Super Bowl Commercials of 2013

Every Monday morning, after the Super Bowl game, the conversation around the water cooler always seems to turn to the funny, inventive, classic, cute, memorable commercials during the game. It’s become an art form for advertising agencies to pull out all the stops to get their 30-60 second spots on the tongues of the over 1 billion viewers each year.

One piece of Super Bowl advertising trivia concerns a commercial that only ran once and most advertising experts consider it the greatest commercial every made. Some refer to it as the “Citizen Kane” of commercials. It was Super Bowl XVIII in 1984 when the introduction of the Apple Computer made its one and only appearance.

Here are my picks by quarter for the best ads followed up by my pick of the best ad of the year.

First Quarter

In the first quarter there were 14 ads. Space doesn’t allow me to speak to each one but here are a couple I liked. The “Oreo Whisper Fight” was very inventive and fun to watch, also the “Go Daddy; Perfect Match” where the beautiful model gets to smooch it up with the nerd. But my winner of the first quarter has to go to “Doritos – Goat 4 Sale.”

Second Quarter

Unfortunately the second quarter didn’t offer much. Most were an attempt at humor but fell well short of the mark. I couldn’t even decide on some honorable mentions so in my opinion the best of the worst was the “Hyundai Sonata Turbo - Stuck.”

Third Quarter

Thankfully the third quarter was much better. “Hotbots” by Kia was cute and inventive but I doubt many will remember the name of the car. Where would Super Bowl commercials be without a little sexual innuendo? A company I never heard of “Gildan ‘Getaway’” shirt ad filled the bill. Budweiser has a way of keeping their brand strong and bringing a tear to the eye every year. “The Clydesdales: Brotherhood” did not disappoint and it’s my third quarter winner.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter had several good ones for consideration. One of the best with a Super Bowl twist was “Miracle Stain – Tide.” This was especially good considering the final outcome of the game. Actually the devil didn’t make him do it in this offering entitled “Soul” featuring Usher, Kate Upton and Willem Dafoe, and an affordably priced Mercedes-Benz. The fourth quarter also has my game day winner. A masterful use of a broadcast legend, the American dream, the work ethic, and family all rolled into one in “The Farmer,” from Dodge Ram Trucks.

Some Final Thoughts

During the game and half time there were 49 commercials sold at around $4 million each giving the big shots at CBS a cool $196 million in ad revenue. The fact that it was a close game down to the wire helped all these advertisers to get the most bang for the buck. Due to the score when the lights went out there might have been a loss of some viewers but I’m sure their cell phones started ringing letting them know that San Francisco decided to finally show up.

In case you missed any of the great commercials offered during the Super Bowl, you can see them all in one convenient spot. Just Click HERE

Tom Egelhoff is an Amazon best selling author of three business books. His 400+ page web site www.smalltownmarketing.com is one of the oldest continuous sites on the internet. He has been featured on MSNBC’s “Your Business” and quoted in business publications in China, Turkey, India and the UK. He hosts “Open for Business” each week, 11-2 PM Mountain Time on http://kmmsam.com