The unofficial animal/celebrity/baby Super Bowl ad count – third quarter.

Celebs: Regis, The Trump, Dione Sanders, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld

Animals: an Alien

Leno! The funniest ad that really had nothing to do with selling something

Was that selling something?

Share this:

Props to Chrysler for sticking to last year’s strong message. They added to it meaningfully this year with a great Clint delivery. They grabbed the spotlight by the horns.

The unofficial animal/celebrity/baby Super Bowl ad count – second quarter.

Animals: Dog and cat for Doritos; dog for Volkswagen; shark-jumping polar bears for Coke.

Celebs: Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders for Bridgestone; Jillian Whatsername and Danica Patrick for GoDaddy.

Best ad so far? VW Beetle Star Wars ad-within-an-ad.

VW looks like the new kings of the Super Bowl ad with some great work from by Deutsch, L.A. to unveil the new Beetle. Last year’s Darth Vader ad was one of the best, if not THE best; and this year’s barking dogs VW ad was the pre-Super Bowl favorite; Deutsch is on a roll.

Here’s an LA Times blurb about the VW Super Bowl ads.

Budweiser saves face with Clydesdale spot.

Beautiful cinematography, and nice story telling with the Clydesdales. Nice and comfy, like a typical ad with the Clydesdales. Big budget, big production values. Good job.

A couple of ads later, we heard, “We make the power that makes the beer.” A great line for a GE ad that also features Budweiser. Cool idea.

The unofficial animal/celebrity/baby Super Bowl ad count – first quarter.

Celebs: Elton John, an X Factor person who is not quite a celebrity, and Flav-a-Flav for Pepsi.

Animals: Vampires for Audi. Cheetah for Hunday; polar bears for Coke.

No babies! What?!

Chevy Silverado, BigBoy, Twinkies and Barry Manilow slam Ford.

Chevy body-slams Ford in this very funny spot. Hey, Super Bowl ads are supposed to go big, and you can’t get much bigger than saying your competitor couldn’t survive the apocalypse WITH Barry Manilow singing in the background.

Elton John in a super stinker ad for Pepsi.

“I got it, it got it! How about Elton John stars as a king who decides which of his subjects is worthy of Pepsi, and then a much less expensive star from X Factor sings a bad version of Respect and knocks him down into a dungeon! Yes! Super Bowl ad gold!”

Oh Elton. You were pretty good. And it looks like wearing a crown and big boots was a lot of fun and all, but golly. Where’s the cool? Pepsi’s super Bowl ads generally are more hip, and aiming at the next generation of cola swillers. This one falls down a dungeon of expensive mediocrity.

Dud Light and Audi present…worst first Super Bowl ads ever?

Man, if this is any indication, this will be a very long night.

The first ad for Bud Light should never have run in a Super Bowl. That was like serving tacos at a wedding. Oh how you’ve fallen Bud Light. Oh how you’ve fallen.

Then Audi goes with dippy sfx in a Twilight spoof.

What a tepid start.

At least Brady’s safety made it interesting.