Another year another mixed bag of Super Bowl commercials (not to mention a huge blowout of a game). Some really stood out to me while others left me wondering if the $8 million price tag for some of these spots worth it? Super Bowl is seen by the largest audience in the world but for some companies it’s still a risk to ride on one 30 second commercial. Here’s my thoughts on my favorite spot this year!

FOX Indy

The FOX Indy TV spot had to take the top spot for me. With the Harrison Ford Jeep commercial, Nike women’s commercial, Uber Eats and the Jordan Hate commercial all in consideration. This was an ad with everything: great funny script, engaging visuals that had a throwback but modern look and style and at the end of the day it engaged the audience (fans or not) to meet one of their drivers and see what their sport is all about. 

Pato O’Ward

This guy is a superstar. That’s what I come away with after seeing this spot. I’m not a huge racing fan myself but this still engaged me enough and locked his name in my head for future events, commercials etc. This is a monumental part of branding: getting a logo, phrase, call to action (or in this case a name of a racer) “stuck” in someone’s head. Every line of this script and every visual builds him up and gives him life and personality. Making him the perfect face of the sport, now he just needs to win the big race! 

MAD Thoughts

This commercial while hilarious and awesome to watch, also gave us details on the sport mixed in with exciting visuals, transitions and pace. This hooked the people partly paying attention while covering all the bases of a big game spot. This would appeal to a wide audience while also appealing to fans of the sport. They kept it light and funny, but exciting and fast, while still showing us the sport, fans and racers and hopefully (for that $8 million price tag) hooked some new fans.