Super Bowl

Every 2016 Super Bowl 50 Commercial Right Here

SB50 Well this Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl, and frankly my give a rip factor is at about zero. It’s not that I’m anti football, it’s just that I really don’t care to watch the Bronco’s play in another one. This is what, number 9 since 1977. I would say I’m going to record it to watch the commercials but the reality is why? All the commercials are now leaked online before the game, so if you really want to see them you can. No need to tune in and sit through the Super Bowl in order to catch some “million dollar thirties”.

Which brings me to this question. Have Super Bowl commercials jumped the shark?

I would have to say yes, because there is no point in forking over that kind of money, for a spot that will air once, probably be missed, not heard, or forgotten, and will only be re-aired as a cut down fifteen second spot for even more cash. The Super Bowl has marquee factor, but if your thirty or sixty second spot is supposed to make an impact, sell a good or service, and be memorable I’m thinking it has less of a chance these days. Every Super Bowl party I have been to, people are yacking it up and having a good time. When the commercial break happens, it’s hard as hell to hear it, sometimes see it, let alone remember what it was for.

So, if you are like me and just don’t give a damn about the game this year, but do want to see what a few million buys you in TV advertising, all the commercials are right here. Oh, and a number of these are the full 60 second extended version of the ad.

I think I’m going to go see a movie Sunday night. I’m pretty sure I’ll have the theater all to myself.

Frasier Davidson’s Guide to American Football.

This is an absolutely brilliant animated short by Fraser Davidson explaining the game of American Football. Wonderful flat design elements, with witty dialog, perfectly timed animations, a blend of 2D and flat 3D elements make this piece. If you know about football, you’ll love it, if you don’t you’ll still like it and hopefully get a chuckle or two along the way.

Directed, written and animated

Sound Design by Morgan Samuel

Coca-Cola’s Polar Bowl, and “The Catch”.

Wieden & Kennedy have spent the last three months watching old football reels, and game play to help prepare for the integrated advertising campaign they have prepared for Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl effort this year.

As part of a Facebook campaign at http://www.cokepolarbowl.com, Wieden & Kennedy have prepared two versions of a 60-second spot slated to run during the second quarter. The spot that airs will be based on who has the lead at half time. In case of a tie, the commercial that airs will be based on the most recent plays and which team is most in need of a Coke.

The ad is a simple concept. The “Catch,” shows two polar bears watching the Super Bowl, each wearing a scarf in his team’s colors: red and white for the Giants and blue and white for the Patriots. During a commercial break, one of the bears steps outside and sees a group of polar bears lounging and drinking Coke. One of the bears tosses him a Coke and he fumbles the bottle. An acrobatic dance across the ice ensues until he slides to a halt with the bottle finally secured. The bear whose team is losing will be the one to step outside the cave.

This is really a cutting edge campaign. The technical challenge of managing the time-delay on bear responses, plus timing to the last-minute on which commercial will run. I’m sure NBC is not really thrilled with the idea of this style of campaign becoming common place, but the concept is brilliant.To help manage all of the back-end work needed to pull this off,

NBC and Wieden & Kennedy will have execs on site at NBC and ESPN to manage different versions of the broadcast ads. Coke project lead Pio Schunker will have a command center in New York, where a team and key execs from Wieden & Kennedy will manage the live Facebook stream and animation of the bears. that team will be located in a control room at Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media group. Using a hacked Xbox system, the creative team from Wieden & Kennedy will manipulate the bears to respond to what is going on in real time. The actions, whether a “Sigh” or a happy dance, are slightly randomized, so even the creative puppeteers, don’t know exactly which action the bears will do.

“Watching the game this year? So are the Coca-Cola® Polar Bears. On February 5th, join the Polar Bears as they watch the game and chat with fans LIVE at www.CokePolarBowl.com. For each RSVP, Coca-Cola will donate $1 to World Wildlife Fund to help polar bears and their Arctic home.* RSVP now and visit www.CokePolarBowl.com on game day to hang out and chat with the Coke Polar Bears during the game. And don’t worry; they’ll bring their own Coke.

Visit www.CokePolarBowl.com on your mobile device, too! You’ll see a constant stream of real-time, shareable highlights from the LIVE polar bears to send to fellow fans, friendly rivals and other polar bears (if you know any).”