Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Industryweek 8181 Super Bowl Trophy

Manufacturers' Super Bowl Commercials: Hits and Misses

Feb. 2, 2015
Manufacturers big and small spent a lot for a little amount of time to air their commercials during Super Bowl XLIX.

Manufacturers of all sizes dished out big money for an ad in Super Bowl XLIX.

The average cost for 30 seconds during the Big Game worked out to about $4.5 million.

Here’s a look at which companies did it best, and which ones fumbled.

These were some of the best:

Procter & Gamble (IW 500/14) made a big impact if you were keeping up on social media. The company continued its #LikeAGirl campaign with a spot directed by documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield for Always feminine products.

Candy maker Mars had one of the night’s favorite commercials, using a very special episode of the Brady Bunch to push Snickers.

Budweiser didn’t venture too far away from past efforts, using their signature Clydesdale horses and in this case a puppy to tug at the heart strings. And while the company has done it before, it does it the best.

Playing It Safe

U.S. car mat manufacturer WeatherTech played it safe, giving viewers a behind the scenes look at how they make their product, while talking up the fact that it’s “Made in the U.S.A.”

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman (IW 500/47) made a rare television appearance. Its futuristic-looking spot showed off the YB-35, B-2 bomber and X-47B aircrafts while teasing the next generation Air Force bomber.

Fumbled But No Turnover

An ad during the Super Bowl doesn't necessarily have to be good to be effective, just memorable. These are a few that weren't either.

Loctite, the maker of chemical adhesives, made its first Super Bowl appearance and dropped just about its entire ad budget to do so. The spot featuring dancing do-it-yourselfers and seemed to come a bit unglued.

Coke (IW 500/28) wants everyone to believe not only will their soda make you smile, it can do the impossible, and make the Internet a nice place. Just don’t try this at home.

Frito-Lay again left it up to customers to come up with their Super Bowl ads. It was the ninth year in a row for the user-submitted contest and probably one of the weakest.

Questionable Play Calling

Intimate details of foot fungus and a tired premise of flying pork make the following commercials very forgettable.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals used a boxing toe to talk feet and its foot fungus medication Jublia. And like most pharmaceutical ads, most of it dealt with the side effects.

Viewers had a love-hate take on mobile device battery maker Mophie’s ad predicting the end of the world because God didn’t use their product.

Shoemaker Sketchers took an interesting approach to push its relaxed fit shoes. It used banned baseball player Pete Rose, and joked about his exclusion from baseball’s hall of fame.

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Navigating Disruption: A Leader’s Guide to Strategy Under Uncertainty

Nov. 1, 2023
AI, sustainability, digital--industrials are facing disruptive forces that are redefining what it takes to win. What got your company where it is today won’t get you where you...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Process Mining For Dummies

Nov. 19, 2023
Here it is. Everything you need to know about process mining in a single book, written in the easy-to-understand, hard-to-forget style that ‘For Dummies’ manages so effortlessly...

Discover How an Eye Tracking Study Improves Training Procedures

Oct. 29, 2023
Did you know that your training processes can be streamlined by visualizing and analyzing key skills within your employee base? Find out how we use eye tracking to capture advanced...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!