Which Brand’s Super Bowl Ad Are You Eager to Watch?

What brand do you want to see advertise during Sunday’s Super Bowl game? There are always ads for cars, movies, and food as well as some surprises.

While the ad design team for every brand hopes to make a touchdown with its ad, the reality is that few become Super Bowl legends, and not just for 24 hours, but for years and years.

Here is my list of memorable Super Bowl ads:


• Apple: “1984” (introduction of the Macintosh computer) (Jan. 22, 1984)
  
• Volkswagen (VW): “The Force” (young kid dressed as Darth Vader) (Feb. 4, 2011)
• Budweiser: Clydesdales - horse kneeling in memory of the lives lost on 9/11 (Feb. 3, 2002)
• Coca-Cola: Mean Joe Greene and his young friend (1980)
  
• Budweiser: talking frogs BUD-WEIS-ER (Jan. 29, 1995)
• Coca-Cola: polar bear family and friends (starting in 1993 and several more followed)
• Chrysler: “Imported from Detroit” (Feb. 6, 2011)
• Subaru: dog family known as The Barkleys (several)
• Snickers: featuring Betty White (Feb. 7, 2010)
• CBS Tonight Show: featuring Dave Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay Leno (Feb. 7, 2010)
• GoDaddy: featuring Danica Patrick (several)

Is the purpose of the ads to generate buzz during the game and/or the morning after? Is the purpose to create brand awareness? Is the purpose to build consumer trust? Is the purpose to show that the brand is relevant to the times? Or is the purpose to sell more products or services?

Probably all five. Of course, that may be a tall order for five, six, or seven million dollars!

See you at the virtual water cooler - also known as Twitter - during the game to critique the ads in real time - and then back here on this blog the morning after for a full ad recap of the hits and misses.


Image Credit: Clearvoice.