This year’s Super Bowl commercial collection set all types of new records. Less hashtags and sex, with more celebrities and sobs. Most of the veteran brands toned down their messages, while the newcomers literally emptied accounts to make their name. Overall, I really enjoyed this year’s selections, but there were a few that silenced me for a minute. What was pretty lucky for me was that I watched the game at a local theater that shows the Super Bowl and the away Jaguar games for free. There were around 50-60 people watching, ranging in demographics, and most pretty vocal throughout the game (which kept it fun). This included their ratings for the commercials. I agreed with most of the room’s consensus, although unfortunately I missed a few of them at the concession stand. Below are my choices for the Good, the Bad, the Weird and the Ugly. Enjoy!

The Good

BMW i3 – Newfangled Idea

It is ironic that I am writing this post on a day where this commercial meant more than the Super Bowl. I attended an industry event today guest speakers from Google discussing the importance, strategy and relevancy of digital marketing. One of the hosts of the event opened up with this commercial, and we used it as a base point for our conversation, about how the digital world and its consumers are constantly changing, and a local business relies on staying up to date and present in the online sphere. Google and other online services are essential to any entrepreneur looking to progress in their business. Read more on the “Google Comes to Town” Cox Media Group event here. This commercial just represented change in the auto industry in a fun way that everyone can relate to and enjoy. I love that they used old footage of the Today hosts, and not to mention the cool new features in the i3!

2015 Chevy Colorado – Blackout (#ChevyColorado)

Airing early in the night, this one got quite a few emotions. The Chevy Colorado “Blackout” commercial was a perfect way to demonstrate the new feature. A truck that offers built-in LTE Wi-Fi is outstanding, and showing an example of what could happen without it was savy. Plus, three extra points for offering one of the 28 hashtags promoted (something I think is vital when analyzing the ad’s success).

The Bad

Nationwide – Make Safe Happen (#MakeSafeHappen)

The internet broke down immediately after this Nationwide spot aired. For an insurance company to tell the story of what a little boy couldn’t do with his life because he died from a preventable accident – you see why we’re all confused? The company came out today with their statement and voiced their stance on the ad, simply how they wanted to start a serious conversation about these tragic accidents. Nationwide did add that their website for the campaign, MakeSafeHappen.com, received thousands of visits post-commercial.

T-Mobile: Kim Kardashian for DataStash

I really don’t even understand. No more time or video link will be given.

The Weird

Jublia – Tackle It

The toenail fungus cream commercial wins my vote for most random spot in this year’s #AdBowl. And they spent majority of their marketing budget on it (a remarkable $4.5 million). Not surprising that the football community didn’t enjoy toenail fungus impressions with their beer and nachos.

The Ugly

Budweiser – Brewed the Hard Way

My husband and I are very lucky to live in a neighborhood that is home to 2 out of the city’s 8 craft breweries. Jacksonville will be gaining possibly three new ventures in 2015, and that is only the beginning. The microbrewing industry supports local economies more than most would think, something very evident in Jacksonville, where our city’s tourism organization developed a craft brew “Ale Trail” targeted solely on tourism.

So to be in a community theater, with fellow neighbors and locals, watching this ad – there were some emotions firing. Locals are very familiar with the current debate in the state financial/economic sphere involving craft breweries and macro distributors, particularly AB-InBev, and it grew after this spot aired toward the end of the Super Bowl. I personally feel that it was a desperate move that showed they’re losing customers, and that they are going to be kicking themselves for giving hundreds of brewers the idea for a Pumpkin Peach Ale (please, someone in Jacksonville try it!). There were numerous examples of hypocrisy, and just something that I couldn’t believe was produced. BONUS: Big thank you to whoever originally pointed out that In-Bev just announced in the last few weeks their acquisition of Seattle’s Elysian, who occasionally produces a Pecan Peach Pumpkin Amber…Coincidence? No, we don’t think so. P.S. Thanks to Twitter user @retrotrash for a poignant analysis of the commercial.