2021 Super Bowl Commercial Round Up by Kristin Wallace

 Can you believe it’s my 4^th Annual Super Bowl Commercial Round Up? I’m actually late with this post since the Super Bowl aired last night. This year was unusual in that several of the big-time advertisers (Budweiser) decided not to run spots and instead donate $$ to charities in light of COVID-19. Still, there were some bright spots. 

 

Here’s a look at my favs…

 

Rocket Mortgage – Certain is Better

 

This spot features Tracy Morgan informing potential homeowners why certainty is better than “pretty sure” when it comes to a mortgage. 

Amazon – Alexa’s New Body

 

This hilarious spot features actor Michael B. Jordan as a particularly sexy “Alexa”. A woman imagines MBJ in a variety of situations, with LOL results. The reaction of the husband is the best part!

Anheuser-Busch – Let’s Grab a Beer

 

This one is a little more serious than others on this list. It’s about getting together to commiserate and celebrate life’s wonderful & awkward moments. 

Cadillac – All Electric Car 

 

Nostalgia is always popular in SP spots, and this one calls back to the classic cult film, Edward Scissorhands. This spot cleverly features Wynona Ryder, who played Edward’s girlfriend in the original movie. Now she’s the mom to Edgar. 

Huggie’s – Welcome to the World

 

The “Awwwww!” award goes to this Huggie’s spot that welcomes new babies born. So cute! The spot is shot from the “perspective” of the babies. 

eTrade – Workout

A skinny kid decides he’s going to work out so he can “become the best”. In the end, he may not bulk up, but he can get his financial future in shape with help of eTrade.

Tide – Jason Alexander Shirt

 

This spot shows the abuse heaped on a shirt, which has the face of Jason Alexander on it. Just funny & clever.

Toyota – Upstream

 

File this one under heart-warming and inspirational. We hear a phone call to perspective adoptive parents being warned that the baby girl they hope to adopt had her legs amputated. The parents take the baby anyway, and she goes on to become an Olympic swimmer. 

Scott’s Miracle-Gro – Lawn & Garden Giveaway

 

This spot introduces a contest of a lawn makeover using a number of celebrities such as Martha Stewart and John Travolta with his daughter. 

3D Doritos – Flat Matthew

 

Matthew McConaughey has gone flat and life isn’t what it used to be. 3D Doritos to the rescue! 

GM – No Way Norway

 

Will Ferrell tries to take on Norway since they sell more electric cars than the US. With appearances by Aquafina and others. 

State Farm – Drake from State Farm

 

The State Farm spokesman “Jake” has a stand-in named Drake. The best cameo is Paul Rudd as the stand-in for Cardinal’s QB Patrick Mahomes. 

BTW, you can see most of the Big Game spots for yourself and decide which are your favorites. 

Kristin Wallace is a USA Today Bestselling author of inspirational and sweet contemporary romance filled with Love, Laughter, and a Leap of Faith. She has three best-selling series: Covington Falls Chronicles, Shellwater Key Tales, and Palm Cove Tales. 

Third Annual Super Bowl Commercial Awards by Kristin Wallace

It's that time of year again. I’m back with my third annual Super Bowl Commercial Awards for 2020, reviewing my favorite spots from the Big Game. With my background as an advertising copywriter I tend to pay attention to commercials more than many people. However, the Super Bowl is basically…well…the Super Bowl for advertisers. 

Here’s a look at my favs from this year…

1. NFL - Next 100

Last year, the NFL ran with a hilarious spot featuring the greats from football tearing apart a fancy ballroom in pursuit of a football. This year’s spot was just as good. It also featured many past players. However, the star was a young boy running while the players encourage him to “take it the house, kid”. Best part of the spot was the end when the kid from the spot ran onto the field.

2. Hyundai Park the Car

This spot highlighting the "smart park" feature on the new Hyundai also features the infamous Boston accent as a character, along with famous actors who are actually from Boston, including Chris Evans, John Krasinski, and Rachel Dratch. Clever and funny.

3. Jeep® Groundhog Day

This spot is a hilarious take on the Bill Murray classic film, Groundhog Day. In the spot, Bill Murray is once again stuck on Groundhog Day. Even the annoying salesman Ned Reyerson shows up. However, he doesn’t mind because he found a Jeep to play with and he became best friends with the groundhog.

4. Walmart Parking Lot Delivery

Last year, the spot featured famous cars from TV and movies arriving to pick up groceries from Walmart. This year, even more characters showed up, including Bill from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Flash Gordon, the aliens from Mars Attacks, the pug from Men in Black, R2D2 and C3PO, and Marvin the Martian.

5. Reece’s Take 5

This one pokes fun at various play on words when one office worker can’t believe her co-workers have never heard of Reece’s Take 5. Wait for the hilarious visual representation of “got your head up you’re a@@?” at the end.

6. Amazon #BeforeAlexa

This spot features Ellen Degeneres asking what people did before Alexa and then we see various versions of historic “Alexas” responding to requests.  

7. Google Loretta

Warning…this spot is a tearjerker so have a Kleenex handy. It features a man asking Google to remember things about his beloved wife… I’m not crying…you’re crying!

8. Little Caesar’s Delivery

I don’t want to leave you on a sad note, so including this funny spot featuring a poor marketing exec who has to come up with the next "best thing since sliced bread" since Little Caesar’s delivery has claimed that distinction. Fans of The Office might recognize Dwight as the hapless exec.

Kristin Wallace is a USA Today Bestselling Author of sweet contemporary and inspirational romance filled with "Love, Laughter, and a Leap of Faith". It's not too late to pick up her holiday box set featuring three Christmas romances (Finding You At Christmas, Falling For You At Christmas, and Loving You At Christmas). Christmas in Shellwater Key is available on Kindle Unlimited so go ahead and scoop it up now. 

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My Annual Super Bowl Commercial Awards by Kristin Wallace

Okay, yes it is February, which means Valentine’s Day, but since I am still very much single, I tend to ignore it entirely. Instead, I’m doing my 2^ndAnnual Super Bowl Commercial Awards where I present my favorite commercials from the big game. The Super Bowl was Sunday and though the game was a bit of snooze (13-3 and the last 10 points came in the last 5 minutes), there is still the entertainment factor of the commercials. Overall, even the commercials were a bit tepid this year, but there were a few standouts.

Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2019

NFL 100

The standout for me actually came courtesy of the NFL, which celebrated its 100th with a spot that featured a roomful of past and present football greats. The action starts in a ballroom of a reward show. There’s a cake with a gold football on top. The football is knocked off…and then chaos ensues, as every player wants that football. Brilliant and funny and so many great players, it’s hard to catch them all.

The Elevator – Hyundai

You know that saying, “I’d rather have a root canal” in reference to something you don’t want to do? I think that was the inspiration for this funny spot for Hyundai. It features Jason Bateman as an elevator attendant taking passengers to all kinds of horrible places, including the dentist, jury duty, the middle seat on an airplane. Of course, car shopping is among the horrors, but since the couple has Hyundai Car Assurance, it’s actually not so bad for them. 

T-Mobile

This spots is done entirely through texting and it’s super clever. There’s a guy wanting to celebrate Taco Tuesday but knowing his girlfriend with want sushi, a case of mistaken identity with a Lyft Driver, and a clueless dad thinking he’s texting Google for a recipe, but it’s really his daughter. 

  

Amazon – Not everything makes the cut

This ad shows the “fails” when Amazon tried to incorporate Alexa into a bunch of other products like dog collars, toothbrushes, hot tubs and even the space center. Also features a hilarious cameos by Harrison Ford and his dog. 

Mercedes-Benz - Say the Word

Yeah, there are a lot of car spots, but this one is clever and touts the voice commands of the Mercedez-Benz. A guy gets magical powers that can make parking tickets disappear, lights change to green, money rain out an ATM, and Free Willie. Too bad real life doesn’t happen that way, but it can “somewhat” happen with this voice-activated car. 

Kristin Wallaceis the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. Look for her upcoming release, SECOND CHANCE HERO. 

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercials by Kristin Wallace

Last Sunday was the Super Bowl where the New England Patriots took on the Philadelphia Eagles. A lot of people watch for the game. I tend to watch for something else…the commercials. Since I work in advertising, it makes sense. I wanted to give you a round up of my favorite commercials in case you missed them.

My favorite Super Bowl commercials

It's all Tide ads

Every Super Bowl ad is secretly a Tide ad. Funny…clever…original. Bonus points at how they managed to play off other famous commercials like Mr. Clean and Old Spice. Another bonus is that it features (David Harbour) from Stranger Things, and I love that show and him.

Amazon Alexa

Alexa loses her voice so Amazon hires “fill ins” to provide answers with hilarious results. I especially love the Anthony Hopkins a la Silence of the Lambs.

Diet Coke Mango

Personally, I’m betting that Diet Coke Mango is super gross…but there is something about this strangely odd lady and her dancing that is both weird and weirdly mesmerizing. Maybe it’s her total deadpan expression.

Toyota  - Good Odds

Pulling at the heartstrings is a popular theme, especially for Super Bowl commercials when giant corporations (who are paying millions to run a 30-second tv commercial Super Bowl ad) want everyone to think they "care". Sometimes these feel good commercials come off as overly saccharine, fake or preachy. This one works, though. It’s emotional and inspirational, without being cloying or hitting you over the head with how you're supposed to feel.

Visit Australia

This clever spot looks like a trailer for a new Crocodile Dundee movie or maybe a spoof (it even has a cameo by the original Crocodile Dundee), but it’s really a tourism ad for Australia. Honestly, I picked this one mainly because it features Chris Hemsworth.

Universal Parks Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning on a trip to Universal Parks. Again, I picked this because I really like Peyton Manning and his delivery is great in this spot. I love how the little girl is trying to teach him how to use a wand a la Harry Potter, but Peyton can’t do it and is “uncoachable” in her words.

Groupon - Who Wouldn't?

A funny spot for Groupon, featuring comedian Tiffany Haddish who was probably the best thing about the movie Girls Trip starring Jada Pinkett Smith & Queen Latifah. 

Febreeze - #BleepDontStink

Bodily functions are always funny, no matter how “mature” we think we are.  This commercial is about a guy who’s #BleepDontStink done in the style of docudrama interviews. It’s cheeky and clever, and it makes a good point. You need Febreeze for the bathroom when you have all those guests over for the Super Bowl.  

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. She is the author of two best selling series, Shellwater Key Tales (sweet contemporary romance) and Covington Falls Chronicles (inspirational romance). Her latest book, LOVING YOU AT CHRISTMAS, is available now at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

Look for Kristin’s new series The Heiress Games, launching in April, (Least Likely Heiress, Not Quite An Heiress & The Forgotten Heiress). Get a sneak peek at the series with a FREE Chapter Sampler with the opening chapters of all three books. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!