SuperBlow

   Didja miss me?  Sorry I didn't get to write last week, but things were pretty crazy.  I was working non-stop on the 11 News Superbowl spot, which involved quite a bit of motion-tracking.  Motion-tracking is what makes the TVs have 11 News in them (the TVs are blank when we shoot), so if you watch the spot you'll see there was a lot of that going on.  So yeah, no post last week, but the bonus is that this week you should get two!  I'll let that sink in for a minute.  Now that your heads are done exploding, let's move on.
  
   The Superbowl was a surprisingly good game.  I have to admit that I wasn't pulling for the Saints.  I didn't really care if the Colts won either, I was just hoping for some good hits and surprises... which I definitely got.  Did anyone else see Jeremy Shockey get kneed in the face?  Dirty.  That and the onside kick, which completely caught me (and apparently the Colts) off-guard, were the highlights of the game for me.  I think that kick turned the tide for New Orleans... sure they had a good second quarter, but nothing Manning couldn't come back from.  The onside kick put the Colts on their heels and I think shifted the balance in the Saints' favor.  Alright so the Saints won their first Superbowl, that's great... but I don't care for the fact that we (the media) have painted the Colts like the big bad evil team that the Saints overcame for victory.  I know the Saints were underdogs, and I know the Colts have won it a million times, but still... the Colts are a good, honest, hard-working team, and Peyton Manning is not only an amazing player, but an all-around nice guy to boot.  I don't think it's fair to act like they're the powerhouse mean team while the Saints were the "little guys" struggling for victory.  Am I the only one who feels like it looked that way today?  Maybe I'm biased, but I know if it were like, the Patriots who got beat I'd be totally for this type of publicity... whereas a good honest team like the Colts doesn't deserve to be treated this way.
  
   But whether you like football or not, I think we all know the most important part of the Superbowl is the advertising.  I don't just watch the Superbowl ads closely because it's my job... I watch them because they're a great opportunity to see some of the greatest creativity out there.  Usually.  This year I feel like there were a lot more duds than good spots, and I'm not sure why that is.  Was there a lack of creativity?  Or was it just because no one had the money to pay for the high-dollar advertising agencies?  Not enough material?  Who knows.  They weren't all bad... here are some of my favorites:
   --Letterman and Oprah invite a Friend: I don't know how Letterman pulled this one off, and I won't ruin it for you in case you didn't see it, but let's just say it was a very risky move.  I'm not sure if their guest's company even knew what was going on, I'd be interested to see what kind of closed-door conversations took place.  The spot is simple enough, and it's really not that funny, but the shock value is incredible.  Nicely done, Letterman.
   --Brett Favre Accepts the Award: I think it's awfully classy of Brett Favre to be willing to make fun of himself like this.  To be honest, I had to watch the spot again to remember what it was for (Hyundai, in case you're wondering), which I guess is failed advertising... but the spot made me laugh, and this year that was enough.
   --Fiddling Beaver: Monster.com usually has some pretty good ads, but I found this one particularly funny.  Something about a beaver playing a fiddle just never gets old.
   --Hide the Doritos: Doritos really disappointed me this year, until I saw this spot.  Was that Barats and Baretta?  It sure looked like him, but I'm not sure.  This spot was WAY out there, but it was also funny.
   --Dove You're a Man: This spot completely makes fun of dudes, but at the same time it pays immense respect to what we are.  Well written, well produced, funny, and a complete bitch-slap to women who think men are stupid.  Take that women.
   --Flo TV Spineless: Another great one pointing out how awesome men are and how controlled we are by women and their ridiculous lifestyles.  This spot has a lot of great lines, but the one that really got me was when the guy's girlfriend is pulling him away from the football game saying "Come on silly!"  Ha ha awesome.
   --Flo TV My Generation: This one wins hands down for coolest commercial of the Superbowl.  It was very well edited and told an incredible story in pictures (not to mention that's a great song).  I'd never heard of Flo TV before this, and I still can't see myself ever buying one, but nice job on the ads fellas.
  
   Now I feel like I should mention the Google ad here, but only to say that way too many people are making a big deal out of it.  Google is a great company, and their search engine still beats the hell out of any competition (Bing included)... but they definitely didn't need to spend the money on a Superbowl Ad.  EVERYONE knows who Google is, and even though they were highlighting their suggestion feature, it's not worth the money.  Does this make me want to use Google?  No, I already use Google 100% of the time, just like the majority of people out there.  It didn't turn me away, but it just struck me as something that didn't need to be done.  Still, I'd rather see this commercial a million times than some of the drivel that made it into the Superbowl.  There were so many bad ones I'm going to group them together.  Here are the worst of the worst:
   --Budweiser: These guys are supposed to own the Superbowl ad space, but this year their ads were lackluster at best.  Uninspired, uncomfortable, even boring.  The Clidesdale ad made me want to shoot myself.  There was no payoff on any of their spots... though at least the plane crash one had a couple of laughs.  I don't know what happened this year, but wayyyy off the mark guys.
   --Coca Cola: I don't get it... why did the big companies go sappy instead of funny this year?  Coke's never been known for having hilarious spots, but at least their creativity can be commended.  Remember that weird one with all the monsters inside the vending machine?  I got tired of seeing that one at the movie theatre, but it was better than using the Simpsons in an uninspired and bland commercial.
   --Teleflora.com: Not funny at all.  A complete waste of money.  The ONLY thing this spot had going for it was that the chick was moderately hot.  I guess I can see the value of running a spot for flowers (since it's close to valentines day and dudes are lazy), but at least TRY to make your spot enjoyable.
   --Godaddy.com:  By far the worst of the worst.  Godaddy.com has never been funny, though at least you could grant them a little leeway on the shock value at first.  Now their spots are repetitive, bland, and predictable.  The chick's going to rip her shirt open, who cares?  She's not even wearing lengerie under there.  Don't waste my time.  No one cares about hosting a website, and the ones who do you're not going to attract with a commercial like this.  No, these guys should have stopped after the first superbowl.  Now they're just throwing money away on an audience who doesn't give a shit.

   And to be honest, I was pretty disappointed in CBS's showing at this year's game.  They really didn't go very far out on any of their spots, and I didn't see anything that jumped out as far as image spots (showcasing the evening news or Katie Couric or anyone like that).  Mostly they were just ads for upcoming CSI and NCIS episodes, the type of spots you'd see on any given night on our station.  And there were a LOT of them.  CBS either didn't sell very well, or they didn't take good enough advantage of all the ad-time they kept for themselves.  Also, the game just didn't feel like a Superbowl to me.  It looked and felt like any other football game.  I don't know if that's because CBS hosts all the NFL games (so we're just used to their look and feel) or what, but it just didn't have that special atmosphere that I've come to expect from the Superbowl.
   So what do you think?  Did I miss anything?  Any spots or parts of the game that you think I should have included?  What did you think of our station's spot?  Let me know, and I'll be back in a couple of days...