4) Volkswagen's "Dog Strikes Back"
You know, I wanted to find the 60-second ad for this, the one that actually played during the Super Bowl. But the only two I could find online were on USAToday.com and NFL.com, and neither site allows you to embed. The one Volkswagen provides on Youtube is an extended 1:16 cut -- longer, but not the one I saw and liked.
Guess it doesn't matter. Once again this features an animal personified. But instead of playing the doggie for laughs, this shows a serious and ingenious dog who dedicates himself to working out just so he could finally fit through the doggie door and chase the Volkswagen outside. I like it for that difference alone, but I also found it touching to see a dog change his life for the better.
By the way, I totally forgot the jump ending to the commercial, the one that appears set in that Star Wars cantina and gives us the return of the cute Darth Vader kid who's all grown up and evil now. Doesn't change my opinion of the dog spot either way.
3) Doritos ... the killing dog
Sue me, but this is one of those funny-silly animal commercials I like. In particular I like the conniving dog and the way he suddenly appears in front of the guy after he takes a glance at the missing cat poster. Most of all, I love how a puppet dog leg pushes a bag of Doritos in front of the man, with a note from the dog saying, "You didn't see nuthin." Apparently the dog can't speak but can write. The absurdity of this advertisement worked for me.
That the second-best ad of this year's Super Bowl was an opportunity for the network broadcasting the game to pimp the program that aired after it probably shows how fallow the crop was. But it's not every day where you see show promos with such high production values, let alone an original concept well executed. I had to read online afterward that this was a take-off on Kill Bill; I totally did not see that Cee Lo Green was wearing the same yellow jumpsuit with the black v-neck that Uma Thurman wore in the movies. Clever.
There are a lot of plusses to this commercial. I'm a sucker for violence, especially the martial arts kind. Do not overlook the acting from the four judges beating the hell out of each other to get to the singer; they don't talk, but the expressions on their faces were perfect for the "characters" they were playing, and they were totally game for the ad. Finally, the punchline where the woman with the incredible singing voice in the shower turned out to be Betty White was completely unpredictable and awesome. It was a great way to extend the White Renaissance. And her acting at the end proves once again she's a pro.
1) Clint Eastwood for Chrysler
There is a, uh, 2% chance I would ever by a Chrysler; I grew up a Japanese import fan. But a little more than a year ago that would have been just about zero. You've got to admit that the car company found the right ad agency pulling off the right conceit to talk about the hard times Detroit is going through, and how Chrysler will help lead the way forward.
There's really only one reason why this is the best Super Bowl commercial of the year: Clint Eastwood. The script for the second annual "Imported From Detroit" ad campaign is stirring, even if it can be called boilerplate. But with the gravelly voice of Eastwood narrating (along with his imposing figure walking through darkness to the camera; you can't exactly tell who it is, but you're riveted anyway) how Detroit and America is rallying from our "first half" of the Great Recession, the words touch your American soul, and by the time he finishes with, "Yeah, it's halftime, America, and our second half's about to begin," and he exits the camera's view, you want to stand up and say, "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!" A commercial hasn't stirred your sense of patriotism since GM's "The American Dream: Don't let anyone take it away" ad after 9/11.
A powerful presence is a great way to make your spot indelible, and Chrysler has just gone 2-for-2. In Super Bowl XLV, the car company used a local celebrity, Eminem, to herald the return of domestic automobiles. He doesn't have the decades of exposure in the spotlight Eastwood has, but the intensity Marshall Mathers radiates made you sit up at attention when he said, "This is the Motor City, and this is what we do." Follow that up with the gravitas of Dirty fucking Harry, the no-bullshit motherfucker who's seen it all and kicked a little ass along the way, and you have the makings of a memorable ad campaign that reaches into the heart of who we are as a country -- even if it doesn't sell more cars.
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