Super Bowl Commercial Rewind: Michelob ULTRA’s ‘Superior Bowl’

When Serena Williams enters the bowling lanes … WOW!

Michelob ULTRA turned your Super Bowl viewing party into a Superior Bowl viewing party for a quick 60 seconds.

The popular beer company ran a commercial displaying how– even some of the best of the best, mostly on their respective athletic fields of play– can kick back and have a Mic. Even somewhere like your local bowling alley.

Featured in the ad were two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning and tennis legend Serena Williams. They were also joined by soccer star Alex Morgan, golf’s Brooks Koepka (who hilariously misses a shot on the pool table), and two from basketball’s hardwood: Nneka Ogwumike and Jimmy Butler.

That star-studded lineup from the world of sports also featured another cameo: Actor Steve Buscemi. He was manning (get it?) the bar. But this begs the question: Why bowling?

According to AdWeek, Michelob reps wanted to promote the beer’s low carb, low intensity feel, which allows one to have a drink while also going about an activity such as bowling. Makes sense.

The creators also wanted to throw in nods to “The Big Lebowski” and “Kingpin,” for those who didn’t see the similarities. In the end, the beer’s brand and a classic film came together to create this ad:

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Frito-Lay’s teaser reveal was spot on for its Doritos/Cheetos Flamin’ Hot ad

Super Bowl Commercial Rewind: Frito-Lay’s teaser reveal was spot on for its Doritos/Cheetos Flamin’ Hot ad

How else could the brand reveal that Charlie Puth and Megan Thee Stallion were the real stars?

The 2022 Super Bowl commercials were full of A-list celebrities, from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Selma Hayek to Jason Sudeikis, Eugene Levy, Dolly Parton, and Ana Kendrick.

Adding such star power to the production isn’t a new concept, of course, but the amount of top billing that hit the small screen during Super Bowl 56 surpassed any in recent years. And the flux made perfect sense. Hearing each of those names above warrants a massive attention-grab from audiences, so the pull they can bring to a 30-second snippet of time is justifiable.

But what happens when the celeb is a recognizable face…that happens to be unrecognizable?

More to the point: when it’s just the talent’s voice being used for an animated element?

That was the challenge Frito-Lay faced with its debut release of a standalone for Doritos and Cheetos Flamin’ Hot.

The national commercial starred Megan Thee Stallion and Charlie Puth, two trending artists in the pop culture ecosystem—an intelligent move for a big game campaign where “music plays a key role in Frito-Lay’s marketing approach.”

However, the commercial wasn’t a grand feature of either performer hopping on the mic like a mini-halftime concert.

Well, sort of.

Instead, it was an Avatar-like display of animals—two of which were Megan Thee Stallion and Charlie Puth—suddenly convening in a clever beatboxing session to Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It.”

Photo courtesy of Ketchum

Like the marketing “fame” argument some have about the NFL—where the stars are masked and in helmets, so the public notoriety takes more time than, say, the NBA—having two massive stars in the form of a beatboxing Fox (Puth) and sassy songbird (Stallion) would take time… time that brands do not have in such circumstances.

Again, that was the challenge. And Frito-Lay’s creative solved it, much in the way a major motion picture would—teasers.

All the rage, this year’s big game advertisers teased and tempted the audience well before the game in record numbers. And while most were great, few hit the exact element needed to deliver on the actual spot like Frito-Lay did with its Flamin’ Hot releases.

Why? For the same reason that when I can say Rocket from “Guardians of the Galaxy” you think of Bradley Cooper.

The brand introduced both stars pre-animation, which meant that when the time came—yep, you guessed it—the audience had the image of the A-Listers in their minds.

This YouTuber’s comment drove home the point: “When you’re a Charlie Puth fan and you find yourself searching for an ad and watching it multiple times.”

And for those who were oblivious to or simply didn’t care that it was Charlie Puth and Megan Thee Stallion?

When you factor in what unfolded—a bunch of musically inclined animals, a la Budweiser Frogs—there’s a pretty good chance there’s another area in the Super Bowl commercial cosmos that would consider that … justifiable.

Teaser No. 1

Teaser No. 2

See the full Super Bowl commercial, which placed 3rd in the USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings, here:

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Super Bowl Commercial Rewind: Bud Light introduces a new release in ‘Land of Loud Flavors’

AB InBev found the perfect mayor for this Super Bowl 56 ad.

The Super Bowl is all about the action at the game and on the advertising circuit.

There’s only one man who could have pulled off something at both: Guy Fieri, and Bud Light got him.

Anheuser-Busch used the famous Food Network restauranteur’s style to promote one of its latest products. A brand that hasn’t been afraid to experiment within the seltzer game, Bud has released a hard soda flavor line.

The self-proclaimed mayor of “Flavortown” had to check in on the seltzer. Naturally, as an advertisement, he loved it.

One day left to cast your votes in the Ad Meter Replay Ratings!

A trio of seltzer drinkers are enjoying the beverage and travel through a portal, located in their own fridge, as only Bud Light can convince viewers exists. They eventually run into Fieri and upon having his first taste of the new release, he is astonished by the “loud flavor” in the beverage.

Fast-forward to the actual game and the California resident in Fieri was attending the event in Los Angeles. He evidently ran into at least one other television personality in Martha Stewart.

Posing for a photo together which ended up on Instagram, Fieri is dressed… in the exact same outfit he is wearing in the commercial.

Planned or not with Bud Light, that’s a nice touch by Fieri after he appeared in his first-ever Super Bowl ad.

Check out the full commercial below:

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2022 USA TODAY Ad Meter Top 10

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Super Bowl Commercial Rewind: Extended cut of Verizon’s ‘Goodbye Cable’ with Jim Carrey (plus a Karaoke jam)

Verizon’s ‘Goodbye Cable’ found the perfect nostalgic fit. Take a look!

True Jim Carrey fans recognized where Verizon was going with their Super Bowl 56 commercial.

The nationally-known communications company used their ad spot during the big game to tease some pretty cool technology—a new wave of products that are completely wireless.

Verizon 5G wideband services allow homes and businesses to connect to the world without cable. Carrey, dusting off his character from the 1996 cult film “The Cable Guy,” is simply blown away by the advancement.

Carrey… or “Chip” as he’s known in the flick, then runs around the apartment trying to make sense of the “no cable” aspect.

Falling right back into the humorous and nutty type of character that Carrey typically portraits, he searches for the answers to his own questions… no physical wires? Difficult installation? Bad reception?

Nope to all, and Carrey gets that message across in a comical way which made Verizon’s spot a hit. The 5.82 overall Ad Meter rating it received put the commercial amongst the highest-rated ads from Sunday, finishing 15 out of 64.

Check out the full-length feature right here:

And what’s a “Cable Guy” throwback without a karaoke jam session? Not many might have caught this one, but that’s why we are here:

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Super Bowl Commercial Rewind: HBO’s trailer: ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’

Taking another look at the Super Bowl 56 spot from HBO.

Los Angeles played a missive role at Super Bowl 56.

Hindsight 20-20, but we now know the winner of the game: The Los Angeles Rams.

Let’s not forget, the game was played at SoFi Stadium in the greater Los Angeles area.

But how about L.A. on the advertising circuit? HBO’s trailer for their upcoming docuseries provided that part.

Dropping in at the perfect time when millions of sports fans were glued to their television screens, HBO released the trailer for their upcoming series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.”

The show will be based on the “Showtime Lakers” that played a pivotal part in the NBA during their heyday.

HBO is also looking to capitalize on a couple of other things as well.

Related: Watch the Director’s Cut of FTX’s ‘Don’t Miss Out’ with Larry David

The sports show game is at an all-time high. We have ESPN’s Tom Brady series “Man in the Arena” recently making headlines. Keeping things on the hardwood, the former world-wide leader’s “The Last Dance” on the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan was almost a more a thriller than documentary back in 2020.

Can HBO enter the sports-themed miniseries arena and thrive?

You be the judge.

Check out the preview from the big game below:

2022 USA TODAY Ad Meter Top 10

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There are more awards to hand out: See this year’s Ad Meter Replay Ratings nominees and cast a vote – give your favorites the spotlight they deserve!

Super Bowl commercial Rewind: The Director’s Cut of FTX’s ‘Don’t Miss Out’

Looking for more Larry David? You’re in luck!

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

And if you can get Larry David to tag along, all the better.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX jumped into the Super Bowl commercial lineup this year, bringing along the bespectacled skeptic as the brand’s “anti-spokesman.”

“We need to meet people where they are—and that means embracing skepticism,” FTX Co-Founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, said in a statement about the brand’s mass-market play. “A lot of people who are now the biggest advocates of crypto once had significant reservations.”

The debut was one of several digital currency movers that competed for attention on advertising’s biggest stage—a group complemented by a pre-release buildup typically reserved for major celebrities on a press tour.

In general, what the crypto world unveiled was a letdown, not uncommon on this stage but certainly exacerbated by the fact that many expected the genre to provide the same type of epic surge as the dot-com era.

But if you’re looking at each with a literal lens—gains and losses—then FTX would undoubtedly be one that gained.

Related: What was that? Coinbase’s QR code Super Bowl commercial confuses viewers

Photo courtesy of Greta Gustafson, dentsuMB

Overall, the 60-second journey through history with Larry David curbing inventors’ enthusiasms was a hit. The heavy doses of “Eh” and “EEEEEHH” toward notable progress eventually landed at No. 16 in the USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings—which was impressive, considering there we 64 national ads and a ton of high-level production from major brands.

And speaking of behind the camera, the overall tone in the ad strikes a familiar style for a good reason. It was directed by Jeff Schaffer, a longtime creative partner on both “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”—who was reportedly the driving force for turning Larry from commercial naysayer to Super Bowl pitchman.

Wrap all that into one spot and it’s pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Watch the extended Director’s Cut here:

2022 USA TODAY Ad Meter Top 10

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There are more awards to hand out: See this year’s Ad Meter Replay Ratings nominees and cast a vote – give your favorites the spotlight they deserve! Replay Ratings close on February 17.

Google unveils teaser featuring Lizzo and powerful Real Tone technology on Pixel 6

Google releases a powerful teaser ahead of Super Bowl commercial featuring Lizzo.

While people may agree that a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the advertising world, what Google has in store for this year’s Super Bowl campaign flips the script on that thinking.

A thousand pictures are worth one word: Equitable.

The company is back in the Super Bowl commercial cosmos and looking to continue the type of cinematic storytelling that lasts long after the commercial break has ended, and the game is over.

It’s a stylistic formula that first had success 12 years ago, when the Super Bowl audience watched a string of questions get typed into a Google search bar, creating an emotional buildup in a mere 60 seconds. And it’s the exact blueprint that had a masterful follow-up a decade later, as 2020’s “Loretta” tugged at the collective heartstrings and left you applauding Google Assistant for such admirable note-taking.

In 2022, the tale moves from the keyboard to the camera, with the company focusing on Real Tone technology on the Pixel 6.

At the forefront of the story’s innovation is a collaborative effort with 17 professional image-makers who corrected a historically fractured camera technology element. That fix? Ensuring the company’s camera and imagery products work for everyone, prioritizing an inclusion effort that accurately captures the nuances of diverse skin tones, even more so those with darker skin.

“We have always been focused on elevating this step-change in the technology—that being Real Tone,” Daryl Butler, Vice President of Marketing, Devices and Systems at Google, explained.

Butler has been part of the team the entire process, spanning a few years now. He’s helped develop the concept from that possible elevated step-change to the Pixel 6 release last October and now, to the Super Bowl. 

It’s a progression that he understands leads to “not only the biggest football game, but it might be arguably one of the biggest stages for brands—when it comes to storytelling.”

But those challenges don’t sound like something he minds, due mainly to the unique experiences of the team working to create the product—some who also happened to be the director and artists on the project.

Joshua Rissi, the director and a groundbreaking photographer, along with the artists Deun Ivory, Joyce Kim, Aundre Larrow, and Sam Robinson were handpicked, which Butler noted: “We know what we’re getting—from this director and some the supporting cast around him— is grounded in the product truth from its very inception.”

The only thing left then was to find the face among the faces, someone who personified that “image equity is something that should be taken into consideration at every turn.”

And one person came to the forefront. 

“We looked through the myriad of talent out there—that all have very strong platforms—we really loved the timeliness and the timelessness of the platform that Lizzo is standing on. She is truly unapologetic. She invites the viewing world to come along with her on this journey of being unapologetic about being who we are as unique individuals.

“Once we saw those connections, she did too.”

“Camera technology has excluded people of color, especially those with darker skin tones for decades, which is why Google Pixel’s Real Tone campaign resonated with me. It’s so important for people to be able to be seen as their true self. I love that the Real Tone technology on Pixel 6 truly captures every person’s authentic self and accurately highlights the nuances of diverse skin tones.” – Lizzo

Watch Google’s Super Bowl Teaser:

USA TODAY Ad Meter Time Capsule: Looking back at the perfectly timed ‘Groundhog Day’ ad from Jeep

Sometimes, it’s all about timing, and Jeep had that back in 2020 with Bill Murray and Punxsutawney Phil.

It’s Groundhog Day– but in 2020, this yearly event took place on a date that turned out to anything but the norm. Recognizing that, Jeep hit it out of the park.

The automobile company realized that in a rare feat, kind of like getting ahold of legendary comedian Bill Murray, the holiday fell on Super Bowl Sunday. It was the first time in 54 years that was slated to happen.

Then came the most difficult part: Signing Murray up to appear in what went down as Admeter’s top commercial of that year’s Super Bowl.

Murray has long been known as a difficult person to contact, let alone to convince him to appear in his first national commercial on the idea reprises his role as Phil Connors the 1993 film “Groundhog Day.”

As Ad Meter’s Tom Schad explained after the fact, Murray did not have a phone, agent, or email account. But after meeting the challenge, Jeep ended up winning their first Ad Meter title for the brand.

(Register now to become a 2022 Ad Meter panelist)

The Murray-groundhog collab for Jeep edged out Hyundai’s popular Boston-themed ad “Smaht Pahk,” ad for the crown. That commercial featured Rachel Dratch, Chris Evans, John Krasinski and now Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer David Ortiz.

The advertisement for the automobile company had to goal of unveiling Jeep’s new “Gladiator” truck line.

And lucky enough for Jeep, a cherry on top: Murray confirmed himself via news release it will be his first and last commercial he’ll ever star in. An all-around winning day for the brand at that Super Bowl.

Have another look at the extended version of Jeep’s winning commercial below:

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Uber Eats teases Super Bowl 56 commercial with help from Jennifer Coolidge, Trevor Noah and Gwyneth Paltrow

Are they really going to eat that?

It’s lipstick wishes and deodorant dreams—with a candle chaser.

Ahead of the brand’s Super Bowl commercial that will air during the game on February 13, Uber Eats has revealed a teaser trilogy featuring actresses Jennifer Coolidge and Gwyneth Paltrow and “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.

In a one-eighty from your typical takeout, the three spots waste little time raising eyebrows and tilting heads while sprinkling in a few dashes of cringing and squinting for just the right amount of…oof, no, don’t eat that. (Fitting, of course, when considering the online food ordering company has titled the sneak peeks: “Uber Don’t Eats.”)

Get a first look at all three teasers here:

Register now to become a 2022 Ad Meter panelist

Teaser #1

Teaser #2

Teaser #3

This will be the brand’s follow-up act to its Super Bowl commercial debut in 2021, which was an impressive showing that featured a mashup of nostalgia and pop-culture present with Wayne and Garth, and Cardi B.

That big game ad finished 21st in the Ad Meter ratings.

As for 2022?

Even at the hefty price tag of $6.5 million for 30 seconds of possible fame, it’s shaping up to be an increasingly competitive group of national ads. The glaring vacancies from last year are now filled with many of the ones that sat out in 2021, creating a mix of newcomers and iconic brands. 

But while much of the hoopla in the coming week will be highly focused on the talent in front of the camera, don’t overlook Uber Eat’s Sophomore campaign from behind it. 

The brand tapped writer-director Jake Szymanski, who has a list of credits—”Saturday Night Live,” “Funny or Die,” and even features like “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”to back a reputation for bringing out the humor in his work.

In an advertising game that passes or fails on the ability to effectively deliver the punchline in a crunch, that type of sketch background makes for an intriguing element.

More Super Bowl 56 commercial news:

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