Ad Bowl Sunday: The top 5 2023 Super Bowl Commercials
Written By: Cecilia Fay
Each year thousands of football fans around the country tune into the Super Bowl. For creative communications professionals like myself, the Super Bowl is all about the awesome ads. This year, the Super Bowl featured a wide variety of commercials from market leaders like T-Mobile and M&MS. Here are my top 5 ads from Super Bowl 57.
Forever - Farmer’s Dog
This commercial tugged at the heartstrings as it followed a young girl and her puppy throughout the many stages of life. According to the title and the background song by Lee Fields, ‘Forever’ is how long the girl and her dog have been together. The commercial begins with a young girl getting a puppy and follows their adventures together as they grow. It ends with the dog and the now grown woman in bed with her newborn baby. It's subtle, but the dog food brand Farmer’s Dog is shown throughout the spot. The ad is ranked number one because it does everything right. It successfully shows the product without being repetitive or flashy. “Forever” is an effective overarching theme as the girl is with the dog forever, but also the dog is able to live forever because of the dog food she purchases from Farmer’s Dog. Lastly, the emotional story of a girl and her dog is something a lot of Americans can relate to, making the ad’s audience more inclined to purchase Farmer’s Dog food.
Run With It - NFL
An ad from the National Football League opens with a Super Bowl 57 graphic transition and cuts to well-known sports host Erin Andrews interviewing Diana Flores, the captain of the Mexican Flag Football team. Andrews is standing on what appears to be the Super Bowl field and is even wearing the same sparkly suit she is wearing during the Super Bowl broadcast. The ad is set up to look like the interview is happening live and then all of a sudden Flores is sprinting after Andrews attempts to take one of her flags off of Flores’ waist, essentially starting the world’s largest game of flag football. Flores runs throughout the stadium and into various locations in Arizona where she ends up at her mom’s house. Surprisingly her mom also participates in the game so Flores keeps running into her neighborhood. As she progresses, neighbors, other friends, and two other women football players join her. The ad concludes with the end title “To the woman pushing football forward, we can't wait to see where you take this game.” The ad was moving without being too sappy and had many comedic touches. Because of its message it earns the number two spot. Nonetheless, the ad would have been better coming from a nonprofit or charity for women. As an advertisement from the NFL, an organization largely run by men, it seemed a little tone deaf. Additionally, from a creative standpoint, the ending could have been better if it showcased more women football players or women athletes instead of the neighbors chasing after three in the front.
Saving Sawyer- Amazon
Saving Sawyer from Amazon is a close second to Farmer’s Dog. Dogs and pets are an effective way to sell a product, as demonstrated by both of these companies. Saving Sawyer follows a family and a large dog who are all home during the pandemic. The family is working, learning, and playing inside until they are finally allowed to return to their schools, jobs, and social activities in person. Once the family begins leaving each day for their respective commitments, the family dog is distraught and begins tearing up the house. After days or weeks of this, you see the family shopping on Amazon for a dog crate. Thinking the ad is going to end with the family dog in a crate all day, the audience is sad for the family dog. Instead the ad ends with a new friend for the family dog, a new puppy who comes home gleefully in the crate that the family purchased on Amazon. What makes this ad work? The emotional aspect, of course, the subtlety of the brand’s products, and the ending plot twist. The way the end plot twist was written is why this ad is not higher on my list. While it's an effective tool, the problem the new puppy is supposed to solve is not shown in the ad. Do the two dogs tear up the house together or do they become best buds? The audience will never know.
Hold - Bud Light
This playful ad starring Miles Teller and his wife, Keleigh Sperry, opens with Sperry on hold with a customer service representative. As Sperry gets increasingly annoyed with the hold, Teller decides to open up a Bud Light and dance to the beat of the hold music. Eventually, Sperry joins in, and the two have a beer-fueled dance party in their home. They pause when a recording thanks them for their patience and again when the representative asks if they are still there. It is humorous and extremely relatable, as many consumers experience long hold times all the time. Regardless, this ad should have been longer than one minute, especially since Bud Light is a market leader for alcoholic beverages.
Premature Electrification - Ram
Framed as a medication or health ad, Ram outdid themselves with this commercial. It opens with a narrator walking through a mountain. Then he goes on to define “premature electrification” with the help of “patient portrayals.” The ad even has fine print at the bottom to make it look like a medication. It concludes with a recommendation for Ram and where to find their website. This ad works because it takes an already existing advertisement structure and reworks it through satire. Similar to the Bud Light ad, this one could have been a bit longer. To build on the medical ad idea, it could have listed potential ‘side effects’ of owning a Ram. Maybe even had reviews of what a Ram did for a person’s “Premature Electrification”. Another 30 seconds to add more satire would have been perfect. Nonetheless, this makes the list because Ram made itself known with this advertisement.
Ultimately, this year's Ad Bowl Sunday made viewers laugh, cry, and convinced some to purchase their products. The power of creativity was evident in this year's ads, regardless of whether they were for dog food, beer, a truck, or moving statements. Next year will be even better as new companies emerge, evolve and become leaders.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjncHZSg0GNF3E2rrsZ31mOdfrf2wBIWE
