It’s a Tide Blog

If you’re a Super Bowl fan, you undoubtedly watch it for the competition. That is, the competition of the big game or the commercials. And, if you work in the ad world, you likely fall into the latter.

This year’s commercials were highly anticipated and, unless you are Dodge Ram or support bashing your competitors (we’re looking at you, Wendy’s), they were well received. In general, most brands played it safe this year and provided a feel-good message – which we all needed prior to the even more anticipated episode of “This is Us.”

Every year there are winners and losers in the the Super Bowl. And, I think we can all agree, we were happy to see Nick Foles (and his adorable daughter) as the true winner this year. As for the ads, the overall winners appear to be Tide, who spent over $15 million (not including production and talent) to cleverly remind us we were watching a Tide ad, and Alexa losing her voice for a very comical 90 seconds.

We took to the MBB creative department to get their professional, yet candid, take on the commercials.

Brendan Wray, Designer

Favorite Ad: Netflix, “The Cloverfield Paradox”
A film was announced, dropped a trailer and released with this :30 second ad. This is the stunt that Super Bowl media placements are made for. Oh, plus it’s a prequel to Cloverfield (that movie everyone got motion sickness from in 2008 and one of my favorite movies). This one got me.

Least Favorite Ad: Dodge Ram, “Built to Serve”
Let me start by saying that you, unequivocally, should never use the words of a renowned civil rights titan, let alone Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to sell a hunk of metal with some wheels attached to it. Congratulations, Dodge, for outrightly having the least tact this go-around. I thought we learned from Pepsi to think things through. Guess not.

Abby Hill, Content Strategist

Favorite Ad: Diet Coke, “Groove”
I really appreciated Coke’s decision not to phone it in with a celebrity endorsement. The awkward girl dancing was like a car crash you can’t look away from. I wanted it to end, but I also didn’t want it to end. Well done, Coke.

Least Favorite Ad: Doritos and Mountain Dew, “Doritos Blaze vs. Mtn Dew Ice”
My least favorite had to be the Doritos / Mountain Dew mash up. I did not understand the choice to play Tyrian Lannister against Morgan Freeman. Does he have a character related to ice? I have no idea. It was fire and ice — why not use Daenerys and Jon Snow? This seemed like a missed opportunity.

Caroline Brown, Copy Writer

Favorite Ad: Tide, “It’s a Tide Ad”
I loved the Tide ad — the copy was smart and the visuals for the different types of ads (Coke, car commercials, jewelry ads) were dead-on and really sold the message.

Amy Brown, Designer

Favorite Ad: Doritos and Mountain Dew, “Doritos Blaze vs. Mtn Dew Ice”
My favorite would probably have to be the Doritos vs. Mountain Dew commercial. It was short and sweet but hilarious. I mean, what’s better than Morgan Freeman lip-syncing to Missy Elliot?

Least Favorite Ad: Sprint, “Evelyn”
I’d have to say the Sprint robot commercial was my least favorite. Robots really freak me out for some reason. Even Siri is a little much for me sometimes!

Garrett Street, Creative Director

Favorite Ad: Tide, “It’s a Tide Ad”
Yep. That was awesome. I loved the delivery and liked the jab at typical Super Bowl ads. I’m also seriously relieved they didn’t market Tide pods.

Tied for second place: Amazon, “Alexa Loses Her Voice”
I like to laugh when I’m inhaling my third bowl of cheese dip. Plus, a long awkward pause and Anthony Hopkins. That will do.

Least Favorite Ad: Jeep, “Anti-manifesto”
It was the anti-manifesto manifesto that’s been done. They could have saved a boatload of cash by just using a stock image of a Jeep driving up a rock.

Blake Street, Creative Director in the making, Age: 7

Favorite Ad: The Voice Super Commercial
We had to watch it about 20 times. He laughed every time. We might still be watching it if he didn’t get distracted by dessert.

Micah Hair, Art Director

Favorite Ad:  Tide, “It’s a Tide Ad”
Not only was this ad campaign entertaining and memorable as hell, it’s nice to have a dude sell detergent. It’s a fresh take on a legacy brand. Relevant, humorous, and lasting.

Tied for second place: Doritos/Mountain Dew & M&M’s
I appreciated the clever/humorous ads. We’re all here for fun (except maybe Tom Brady).

Least Favorite Ad: Dodge Ram, “Built to Serve”
Using a MLK speech didn’t sit well with me – especially when you hear what the rest of that speech had to say. 

Themes of Super Bowl 2018 Advertising:
Humble Brag: We saw some great ones here (Verizon or Budweiser), and some not so believable (Hyundai).
Safe Talent Selection: Not much women or diversity – and when they were present they lacked character dimension or status as the “hero” of the ad. I think the second half showed more diversity. See #3percentsb on twitter for more on this.