Keep It Simple, Keep It Real....

Is it me, or were the Super Bowl ads just a whiter shade of pale this year? It seemed that every ad was buried in nostalgia, or worse, half-baked. One can forgive the nostalgic, 'let's play it safe' attitude taken by major advertisers Anheuser-Busch, Coke, Pepsi, and believe it or not, newcomer Tide. After all we're heading into a recession, still in a protracted war and in an election year. Playing it safe is the current motto of our times. But spending millions on a commercial to air during the most watched TV event of the season and being boring, well....that's just downright wrong. (And don't even get me started on the fat guy using cable jumpers for nipple clamps to jump start a car...I mean, just who is the Amp'd target audience?)

Despite the amazing technology that allowed lizards to dance to Thriller, (memo to the creative department, I can't remember the product from this ad), the Charlie Brown balloon to beat out the Underdog and Stewie parade balloons for a bottle of Coke and Terminator style pigeons delivering for Fed Ex nothing really stood out except one quiet, unassuming ad based on a simple concept that played on a universal theme felt by many, if not all, Americans.

The spot with James Carville and Bill Frist coming together on a human level as they enjoyed a Coke while touring the sites of Washington DC told a simple story that managed to capture the hope of a nation mired in a "let's play it safe' mentality as we long for better days to come. No over the top special effects, no gross out humor or negative concepts to draw attention to the product. Just a simple, well told story with universal appeal and the product as the hero. Call me nostalgic, but I miss those days of advertising.