The Obligatory Super Hole VIII – The Uppity Armchair CD Edition
Welcome to the eighth annual edition of a futile exercise I call The Super Hole. This year, unlike Super Holes VI and VII, I’ll return to passing out letter grades along with proffering tidbits on how the spots could’ve been better. Granted, I could take the easy way out for all of them and just say, “Step 1: Hire me. Step 2: Leave me alone. Step 3: Drink in the genius.” But that would be rude. Very rude. Besides, some of these spots are actually quite good.
As usual: I only review ads shown during the four quarters of the game, so no pre- or post-game spots (although a couple sneak in). And no movie trailers, TV show promos, NFL ads or local ads.
Spots are arranged in alphabetical order according to brand. If I missed a couple, try one of the 8.3 million other blogs writing about this today.</p>
And if you helped make one of the ads that I ream, take solace in the fact that you worked on a Super Bowl ad. I worked on a blog about Super Bowl ads. I’d rather be getting reamed myself.
—
Audi, “Doberhuahua” – I love this spot, so I’ll just pick some nits. The banter between the dog show commentators could’ve been funnier, in the vein of “Best in Show.” I’m sure Fred Willard would’ve been available. The dog park scene could’ve used a smaller moment…
Take two and die slowly
Fixing a brand is hard. Rarely does salvation arrive in the form of one product, tag line, commercial or initiative because a broken brand is rarely ill in just one area of operations. This fact, obvious though it should be, seems lost on too many brands. Forget...
So Long, and Thanks for All the Retweets
Photo by Bill HornsteinOn Monday, May 11, 2009, the statement "I've yet to hire a writer who uses ellipses in an ad" echoed out across the Twitterverse and into the feeds of 15 followers*. And so began the long, steady, often donut-powered accumulation of once-a-day...
The Obligatory Super Hole VII – Creative Director Edition
This year, I’ve decided to do things a bit different. Instead of merely reviewing the ads, I’ll act as a Monday-morning creative director and offer advice on how these spots could have been better. Which is easy for me to do when I don’t have a client in the edit suite demanding to have “Like us on Twitterspace!” plastered along the bottom third of the screen and insisting all action take place in the 4:3 frame because that’s what their grammy still watches. Anyway. As usual: I only review ads shown during the four quarters of the game, so no pre- or post-game bits. No movie trailers, TV show promos, NFL ads or local ads.
Spots are more-or-less arranged in alphabetical order according to brand (but not holding company). I don’t guarantee that I got them all. You, too, have access to Google.
And if you helped make one of the ads that I didn’t care for, well, you worked on a Super Bowl ad. I did not. You can point out my typos and laugh.
—
Anheuser-Busch InBev, “Black Crown – Coronation” – The best way to change this spot would be to kill the product. Barring that, this bit won’t convince…
In Case You’re Wondering
The AdHole has been offline for quite some time now due to the Fox family moving from Dallas to Omaha. Settling into the new gig and digs has proven to be quite time consuming. And as there is no shortage of ad blogs out there, I'm in no hurry to resume. Although I...
The Obligatory Super Hole VIII – The Uppity Armchair CD Edition
Welcome to the eighth annual edition of a futile exercise I call The Super Hole. This year, unlike Super Holes VI and VII, I’ll return to passing out letter grades along with proffering tidbits on how the spots could’ve been better. Granted, I could take the easy way out for all of them and just say, “Step 1: Hire me. Step 2: Leave me alone. Step 3: Drink in the genius.” But that would be rude. Very rude. Besides, some of these spots are actually quite good.
As usual: I only review ads shown during the four quarters of the game, so no pre- or post-game spots (although a couple sneak in). And no movie trailers, TV show promos, NFL ads or local ads.
Spots are arranged in alphabetical order according to brand. If I missed a couple, try one of the 8.3 million other blogs writing about this today.</p>
And if you helped make one of the ads that I ream, take solace in the fact that you worked on a Super Bowl ad. I worked on a blog about Super Bowl ads. I’d rather be getting reamed myself.
—
Audi, “Doberhuahua” – I love this spot, so I’ll just pick some nits. The banter between the dog show commentators could’ve been funnier, in the vein of “Best in Show.” I’m sure Fred Willard would’ve been available. The dog park scene could’ve used a smaller moment…
Take two and die slowly
Fixing a brand is hard. Rarely does salvation arrive in the form of one product, tag line, commercial or initiative because a broken brand is rarely ill in just one area of operations. This fact, obvious though it should be, seems lost on too many brands. Forget...
So Long, and Thanks for All the Retweets
Photo by Bill HornsteinOn Monday, May 11, 2009, the statement "I've yet to hire a writer who uses ellipses in an ad" echoed out across the Twitterverse and into the feeds of 15 followers*. And so began the long, steady, often donut-powered accumulation of once-a-day...
The Obligatory Super Hole VII – Creative Director Edition
This year, I’ve decided to do things a bit different. Instead of merely reviewing the ads, I’ll act as a Monday-morning creative director and offer advice on how these spots could have been better. Which is easy for me to do when I don’t have a client in the edit suite demanding to have “Like us on Twitterspace!” plastered along the bottom third of the screen and insisting all action take place in the 4:3 frame because that’s what their grammy still watches. Anyway. As usual: I only review ads shown during the four quarters of the game, so no pre- or post-game bits. No movie trailers, TV show promos, NFL ads or local ads.
Spots are more-or-less arranged in alphabetical order according to brand (but not holding company). I don’t guarantee that I got them all. You, too, have access to Google.
And if you helped make one of the ads that I didn’t care for, well, you worked on a Super Bowl ad. I did not. You can point out my typos and laugh.
—
Anheuser-Busch InBev, “Black Crown – Coronation” – The best way to change this spot would be to kill the product. Barring that, this bit won’t convince…
In Case You’re Wondering
The AdHole has been offline for quite some time now due to the Fox family moving from Dallas to Omaha. Settling into the new gig and digs has proven to be quite time consuming. And as there is no shortage of ad blogs out there, I'm in no hurry to resume. Although I...