If this had a title it would probably be “Doritos, Dogs & Dames” (sorry for the non-PC reference to women, but I was looking for alliteration and the pickings are lean).

Doritos is an easy pick. The spot with granny slingshotting a baby so he can snatch his brother’s bag of chips scored highest among those voting on the USA TODAY/Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter. Another one featuring a cat-killing dog bribing his owner placed a solid sixth. Of course, popular voting usually favors entertainment value and ignores actual marketing potential, but this time I believe they got it right. These spots are entertaining and memorable, to be sure, but they also feature the product prominently and offer a reason for buying it: people will go to extremes to get it because it’s so good.

Doritos wasn’t the only sponsor to feature dogs in their commercials… not by a long shot. Skechers had a sneaker-wearing French bulldog, Bud Light introduced Weego the beer-fetching pooch, and Volkswagen gave us both a weight-losing golden retriever and a choir of hounds barking out Darth Vader’s leitmotif. And, of course, Budweiser had the obligatory Dalmatian accompanying their team of Clydesdales. (By the way, aren’t Dalmatians supposed to be associated with fire trucks, not beer wagons?) In any case, you can’t seem to go wrong with dogs, or babies for that matter.

And as we all know, sex sells. Kia’s male fantasy dream sequence featured sex-appeal out the wazoo, with super model Adriana Lima waving a starter’s flag and our dreamer speeding around a track past other male fantasies, including a grandstand full of bikini-clad female fans (Bikinis? Dream harder, friend). While the spot scored well on the Ad Meter, I found that I couldn’t remember what it was selling… a little too entertaining perhaps? Contrast this to a spot for Teleflora that also featured the alluring Miss Lima, ostensibly dressing for a Valentine’s date. Like the Doritos baby, it was entertaining, clearly defined the product, and had a strong selling proposition: “…give and you will receive.”

BOB MATTSON IS THE CO-FOUNDING PARTNER, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND SENIOR COPYWRITER AT SMM ADVERTISING.

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In 1967, a 30-second spot during Super Bowl I cost a paltry $40,000. By contrast, 30 seconds during Super Bowl XLVI rang up an average of $3.5 million, and topped out at $4 million – 100 times more expensive or, to put it another way, a 10,000% increase. That ain’t just inflation, folks.

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We take a fun, fresh and creative approach to advertising. Call Jen at: 631-265-5160, or email: jschmitt@smmadvertising.com
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