-Trade Baby – both spots
    – Baby Burp
    – Bobo the Clown

2. Doritos Mouse

3. Diet Pepsi Max

4. Budweiser (Tie)
    – Budweiser Cyldsedale in Training
   – Bud Light with Will Ferrell

5. Pepsi with Justin Timberlake

And coming in dead last … Salesgenie.com, with two spots that none of us liked.
   – Boss
   – Panda Bear

What spot was your favorite this year? Did anyone like the salesgenie.com commercials?

This year, jhP decided to throw our hat into the Super Bowl arena with a commercial of our own. We brainstormed about how to best execute an innovative and effective self-promotion in the high-profile arena the Super Bowl offers. Creative energy surged and the jhP team decided on a concept that truly exemplifies the Power of Partnership. What transpired … well, you’ll have to see for yourself.

What did you think of this year’s Super Bowl commercials? Which was your favorite? Check back to see what commercials were tops with the jhP team.

Click here to see some behind-the-scenes photos from the commercial shoot.