Feb. 05--Each year at this time, while other people are deciding which Super Bowl party to attend, looking up chili recipes, or hastily buying a new and bigger television, I am thinking about the advertising that will make Sunday evening's event more than just a sports championship.
Some early buzz is that advertisers are returning to humor this year after last year's surplus of sincerity was only occasionally successful. Remember Nationwide Insurances's "dead kid" ad? Yeah, so does the marketing chief who got fired. Others, however, looking at ads opposing drunk driving and promoting turning off the water during tooth-brushing, see still more earnestness in the forecast. I'll know more Sunday night when I've assessed the winners and losers here and in the newspaper.
In the meantime, here are the five ads I'm most eager to see, or to see the reaction to, when the Super Bowl and its advertisements are shown on CBS Sunday evening.
1. Budweiser's Helen Mirren spot. The St. Louis-based, European-owned manufacturer of rice beer brings one of the grand dames of English-language acting into the frame to scold drunk drivers, or potential drunk drivers. She talks directly to the camera and calls inebriated motorists a lot of names, including "pillock." It's a risky bet on a couple of fronts. First, that Budweiser can separate itself enough from one of its products' core side effects, drunkenness, to be seen as credible delivering this message. Second, that the script given to Mirren will come off as nimble enough to not feel like a lecture from the teacher. Let's see how America responds.
2. Chrysler's big secret. The automaker, now known as Fiat Chrysler, has scored by big in recent years with its messages promoting American manufacturing. Especially successful were the 2011 and 2012 ads featuring voiceovers by Eminem and Clint Eastwood, respectively. Less effective was the 2014 ad with Bob Dylan (although he was more intelligible than he is when singing during concerts). Fiat Chrysler has also been effective by keeping its ads under wraps, a contrast to the many, many advertisers who pump them into public view ahead of the Super Bowl. The result is that we all are wondering how the carmaker will deliver the Chrysler-equals-economic-patriotism message this year.
3. Heinz weiner dogs. Already available, this spot has a special kind of goofy magic. Dachsunds dresssed as hot dogs run in slow motion across a field toward people dressed as Heinz condiments. That's is. It's ridiculously simple yet ridiculously effective -- so much so that I'm even willing to set aside the heresy of the ad's advocacy for ketchup on hot dogs. Not in Chicago, Heinz, no matter how charming your commercial is. Will America love this one as much as I do?
4. Taco Bell's secret new menu item. Okay, Taco Bell, I'll bite (although not literally). I do want to know what the new menu item is that you have effectively teased in pre-game spots and will apparently reveal during the game. It's not that I'm actually interested in eating it, however. I just like to marvel at the new names and shapes you come up with for combinations of the same handful of ingredients.
5. Coca-Cola's Marvel characters' assemblage. Coke is another traditional advertiser that is keeping its big ad under wraps until game time. But we know it will feature Captain America and others from the comic stable. And we know, because it's Coke, that it will be an incredibly expensive looking spot. But will it be a Coke winner, like the "It's Beautiful" spot of a few years back, or will it falter under the weight of its own expense, production values and unwillingness to take risks, like the company's polar bear ads?
