Well, Super Bowl XLIV is in the can, so Monday morning workplace chatter undoubtedly turns to analytical talk about which commercials were memorable and which were forgettable. This fascination with the advertising industry usually subsides, but for 24 glorious hours everyday citizens of these United States become Ad Critics worthy of walk-on roles on Mad Men.

The theory is simple: with such high asking prices for commercial air time, ad agencies would put forth their most impressive and witty pitches to entice the viewing public to buy, buy, buy! That’s the theory, anyway.

One industry that can always do with some more buy, buy, buy! is the auto industry. Not counting locally-aired spots, this year’s Super Bowl had offerings from Audi, Dodge, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and Volkswagen. Representing four major auto groups, you would think one manufacturer could evoke some sort of emotionally-charged campaign of unforgettable brilliance to reinforce brand loyalty for those who already bought their product, while at the same time enticing the uninitiated to desperately want to join this club of mass exclusivity. On that count, we have a big fat no.

Whether it’s Honda’s use of a videogame squirrel animation to introduce what is essentially an Accord hatch back, or Hyundai’s begging for us to think about the hidden features that might make their Sonata the practical luxury choice, they all missed the mark. Having a sock monkey jump a Kia Sorento with Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba riding shotgun is cool and all, but it doesn’t make you covet their SUV. Not one automotive commercial created enough synergy to make you cry out, “Holy crap, YES! I want to buy FIVE of those, now!”

But what of Dodge Charger’s “Man’s Last Stand”, you ask? Does it not throw down the challenge of manhood and hold the exclusive key to its private club? Yeah, well, truth be told, I’d rather make a last stand for the 2010 Challenger than for a pseudo-muscle car that looks like a Ram Truck Quad Cab with a trunk instead of a flat bed. Seriously, Dodge just alienated all female drivers from potentially purchasing their 4-door faux-muscle-car-sedan, and painted all male owners as whipped, submissive dweebs that are receiving this vehicle as a consolation prize for handing their bollocks to their significant other. Way to think that one through, Dodge.

One manufacturer I was looking forward to seeing was Audi. With a 17 year hiatus from Super Bowl advertising, Audi resurfaced in 2008 with a beautiful spoof of the Godfather movies promoting their R8. In 2009 their focus was on a time-traveling Jason Statham doing his best Transporter role while driving a Supercharged A6. This year we get rent-a-cops with an eco-agenda threatening environmentally-challenged individuals with incarceration. Of course the owner of an Audi A3 TDI clean diesel gets a wave-through from the Green Police, with an altered version of Cheap Trick’s song Dream Police as the soundtrack. What they should have used is Cheap Trick’s I Want You To Want Me. Might as well beg for customers instead of using green-washing as a tactic to promote yourself. Pretty soon, being green will become as passé as being space-age. Consumers just expect it.

Whatever happened to the kind of advertising that stuck with you? The cinematic productions that inspired and awed you? Commercials like Ridley Scott’s directed one-off for Nissan in 1990. It aired during Super Bowl XXIV and never ran again. Yet, if asked, many Nissan 300ZX (Z32) owners can recite the ad verbatim.

“They Don’t Make Them Like They Used Toâ€�

I doubt VW owners will still be playing Punch Dub later this week let alone in 20 years. Volkswagen took a beloved road-trip game known as Slug Bug (slugging your sibling’s arm whenever you saw a VW Beatle as you call out the color), and defiled it by renaming it Punch Dub to encompass their whole line of vehicles. Now, if your product is so unique that an adolescent child can instantly recognize it from the backseat of a moving vehicle, don’t undermine that consumer-created phenomena by exploiting it for thinly veiled marketing purposes. Jetta Jab doesn’t exist for a reason.

In this day of complete marketing bombardment, ad agencies and auto manufacturers have to step back and realize that educated consumers recognize when they are being targeted with carefully-crafted messages. The awareness levels are at their peak, and only climbing. Instead of inadvertently portraying themselves as out-of-touch, irrelevant corporate zombies, marketers should pair their message with laughter, cleverness, and wit. Expect more from the consumer’s intellect, and the consumer will reward you. Heck, your product might even be remembered more than who played that year.

-Guss L. Tsatsakis

Designer at advertising and marketing agency, Wilburn Thomas.

Filed under: Editorial

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