We expect a lot of Super Bowl ads. We expect to laugh, smile, have our heart strings tugged or break into song – all in a period of thirty seconds to two minutes.
Most of this year’s Super Bowl ads did just that – and successfully. However, in a flash of brilliance not seen in a Super Bowl ad in quite some time, hiding in the second half waiting to be noticed – was the Beck’s ad. Here are just some of the many reasons that it was by far the 108 yard kick-off return of the night:
It was quite provocative – essentially telling you that you will want to drink “like a fish”.
- It wooed you by showing that the black outside was sleek but that the gold inside was just that – gold (kind of like you). You also see this in the school of gold fish rushing at you when the bottle tips toward you at the end of the ad.
- For a few seconds, you see the reflection of the fish in the red sapphire; it is well known that we are attracted to people and things in which we see some part of ourselves.
- The saphir hops – usually used only to “finish” a good beer, are the key component of this brew – nothing’s too good for you, baby.
- Speaking of keys, you’ll notice in the center of the “sapphire” that there is a vintage key; this is literally dripping in symbolism. Okay, I can’t resist – the key to your heart, since the sapphire looks like a gem that your man would give to you or else you wish he would. The rest of the symbolism I’ll leave up to you to interpret.
- It appealed to your emotions (romance) by playing a slowed down and almost haunting, very cool version of “No Diggity”, instantly transporting women my age from metropolitan areas back to their nightclub days, yet in a different way.
- If you listen to the lyrics of “No Diggity”, you’ll notice that it says “I got to bag it up” – a parallel to the desire to go out and buy it.
- The lyrics “Baby you’re a perfect 10, I want to get in…” coming from the fish, sum up the smooth, more subtle guy that is smart enough to know that if he whispers something in your ear, you will turn around to see him walking away with his head turned back looking at you, he will be much more likely to get your attention, rather than if he were to come over, cave man style, hit you with some tired line and aggressively tried to drag you out on the dance floor (like a traditional Budweiser would do).
Interestingly, when I searched for the ad so I could watch it again after the game, I found some commentary online already. One comment from what appeared to be a Neanderthal-type male shouldn’t have surprised me – he didn’t get it because it wasn’t speaking to him in any way. Then there was the comment from an ad agency that was suffering from what was akin to the guy at the club so desperate to say something and get attention that he trips over the barstool as he tries to race over to the prettiest girl in the room (today we’ll call her “Twitter”). This agency, who shall remained unnamed and if they know what’s good for them, will search the Twittersphere all day trying to delete this post, could only comment that essentially “sapphires are blue.” Really? In the Google era when it only takes about five seconds to find out why the sapphire on the bottle isn’t blue, you really needed to tweet that badly? I truly feel sorry for you – clearly you didn’t have much luck in the dating realm when you were younger. But here is the great irony – no matter how much people liked or didn’t like the ad, especially if they weren’t the target audience, guess what? They almost all said that they were curious enough to go out and buy a six pack and at least try it. Touchdown! That is the whole point of advertising.
As for the other ads, sure, I loved the Budweiser Clydesdale ad and the Dodge Farmer ad just as much as the next person. I, too, thought the Kia ad was especially funny and the GoDaddy ad especially gross. These and many other ads hit the high points that Super Bowl ads should. But now you know why the Beck’s Sapphire ad is an ad girl’s new favorite of all time. I like that an ad pushed the envelope in the most subtle way – a way that hasn’t been done before – for a change.