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- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
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B
Hello. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Digiday Podcast, a show for everybody who watches the super bowl explicitly for the ads. I'm Kameka McCoy, senior marketing reporter here at Digiday.
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A
And I'm Tim Peterson, executive editor, video and audio at Digiday Media. How's it going, Kimiko?
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B
Well, we're here. We made it through the super bowl to talk about it on Monday, no less, when I imagine somebody out there is fighting a hangover right now. But we made it.
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A
I think so. And Kimiko, for this episode, we are going to be breaking down the best and worst ads of the super bowl, at least in our opinions. But not just our opinions. We have Sonny Bonnell from Motto, who is joining us to to also break down her perspective on this year's super bowl commercial. Sunny, welcome to the show.
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C
Hello and thanks for having me. Excited to dig in.
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A
So, Sunny, I guess before we get into talking about the ads and we have categories that we've each broken down the ads into best and worst in each category and eventually we'll reveal each of our best and worst ads overall from this year's Super Bowl. How, Sunny, how did you feel about the ads in general for this year's Super Bowl? Was this a good super bowl from meta perspective? Was it a bad one? Was it a mid one?
- [01:30]
C
I think, I think most of the advertisers tried to take some big swings. I think some of them didn't land as probably as they were intended, but I think generally speaking, I think there was some really great standout moments in there from companies who really put their brand front and center and tried to create a message that would help bring brand recall to their companies and to their offer, but more importantly, something that would be memorable. And I also think people took a lot of swings at trying to inject more humor given the landscape that we're all in. So I think overall a really good job.
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A
How'd you feel about it? Greatest of all time or as middling as the game itself yesterday?
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B
I'm gonna go with the latter. To be honest with you, Tim, I miss the days when super bowl ads were about beer and junk food and less about SaaS, platforms and AI. We. We've reached a new day. What about you, Tim?
- [02:30]
A
Yeah, I always, I found them a little middling, too. I think some of it is, to my mind, there were kind of like three categories of ads. There were the like, and in some respects there's always these three categories of ads in some way. There was the like, extremely earnest to the point of a little cringy type ad. Some of those actually, like, worked better on me than others. Like the lay's farmer ad. Not so much the NFL ads with, like, the kids. Like, especially the one with the little boy, like, I am a champion. I. I really love that ad. But then, so there's kind of like the earnest slash cringy. Then there were the, like, trying to be funny. And I'm using the words trying to be funny because I didn't necessarily find all of these funny, but, like, nostalgia plays throwbacks and that basically the brief seemed to be find some celebrity from the 90s or 80s who's still kind of relevant and, like, looks okay. Or we could date, fake to look young, and then find a song from the 80s or 90s that will seem funny if taken out of context. And I don't know, those were the ones that were like, the. These are fine, but these also could just be ads in Sunday Night Football, not necessarily the Super Bowl. And then the third category was the, like, America is great ads that just don't work for me at all right now. Because right now I don't believe America is great. America would not be great at a time when two weeks ago we had ICE agents shoot and kill an unarmed citizen. So, like, those ads were tough for me to take this Super Bowl. But there were some ads that I liked. There were some ads that I very much did not like. I think most of the ads I kind of felt indifferent to. But let's talk about the ads that we all liked and disliked. So our first category, a category that I'm very excited to talk about with both of both of you, best and worst AI Company ad. So this is the ad from an AI company, not an ad that used AI. Because honestly, at this point, I'm having a hard time telling which ads used AI and which ads didn't use AI, but best and worst AI company ad. And some of the candidates are OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Gensmark, Amazon with Alexa, Microsoft Copilot. There may have AI.com, there may have been others. Those were the ones that kind of stuck in my head as the nominees. So, Lenny, you are our guest. I'll let you go first. Would you like to do. Are you a bad news first kind of person or a good news first kind of person? Do you want to do best or worse?
- [05:29]
C
I think you probably heard from my opening. I'm more of an optimist. You know, I like to look at. I know how much effort goes into trying to do this in a very noisy landscape. And so I think that there's something to be said for that. That said, I think Anthropic probably understood the moment better than any AI brand on the field in terms of. Instead of kind of showcasing the power or possibility, it really addressed the elephant in the room. I think that OpenAI did a really interesting take that felt more utilitarian of like how you use it, how you can have impact. It felt very apple to me and that it pulled a lot of cues from that type of storytelling. Everything from the lighting to just the story sequence really sort of hit on that. I think probably the one that didn't land for me as much, and I think Meta went twice at this was Meta gestured towards a big idea, but didn't really anchor it into anything that I think was new or concrete. And so the result just felt like very innovation theater rather than being anything that I could really understand or take away from it. And to me, that was a little bit of a miss and that they had to do it twice. And even on the second time I was watching it again, trying to make sure that I kind of like caught it. And it just, I think brands, I think that brand left the audience sort of asking, okay, so what, what, what? And, and what do I do with that? And I think that's a really important thing that advertisers have to get right is what does that mean and what action do you want me to take? And so that, that is where I think there was some, some wobbliness in that. What about you?
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B
My best one, obviously anthropic. Now, I will say for that one, I do wonder, because I was sitting in a room of people who are not neither advertisers nor people who are chronically online. So to them it just looked like a chatgpt ad. You know, they didn't make a whole lot of it, but to me, you know, it was, it was really well done. And to your point, sunny of the moment, I think I would give like honorary mention to Google. One of the things that AI platforms, I feel like have been trying to do recently is here, humanize themselves a little bit or at least convince humans that they're. That we're not going to be like iRobot, smart house, you know, style thing. And I think Google Gemini did a decent job of that, of bringing together like a parent and the kid, you know, here's how we can decorate your room and, and that type of deal. My least favorite One is the AI.com one that was done. I didn't know what the hell was going on there. And by the end of it, like, if an ad leaves me with questions than answers, to me that that was a missed, missed opportunity and a missed landing. Especially at the Super Bowl. You've got one shot to stand out in a very noisy landscape. I understand the need like, oh, let me Google this and find out what this is. Yeah, you and 15 other advertisers. I've got to move on. Okay, Tim, take us home. Where are your top in your least?
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A
So you and I, we're on the same page. I had the Gemini ad as my best AI ad. I appreciated the anthropic love. Anytime a brand throws shade at another brand, that's just fun. But I didn't think it was actually a good ad for Anthropic or for Claude because K to your point, I don't think anyone watches that ad and thinks, oh yeah, let me use Claude. Or let alone like recognizes Claude is a ChatGPT competitor that exists. They may not be aware of Claude whatsoever because ChatGPT has the brand. It is the Google of the AI chatbots. So I don't think that was helpful. And I don't that's why I couldn't give it to best give it the best. But Gemini, that was very one. This is just something Google's been good at with its super bowl ads for more than a decade at this point. It did this with its first ever super bowl ad for search where it had like, it used the search interface to show, I believe it was like also a parent child relationship kind of evolving through different searches over time. So. And it also showed like, what's possible with Gemini. So I think it was a good product showcase kind ofad worst AI.com that was one of those ads where like, as I was watching, I was like, what the hell is this? And then as I thought about it afterwards, I feel like part of the reason why I didn't like it is it reminded me of pets.com and it felt like the clearest, the thing we'll potentially look back at a year from now, five years from now, when the economy has cratered because of AI as that was the dot com bubble, AI.com and the parallels with pets.com so that actually is a contender for me in our next category of best and worst nostalgia play. Just because the nostalgia of pets.com that I felt through the AI.com ad made it a contender for worst nostalgia play. To me, that's it. I don't know that I'm going to give it worst nostalgia play because I feel like this may be controversial. Budweiser with Eagle in the Clydesdale ad. Just because that was so America the Great and all of that at just the wrong time for America. That felt like a nostalgia play for an era that definitely doesn't exist now, and I don't know that ever really existed in this country. Best nostalgia play going the complete other direction. This is just a dumb ad that kind of worked for me because of how much nostalgia was in it. The Duncan Goodwill. Duncan, just like all these celebrities, the deep fakes were very off putting of just aging down. Jennifer Aniston, like, Jennifer Aniston still looks pretty young. I don't know that you needed to age her down for one thing. I think the age down Urkel was probably one of the faces that like threw me off initially of like, oh, this is a deep fake. That said it was a stupid ad, but it was a bunch of celebrities. It wasn't trying to be anything more than a stupid ad. I'm not necessarily. I appreciated seeing Family Matters represented and Fresh Prince of Bel Air represented. So like, that was the nostalgia part that worked on me because for me, those were two shows that were extremely important to me in my childhood hood. Sunny, what do you have for best and worst nostalgia play?
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C
I'm gonna go with Pepsi versus Coke. And then I'm gonna go with the worst would be Levi's. I just think they've departed a bit from, from who they are, but I'll, I'll kind of dig into that a little bit more. So for, for Pepsi and Coke, I think what's really interesting is that they forced, they, they, they did what a lot of brands don't do anymore, which is ask you to pick a side. And that's just like in football, right? What team are you rooting for? And so I think that, that that rivalry has turned a very simple product into an actual identity question. And the fact that they pushed that forward was, was kind of an interesting. It was very clever. And I think that, you know, Coke traditionally stands for like heritage and tradition. And Pepsi has now positioned itself as like, you know, youth rebellion culture, you know, future forward. And I think that contrast makes the rivalry a little bit more emotionally interesting. And I think when you, when you look at like how they played, that was like cultural shorthand a little bit like where everybody understood it. And I think when ads can do that, it's, it's pretty powerful because it allows you to jump to the to the inference. Quick. Quicker than having it be really on the nose or, you know, there was. There was actually a lot of nuance to that that they were working in and kind of made you reflect on whether or not you cared, whether you cared deeply or not. You were still. I saw a lot of. A lot of commentary around it and a lot of debate around it, and I thought that was pretty. Pretty interesting to see, particularly when, you know, you always expect, like, the taste test and all the stuff that they typically do. This was a little bit of a jab, you know, which was fun.
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A
And then Levi's. Just not a Dochi fan, you know, I think.
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C
I think what it. What it. Knowing the Levi's brand for a really long time, what I've always associated them with is a bit of an explorer archetype, where they've always been about the open road and discovery and this sort of landscape of, like, just enjoying the journey and. And the jeans are part of that. But this just felt like it didn't feel true to the brand. And I know that they've done that before where they've sort of departed from it and went more towards, like, a rebellious type archetype, but I think in this particular instance, it just didn't land, because I think brands have to stay true to who they are. And when they start. When they start wandering away from that, it's very clear to people who have loved the brand for a long time that they've. They don't. They're. They're now wandering through their own sort of soul, if you will, you know, and if brands can hold on to that and remain relevant over long periods of time and never give up that point of view, I think that's what great brands are able to. That's why they're able to withstand the pressures of the market, because they never really compromise on themselves, but they find new ways to express that. I just felt this was a little bit off from what I would expect from them.
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B
That's. That's. That's definitely fair. I think for me, best nostalgia. I didn't, like, watch Friends and things like that growing up. I did watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air and whatnot. So, like, it was a good nostalgia play. But my favorite was Xfinity with Jurassic Park. Also Deepfakes, you know, which. Spooky yuki. Uncanny Valley, here we come. But I do think overall it was a good spot. It made sense. I like to see those characters brought back, right? And then I want to say my worst nostalgia play. They're going to get walloped by the end of this conversation is the Coinbase ad the karaoke style. I understand the concept. I do. On paper it sounded fantastic. But in the again, you're in the midst of like a got to be 20, 30 other brands and a Super bowl happening simultaneously. When the karaoke started, I don't know what this is for. I don't know what I'm looking at right now. And then you know, for it to end with like, oh, welcome back to the world of crypto. In the Backstreet Boys playing I don't know what I almost felt tricked. You know, I saw one TikTok that made me giggle because the girls are watching the game and they're like singing along to it. They're having a great time and then it's just like coinbase and they're like.
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C
What the hell, what's that for?
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B
Yeah, exactly.
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C
So yeah, it was catchy though I imagine a lot of people with their beers were might have been breakdancing or calling back into their their best dance moves. During that.
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A
I wanted to like the Jurassic park one more. Jurassic Park's my favorite movie. It's a good one all the time. So I was ready for that ad. It may just be I've committed that movie to memory and to my DNA at this point that like it was the deep fakes were a little off putting. Again, Jeff Goldblum still looks correct. So I don't know that you need to deep fake Jeff Goldblum at this point. Lauren Jordan too. Like neither of them really. Anyways, I think all great picks. Let's move on. Most and least effective brand recall. So this is the ad where the not only did the ad stick with you, but you like you you remember what the brand or the product it was for. Least effective is you remember the ad but you have no idea what the brand or the product was that was associated with it. Sonny, what do you have for most and least effective brand recall?
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C
I think for best I'm going to go with Grubhub. I thought who Will Eat the Fees was a masterclass in repetition of a line and it's sort of a distinction of naming the enemy and then calling to it what the enemy is repeatedly. It was absolutely a masterclass in brand recall. The line names a very universal annoyance and makes Grubhub the brand willing to confront it. I thought that was pretty powerful. You will remember the phrase and you will remember who said it and that's very rare. I also think the orchestration of the characters and the timing, the script, the setting. There was just so much about it that worked and worked extremely well. I think the worst was probably Nerds with Andy Cohen. He was memorable. The ad and the candy was not somebody who loves nerds and grab some at the market anytime I can. I felt like the personality exclusively eclipsed the product and it was sort of the brand loses the moment that it paid for.
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B
Okay, Tim, what do you got?
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A
So for most effective brand recall, I have, I have Google going back to the Gemini ad, which I already talked about, but that just felt like so clearly a product showcase that I remember what the product was because that ad was almost entirely about the product and showing me the product as like an honorable mention Lays with the like 72 hour QR code. And I don't know that it was that ad so much as just all of the ads that Lays ran where Lays really wanted me to understand, like, these are real potatoes that are in these chips for you. So by the time it got to the 72 hours QR code, I was just like, okay, I get it. Lay's real potatoes. That's ingrained in me at this point. But I think I would give the edge to Gemini just because again, that was a single ad that landed and stuck. Least effective brand recall, Kendall Jenner. And I think it was like a betting app. But even at this point, I don't remember if. Was that DraftKings, was it Polymarket or Kalshi or like one of the other betting apps that are out there? I just know it was a betting app and Kendall Jenner was in it, but couldn't for the life of me tell you what the brand was.
- [20:43]
C
I actually, I actually thought that was a very strong ad. But I can, I can see what you mean. But I also watched a few times for another segment that I did, and I watched it the first time and thought it was cleverly written. And also it was a big comeback for her having the Pepsi issue that she had before. I think in another ad, I think it was a big moment for her. And also just for the. The recall of it being sort of her name and, and how she said. And I think they cut it actually at the end because the ad that I saw actually had a different. Had a different ending than the one that they played during the Super Bowl. And I thought the former one that I saw where she says that's not it. The Kardashian isn't my last name was really effective, but it looks like they pulled that for the super bowl spot. So I Would have gone with the other ad or the alternate version, the teaser that they released. I thought it was quite good.
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A
Kamika, what did you have for most and least effective braid recall?
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B
If I say Budweiser was best, is that a cop out at that point? I feel like the Clydesdale horses do a lot of work.
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A
That's also why they do it. Like that is braid right there.
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B
Yeah. As soon as the camera panned up off of that baby Eagle, up onto that horse, I said, I know exactly where I'm, I know exactly where I'm at. Going back to your point, Sunny, about a brand staying true. Like, the political climate right now is a challenging one, but I do appreciate Budweiser's commitment to those horses and bringing in the Eagle and making it like, I don't know, it's very like, beat on your chest. American exceptionalism. Right?
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C
Americana. Yeah.
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B
But in terms of brand recall, like, it. Within a split second, you know exactly what it is that they're selling and who it is. And so I feel like, you know, maybe they cheat a little bit because they built this for like years and years that they've had the Clydesdale horses. But I feel like it's, it's an effective ad every single time that I see it worst. I'm gonna go, yes, Kendall. With. I can't. I don't know if it was like fanduel draftkings. I'm not sure who it was.
- [22:56]
C
Fanatics.
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B
Fanatics.
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C
Well, am I the only one able.
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B
To recall this honorable mention for me was State Farm. It was because in the first couple seconds of that ad, they had like, I don't know what the random company name was that to me, overshadowed State Farm's presence. Trying to take a jab at a non existent insurance company. You've. You've lost me.
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C
You make a good, you make a good point, though, about, about Budweiser. Because what they're so good at is like, they know who they are and they're not for everyone. And the best brands manage the meaning in the audience's mind and they want to repel some people. Right. That's like the whole play. It's not for everyone. It's very rooted in America, Americana and conservatism. And so there's, there's, they, they're, they're just sticking to that. But, yeah, casting that. Yeah. You know, sticking there. But, but it was an emotional ad when a little bird fell out and then, you know, the horse is standing over. I mean, there's so much unique storytelling in that so simple and yet so universal that everyone could feel it. Regardless of where you stand politically, it's still kind of tugs at your heartstrings. It's interesting how they do that.
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B
Animals will get you every time.
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A
Definitely touched a nerve with me. I don't know about heartstrings, best and worst influencer appearance or really I think of this one as best and worst use of influencer because influencers appeared in various ads. But I don't know that it was always clear that an influencer was there. Now I'll go first. My best was Mr. Beast for Salesforce because he was front and center. It was just, this is Mr. Beast. He's presenting the entire ad. And then they also took advantage of him being kind of like modern day Willy Wonka with the million dollar giveaway or whatever it was. That felt like the best use of an influencer because people know who MrBeast was. And even if you don't know who MrBeast is, he's good on camera. He's a good presenter. He delivered the lines that he would have needed to. I believe he also directed that ad. So that feels like good on Salesforce for getting as much out of this creator as you can. Worst was Paige desorbo. Who. Who. I don't even remember which ad she was. I think it was the Kinder. Kinder. Bueno. Yeah. I didn't even clock that she was in that ad. My better half, who is a giggler, a member of the giggly squad. Paige desorbo's podcast. She's like a big fan. Noticed that Paige was in that ad. I had no idea. So that felt like a bad use of an influencer because I just thought it was like a background actor and extra in the ad. Similar to Druski in the T Mobile Backstreet Boys ad. But at least he was on screen and like very present on screen for enough time that I was able to clock, oh, that's Drew Ski. Sunny, what do you have for best and worst use of an influencer?
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C
I mean, do we. Do we think of Sabrina Carpenter as an influencer? I guess so, yeah.
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A
She's more celebrity. Celebrity Sunny, we could go back to the episode we had a few weeks ago. Right.
- [26:33]
C
We could go back and forth on that.
- [26:34]
B
I did.
- [26:34]
C
I did think Mr. Beast was good. I think that's a good shout. I think that was a good. A good play for Salesforce. I don't really. I didn't really have like a worst influencer appearance other than the YouTube ad, which was a Collection of different influencers. Right. I felt like there was. I don't know.
- [26:54]
B
It would. It.
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C
It didn't land for me. It just felt like the choice was to use spokespeople instead of cultural relevance. And it felt like a descriptive ad rather than anything that sparked any kind of unique point of view or debate or any point of view. It felt very utilitarian and sort of like this is YouTube and this is what you can do in YouTube rather than it being a unique angle.
- [27:18]
B
I think we're all in agreeance about the Mr. Beast ad. I think what worked for me is like knowing who Mr. Beast is and kind of his background as a creator, slash influencer, however you want to categorize him. And I feel like they pulled that into the ad. Right. Where he was the highlight, he was the face of it. And so regardless if you're familiar with him or not, he's brought in, I mean, naturally, he directed it. So very, very apparent. But I think it was well done. I also am on the same page about the kinder Bueno. I don't think I would have clocked Paige if outlets had not said that she was an influencer who appeared in this ad. She played more of a background character than. Than anything else. If I'm not mistaken. She's from a reality TV show, right?
- [28:05]
A
Yes. Summer House. I know way too much about this person without having ever been exposed to her content.
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B
I think if the setting had been different and not like this outer space discovery type deal, she may have worked better. You would have just had to incorporate her and her background more to justify it. Also surprised that nobody listed Kendall as an influencer in this space. Maybe she's reached traditional celebrity status now.
- [28:32]
A
I think she could be considered influencer. I don't think she was the worst or the best. She just was there in my mind. She was just kind of there. You know who was there a lot in a lot of these ads? Celebrities.
- [28:44]
B
Oh, my God. Yeah.
- [28:45]
A
The Backstreet Boys, for one, were in multiple. I think there were probably also other celebrities that may have been in multiple. Sofia Vergara was in a lot. So best and worst use of a celebrity. So I've got Duncan for best. It just had the most celebrities or among the most celebrities, but it also felt like it used them in a good way. Deepfakes aside, worst. Bud Light. I just feel like you don't need. What was it? Shane Gillis, Post Malone, Peyton Manning in there. Like, it didn't feel like any of them really contributed anything to it. Even you know, Peyton Manning's like, one liner at the end. I don't remember what it was. It didn't land for me. And he's generally a funny person who I have. I find funny, but that was just like, here's a bunch of celebrities, and they didn't really do anything with their celebrity. Sunny, what do you have?
- [29:42]
C
Oh, I'm going to have to go with Emma Stone in Squarespace. I just think she's such a phenomenal actress, and her acting is so good that it brought urgency to a product that a lot of people don't even think about as much anymore. And when you think about buying web domains and her just typing in her name and not being able to get it, I just thought it was absolutely brilliant. And she was so good in it. And it was very, very memorable to have somebody like that in an ad, which the pairing of it felt. She's such a huge actress in terms of global visibility, and I think she's won all types of awards. And I think to have her in a ad like that was a big risk. And yet at the same time, I think it really paid off. I also thought that. And I know you guys don't agree with me on this, but I'm gonna go out on a limb. I'm gonna say Melissa with. With Melissa McCarthy was absolutely hysterical because she's so committed to the joke. She's just naturally funny. And it felt like an actual story. And I think the punchline of bringing in the soap opera star, it just added, you know, because I read a lot about, like, cultural appropriation, and there was comments around that, whether that was or it wasn't. And I just thought it was very, very funny and very clever for a beauty brand.
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A
Yeah, I'm in the cultural appropriation. That's my culture.
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C
It's a fine line. It's a fine line. But I think had they not had the. This. The soap opera star in. In it, I think it would have played a different hand. But because she was so involved in it and it's such a huge celebrity, I think that it. It was. They thought. It's almost like they thought about that that could be the interpretation, and they thought of a way to not have it be that way. And so, I don't know. I thought it was. I thought it was. I thought it was just funny.
- [31:44]
B
What was your worst?
- [31:46]
C
State Farm. I felt like State Farm was just. It was fun, cameo energy, but it felt very safe, very expected. I don't think the celebrity aspect of it pushed the brand message. Very forward at times. It felt a little bit corny, and it just. It felt expected from them rather than, again, swinging for the fences, trying to take that moment. I think it's what, $8 million to have. So I think those. Those seconds and those minutes, they count. And I think this just was a big miss. I also think there was another one, Michelob Ultra. I thought they could have done it, would have. Would have made that brand, that advertising more effective is if Greg didn't actually get better. So you saw that him go through all the punches, and then all of a sudden he, like, wins, and he's now buying everybody's beer and all that. But I think it would have been even more interesting if they. If he would have went through all that with Kurt and then didn't actually get any better. So I think that was pretty. Pretty good. It was the one that almost got there, let's put it that way.
- [32:47]
B
This is fair. Okay, I am gonna go against the grain here, and I'm gonna say the best use of celebrity, to me was Bosch with Guy Fieri.
- [32:58]
C
It was good.
- [32:59]
B
I feel like it was the closest that we would have gotten to, like, the super bowl ads that I grew up with, where it was cheeky and unexpected. Expected to come from Bosch to have that partnership. Like, the partnership made sense. Right. But it was unexpected. And then Guy Fieri has had, well, for the most part, a low profile. Right. So to. To. To bring him back out, I felt like was.
- [33:22]
C
Was good.
- [33:23]
B
The William Shatner and Kellogg's was also good. Ben Stiller bringing back his Zoolander phase for Instacart was also good. But my favorite was. Was Boshing Guy Fieri. Worst use of celebrity. I agree with you. For State Farm Ritz with Bowen, Yang, Scarlett Johansson, and I can't remember the last person. Yeah, yeah.
- [33:45]
C
Yes.
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B
To me, it was a hodgepodge. I did not understand, like, the concept of why they were there. I've never seen any of these people be, like, super into Ritz crackers or, like, a stretch.
- [33:58]
C
It felt like their faces were done in AI, Right? Like, didn't it look at time? Well, you know, Jon Hamm is part of what is it your friends and neighbors show, right. Which has been really hot and really a huge hit. But in there, the opening, his sequence, he's very AI generated. And it looked like, oh, boy, that he was in this as well at different points. I don't know. I could be wrong. Maybe somebody can. Can weigh in and say whether it was or it wasn't. But, yeah, it all felt like it went between them being real and then being fake and then being real. And I was like, oh, I don't know. This is a bit. A bit all over the map.
- [34:34]
B
I agree. And then also Bowen Yang has had such a big year. I feel like that could. You could have absolutely. Like, the whole ad could have relied on him and it would have been. Should play it into that. Yep.
- [34:46]
A
Kamika, you actually set me up perfectly for our final category. The. The. The grand prize of podcast super bowl superlatives, best and worst ad overall. So I actually had a few candidates for worst overall. Ben Stiller, the Instacart Bananas is actually like, in that category. Ben Stiller is just someone. I don't always have all the time in the world for him. So, like, TurboTax, Adrien Brody was another one that just. I got that they were trying to be funny. It wasn't funny, and it just felt way too aggressive. Plus, like, taxes. I don't want to think about taxes. I watched the super bowl on Peacock. So I don't know if this next candidate was a Peacock only ad or if it was a brand who snuck into the super bowl through just a local ad buy. That happens. And so I just saw it based on where I was. But Tylenol ran just a basic ass ad that was just like, here's a Tylenol pill. And it was just like the ad you would see during the. During a Soap Opera at 2pm in the afternoon on a Tuesday.
- [36:00]
C
Did you order soap from Amazon right after you saw that ad? Did you get some. Did you get some Tylenol, man?
- [36:07]
A
Right? So those were candidates. But none of those are my worst. My worst is Svetka. That was just like. Even if that wasn't AI generated, the AI generated part doesn't help. It was just a weird ad. It was a little creepy. It didn't make me want to drink, let alone to drink. Svetka. It was just, like, bad. It was the ad that I most wish I could unsee.
- [36:35]
C
That's strong words.
- [36:37]
A
The ad that I enjoyed seeing the most is Bosch with Guy Fieri. I just have a real soft spot for Guy Fieri. I thought that was like, maybe the only ad where I actually laughed out loud during the ad. Um, but I also just have a soft spot for Guy Fieri. You know, he is from Santa Rosa, California. I'm from California. And when Santa Rosa had its fires, he did a lot to support that community. Not just donating, but also, like, actively getting involved in the community to help it Rebuild post fires. Also diners drive ins and dives is anytime me and my better half are traveling, if we're in a hotel, that's our like, screensaver show. At the end of the night, that's what we put on to go to sleep. So, um, Bosch, Guy Fieri. My pick for best ad overall. Sunny. What is yours?
- [37:27]
C
Oh, I, I, I was torn between Squarespace unavailable and Melissa McCarthy. Elf. Elf. Melissa Motto consulted with Melissa McCarthy on a product that she was launching, and we met her and I, I just think she's, that ad was hilarious. And I think Emma Stone's acting in such a short amount of time was very impactful and very memorable. And so I'm going to go with those two.
- [37:52]
A
I don't, you know, you got to pick one. You got to pick one.
- [37:55]
C
Oh, okay. I'm going to go, I'm going to.
- [37:57]
A
Go with Ms. Stone.
- [37:58]
C
I'm going to go with Emma Stone unavailable for squarespace in terms of worst ad, you know, I don't know. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to tap out. I don't know. I think maybe turbotax or State farm was probably just sort of, eh, you.
- [38:14]
A
Know, I mean, I feel like State farm has come up a bunch in this conversation.
- [38:17]
C
Worst categories, a little, little like, bag, you know, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go. Hands down, Squarespace unavailable. Yeah, take. Winner takes all.
- [38:29]
B
You hate to see State farm get absolutely walloped in this conversation because their iconic Jake from State Farm character does so well. He's so memorable, reputable, and things like that. And I feel like, as opposed to doing kind of like this hodgepodge of celebrities, you could have just brought back the man in his khakis and his red polo and we'd have all been okay. For me, I'm gonna say the worst one. Amazon Ring. They had their first super bowl spot this year. And I'm not gonna lie. Like, the help you find your lost dog. The whole neighborhood. AI lights come up to survey the neighborhood felt extremely dystopian and also like a little bit like, read the room, girl. You know, it's already scary out here as it is as far as, like surveillance culture and things like that that people are concerned about. And so now you're telling me with the click of a button, the entire neighborhood can be lit up, you know, to find a dog or a person who knows. It was just very.
- [39:35]
A
Especially when you have four media reporting like a week or two ago on how ring has a deal with ice and is providing data to ice. So, yes, exactly. When I saw that ad, I was just thinking, okay, dog is like the nice way that they're rapping this, but people is really what, like, this is going to be used for.
- [39:54]
C
That's an interesting take.
- [39:56]
B
Yeah, I'm pretty sure George Orwell and several other authors wrote about something similar. So, yeah, I could not. When that commercial ended, me and my family looked at each other like, did y' all see that as well? Is anybody else a little nervous? But on a, on a lighter note, my favorite one, best overall was the Pepsi ad. I feel like it was incredibly well done. The jab was fun, it was light. It was a stray from what I usually see from them with super bowl ads with big name celebrities and not a jab at Coke. So this one was well done. I feel like it was for a spot that's going to cost you at least $8 million. I feel like they. They used it effectively. So good on them from my pov.
- [40:39]
A
All right, so congratulations to Pepsi Square, Squarespace, and Bosch for winning this year's super bowl from an ad perspective. Sunny, thanks so much for joining Kimiko and I for the show.
- [40:50]
C
Thanks for having me. You guys are a lot of fun. Appreciate you. See you next time.
- [41:00]
B
Well, that brings us to the end of this episode of the Digiday Podcast. Thank you to everyone for listening. And please don't forget to share this episode with someone who you think would enjoy it. You can even rate us and leave us a comment on Apple Podcasts. We'll be back next week with another episode of the Digiday Podcast. Thank you so much for joining us.