Every autumn America’s actors, sportspeople and celebrities wait by the phone for The Call.
The one offering them millions of dollars to appear in a TV commercial during the following February’s Super Bowl.
Alongside them, also waiting hopefully, are the directors, for whom the production of this one spot could make their entire year.
Every year the Super Bowl offers without doubt the biggest moment in the world for the advertising industry.
100 million people watching 90 ads, made only to appear only once, with sky high production budgets and a brief to get the biggest famous name possible.
What makes a great one, over and above stuff that just makes you chuckle?
For me it’s about relevance. Linkage in some way of brand and star. Products that are well integrated into the narrative, not gratuitously shoe-horned in.
I had few favourites this year.
Sam Adams, the famous Boston brewer uses a slightly different kind of ‘celebrity’ that is satisfyingly relevant to the brand.
Two security guards at the Boston Dynamics campus end up sharing a few beers with a bunch of those amazing robots you see on the internet doing things that make it increasingly clear they are only a hair’s breadth from becoming our overlords
And the winner of this year’s Best Electric Vehicle commercial of the Super Bowl (of which there were plenty) iiiiiiis… General Motors.
You can’t fault GM for their commitment here. Re-uniting Mike Myers with the full Austin Powers cast and adding some nice gags, all of which culminate in a film even hardened Dr Evil fans will find hard to criticise.
Apple Watch proves that you don’t need a high production budget, celebrities or hilarious jokes to succeed in the Super Bowl ad wars.
Actual recordings of SOS calls from real people in life-threatening situations which have been successfully saved by their wearing of an Apple watch.
A good old fashioned product demo. An usual and fresh angle into a product that people probably think they know everything about. Beautifully simple and incredibly powerful.
I think my favourite of the (very large) bunch is Uber Eats.
The brief was to announce that, counter-intuitively, if not confusingly, Uber Eats now delivers more than just food.
Kicked off with a great line “If it was delivered with Uber Eats does that mean I can eats it?” delivered by the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge, it features other big names like Trevor Noah and Nicholas Braun tucking into non-food items they have had delivered with a not unexpected lack of success.
A highlight was seeing Gwyneth Paltrow having a tentative nibble of one of the infamous ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ candles you can get on Goop.
And I especially enjoyed the disclaimer at the bottom encouraging the audience not to eat things like pencils, kitty litter and sponges.
So, now this year's event is over it's time to start on the long list of stars for next year.
Who will get The Call later this year?
And how much will the brands be laying out?
The mind boggles.
