Super Bowl Ads Fumbles and Scores

As usual, the Super Bowl this year featured the best and worst commercials of the year. This year's spots for which ABC received between $1.6 - $2.5 million dollars each have become almost as popular as the game itself.

As a primary game sponsor, Anheuser-Busch again came out strong with some great, heart-felt and entertaining spots as usual. Godaddy.com, the super-hero-like defender of free speech during last year's game, used their $2 million dollars to poke fun at the debacle. This ad, while not necessarily promoting the product, was a great branding effort in that it related back to last year's ad and the chatter about decency in broadcast that ensued thereafter (not to mention the Janet Jackson affair).

Unfortunately, we also had to sift through a field of bad weeds before finding these gems. I would pay to see Terry Tate, the office linebacker, re-enact his commercials for Reebok in the offices of those who created these monstrosities of not-so-special special effects and presentations of comedic blunder.

The Good - CareerBuilder
It's one thing to be funny. But it's even more important to have it relate to your product. CareerBuilder did both.
See Ad here

The Good - GoDaddy
Using social and political chatter to support the ad was Godaddy's strong point with this ad - that and tying back to last year's spot. I have to wonder how much they spend in creating DENIED ads.
See Ad here
More here (the site that got DENIED air play)
More here (Another DENIED)

The Good - Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch utilized a campaign of emotional spots featuring the loveable Clydesdale horses and threw in a funny spot here and there to change things up.
See Ad here
More here
More here
More here

The Weird But Funny - FedEx
See Ad here

The Bad - Motorola
Using effects is great. But it takes more than a computer to make it special.
See Ad here

The Bad - Cadillac
Can someone explain this spot to me? Did it have a point?
See Ad here

The Bad - Burger King
Anything featuring the King these days just scares me. Now, put him in a 40s-style dance routine and it's enough to make one go mental.
See Ad here