Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Super Bowl LVII ads - just insert celebrity

Try these for size: Nick Jonas for Dexcom, Sting/Billy Idol/Ozzy Ozborne/Joan Jett/Paul Stanley/Gary Clark Jr for Workday, Kevin Heart for Draftking, Sean "Diddy" Combs for Uber One, Will Ferrell for GM+Netflix, Meghan Trainor for Pringles, Miles Teller for Bud Light, Alicia Silverstone for Rakuten, Silvester Stallone for Paramount+, Jon Hamm/Brie Larson/Pete Davidson for Hellmann's, John Cena for Experian, Melissa McCarthy for booking.com, Rob Gronkowski for FanDuel, Jesse Pinkman/Walter White for PopCorners, Giannis Antetokounmpo/Amy Schumer/Doja Cat for Google, Adam Driver for Squarespace, Snoop Dogg/Martha Stewart for Sketchers, Steve Martin for Pepsi Zero, Anna Faris for Avocados from Mexico, John Travolta/Zack Braff/Donald Faison for T-Mobile, and as we get closer to the D-Day am sure more ads with celebrities will pop up and much props for Adland (and the magnificent Dabitch) for having the energy and patience for compiling all this!

So where does that leave us? A lot of hit-and-miss. Some actually work - am thinking specifically of Workday, Pepsi Zero and Paramount+, some nail references right such as the Will Ferrell vehicle (har har!) for GM+Netflix, some too right such as PopCorners and Rakuten (these will go down as the "breaking bad" ad and the "clueless" ad not the PopCorners and Rakuten ads as the topic was too "on the nose" with the originals), some make no sense at all, some are annoying (I was not a fan of the Melissa McCarthy thingy nor seeing John Cena dancing has enhanced my day and am not sure we needed a new "Summer nights" for T-mobile), and on it goes. 

Basically, the formula is "just add celebrity".