Ever since getting into design, I began to look at the advertising world differently. Before I could watch TV and simply enjoy a good commercial as simply an advertisement for a product or service. Now, I can’t help but try to imagine the brainstorming, pitching and everything else that went into concepting and making an ad—trying to determine in my mind if they were successful or not based on their target audience, probable goals, etc. I imagine the agency sitting around brainstorming “the next big idea,” the lone creative that stands up and says, “You know what, I have an idea…,” the filming and production and everything else that went into the ad that I would never even think about.
There is no doubt that there is no single TV event that is better for this than the Super Bowl, where 30 second ads ran $4 million a piece. I can only imagine what Anheuser Busch, Coca-Cola and the other big hitters spent on not only the ad time, but also the production of the ads. With such great amounts of money being thrown around, it is fun to see which ones truly excel and which ones seem to fall short. Here are my thoughts from tonight’s main event, the commercials.