The Best Super Bowl Commercial of All Time
The best Super Bowl commercial of all time:
Runner Up for the best Super Bowl commercial of all time:
(Don’t miss the ending.)
Top contenders:
Coke’s, “Mean Joe Green.”
Wendy’s, “Where’s the Beef.” (This might have been my top pick, but I couldn’t think of a good leadership principle to go with it.)
Budweiser’s, “Brotherhood.”
What’s your pick for best Super Bowl commercial of all time?
What leadership principle might you connect with a Super Bowl commercial?
The EDS Consulting “Herding Cats” commercial from the late 1990s was my favorite. I think it illustrates the importance of getting buy-in from the people who will be affected by changes that leaders want to make.
HILARIOUS. I completely forgot about that one.
Hands down, with a giant glistening dollop of sweet absurdity to keep you wondering “what’s exactly going on here – and do I have what it takes to herd cats?”
None of these commercials are “best” because research shows that after a week consumers do not remember what the product was and there is no research using accepted control gps that show a superbowl commercial leads to increased sales and increased sales is the goal of a commercial not leadership theme , humor, or cuteness….sorry. The 10-15 million spent on a commercial this year would be better spent if the company said…every person who buys my product gets 50% back.
Thanks Richard. I appreciate you trying to bring some sanity to the conversation. Here’s an interesting Bloomberg article that suggests some Super Bowl ads are worth it.
“The average additional opening-weekend revenue generated by a Super Bowl ad amounted to $8.4 million, at a time when the average ad cost about $3 million. The incremental revenue may have been even higher,..”
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-01-31/some-super-bowl-ads-are-worth-the-price
The article doesn’t prove that that the Puppy Love commercial is the best of all time. That’s clearly a matter of personal taste.
“Where’s the beef?!!!” is the equivalent of calling “BS!”
as in “Where’s the value?”
Thanks Rurbane. It’s one of the most memorable lines in any commercial. Maybe you could add, “Cut to the chase. Stop dancing around.”
Leadership principle for Wendy’s ad… Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions! 😎👍
Hope this finds you well!
John
Thanks John. Good one!
Tough to compete with Darth, the Clydesdales and for goodness sakes, a puppy, but this NY Life commercial really connected with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3LTR32dMgI
Leadership Principles – Leadership is about connecting action with genuine caring about people as people, be they subordinates, colleagues, or clients/customers. Sounds soft at first, but for most managers and leaders, “the soft stuff is the hard stuff” and it’s where they fail to fully engage talented people who can lead at the next level or in the future.
Thanks Jerry. One of the best this year and powerful application.
PS … at the other end of the spectrum, and one of this years favorites was the Hyundai commercial.
I suppose Hyundai was banking on the Patriots being in the SB again.
I thought the Jeep Groundhog Day was the best this year. [My mom wrote to tell me how much she liked it and then I found out she never even saw the movie.] It was clear that if you know you have something to look forward to it makes it soooooo much easier to get out of bed and get your day started! So just substitute your personal carrot in place of the Jeep and hope that every day you have something that inspires you. (I think my mom just liked seeing the bonding with the groundhog.)
Thank you so much for this article! I was literally just talking with one of my co-workers about the Puppy Farm commercial as I felt there wasn’t a real heart string puller this year. I think I would switch your choice of #1 and #2, but it’s a tough one. Puppy Farm not only displays the power of teamwork, but also going against the norm when you believe in something strong enough. It also reminds us there is often an emotional bond between co-worker and their work environment. Emotions are not something discussed in the work place very often, but they are real and is something all leaders must be aware of.