The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

February 7, 2011 | 3 min read

The biggest spend of advertising dollars of the year in one show was Sunday's US Super Bowl. What were the best ads and how well was the money spent?

Emerson College, near Boston, is one of the top ranked schools in the U.S. in the field. So The Drum asked students in the Marketing Communications Department - what they thought .

In all 70 students, (aged between the 18 and 23) in the course "Communication, Media and Society," watched all the Super Bowl ads and compiled a list of his/her top five .They watched in two groups . There were two 75 Minute class discussions in the morning and the afternoon- and amazingly the opinions were almost identical

Professor Derek Beckwith created a list of all ads that made the 35 individual top 5 lists then Identified the six ads that appeared most frequently.

The ads were then viewed again in class,The vote was taken for the best ad, the

winning ad was eliminated from the list, then a vote taken on the best remaining. This was repeated until the top 5 were identified. All can be seen on YouTube.

Results:

#1 - Volkswagen "The Force"

#2 - Audi "Release The Hounds"

#3 - Doritos "House Sitting"

#4 - Sealy Posturepedic "After Glow"

#5 - Doritos "Best Thing"

Triumph?

Class quotes on "The Force" rated the best:

* Audience was clearly male from the ages of 30 to 50, married, with children.

* This ad had universal appeal

* A wonderful mix of family, nostalgia, magic and power

* Darth Vader theme music conjured up images of strength, but there was nothing evil about the ad because of the adorable boy

* The ad was true to VW's current brand image

* The product message was well presented: it was more than affordable, very reliable and even magical.

Biggest Missed Opportunity:

Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" two minutes long starring Eminem and at around $9 million the most expensive ad in TV history. It was solidly panned by the class.

Turkey?

Class Quotes:

* This ad was way too long, and cost too much money.

* Eminem connects to young people, but we're not looking to buy a Chrysler, so there was a huge audience disconnect

* "Imported from Detroit" is a weak tag line -- since when was Detroit luxurious?

* Too much money, halfway through the ad I thought 'what a waste'.

* in the end, the ad was anti-climactic... a real missed opportunity.

* Re-branding Chrysler for a younger generation will take a lot more than this ad.

* Weird that Eminem was in it, especially since he said earlier -- in another ad -- that he doesn't do them.

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