Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads

Charlie Brown, Hank the Clydesdale and his Dalmatian trainer, and Robert Downey, Jr., dressed as Paramount’s Iron Man (VIA) all joined MVP Eli Manning and the entire New York Giants as the big winners this past Sunday after viewers and advertising executives weighed in on their favorite Super Bowl XLII Commercials. Some of the losers? Other than Tom Brady and the Patriots: add some cartoon Pandas, Danica Patrick and Naomi Campbell.

Advertisers, who spent an average of $2.7 million for each 30-second Super Bowl spot, were rewarded with a record 97 million viewers. But those who pony-upped for human flesh-and-blood superstars generally failed to make as big a splash as the ads with anthropomorphic critters. For a round-up of the best and worst Super Bowl commercials MainStreet spoke with two ad agencies who compiled viewer votes for best spot on their websites: Adbowl.com and Spotbowl.com.

HITS:

1. “Screaming Squirrel.” The Bridgestone Tire (5108) ad featuring a squirrel who avoids becoming road kill was more popular than Bridgestone’s other ad starring Alice Cooper and Richard Simmons. “Animals always do better than people at the Super Bowl,” says David Shoffner of Pavone, the agency whose Spotbowl.com ranked this ad tops. “We’re a celebrity obsessed culture that’s a little oversaturated. To see animals scream like people or a high five between animals really resonates.”

2. “Clydesdale in Training.” This Rocky Balboa-inspired Budweiser (BUD) spot with a Dalmatian training a horse for beer delivering duties to Rocky’s theme music scored best ad on Adbowl.com’s list. “They really combined the right amount of sentiment and humor to touch a chord,” says Shoffner.