Super Bowl LIV witnessed an impressive showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. In a fourth quarter comeback led by Coach Andy Reid and quarterback, and now Super Bowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs pulled out the victory.
The Chiefs were able to score three touchdowns in the last quarter to win by a score of 31 to 20. Similar to how offensive fire power won the game for KC, star power determined the best Super Bowl ad!
It seemed that the commercials where better than recent years. Famous personalities like Bill Murray (Jeep), Ellen DeGeneres (Amazon Alexa), Bryan Cranston (Mountain Dew), Sofia Vergara (Procter and Gamble), Jason Momoa (Rocket Mortgage), Jimmy Fallon (Michelob), Charlie Day (Tide), Sam Elliott (Doritos) created lots of laughs and some tough competition. While it was hard to narrow it down, here are the best three that stood above the rest:
The NFL Had A Great Start….
“Next 100” by the NFL showed an athletic boy making cool football moves on a field against similar kids his age. Then he keeps on running. A bunch of NFL players encourage the boy by saying, “Take it to the house kid.”
In the funniest moment, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is seen carrying the bags for Steve Young and Joe Montana in which Montana tells Garoppolo, “Take it to the car.”
The boy ends up having other kids follow along and has humorous interactions with other NFL stars on his journey, including New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. In a touching moment, he pauses and has a moment of silence in front of the Pat Tillman statue.
He ends up walking in the tunnel with NFL hall of famers before the game. Then the commercial became reality TV, with the boy and the other kids running on the field.
The long ad held everyone’s attention, as they were already in anticipation for the start of the big game.
The NFL has issues, with things like concussions, and needs to draw in parents and today’s youth. It was clear this ad was branding the game of football to win over both the fanatics and the once-a-year viewers. It’s ending tagline on the screen read, “Here’s to the next 100.”
The Early Leader And Runner Up…
“Famous Visitors” was Walmart’s first-ever Super Bowl TV advertisement and it was an instant hit. However, just like the 49ers, this ad held the lead, but eventually lost out.
The ad showed numerous famous characters from movies and TV shows coming down to Earth to pick up the "big blue bag.” The appearances were from Star Trek, Flash Gordon, Toy Story, Men in Black, The Lego Movie, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Mars Attacks!, Arrival, Blade Runner, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvin the Martian and Star Wars.
The audience is now much more likely to be familiar with Walmart’s pickup service. The ad ended with two Walmart associates waiting for C-3PO and R2-D2 who are lost, with the overlaid message, "Out-of-this-world convenience. Walmart Pickup."
The Best Super Bowl Ad of 2020 Went To…
“Smaht Pahk” featuring a new self-parking feature offered by the 2020 Hyundai Sonata. The ad had star power from Chris Evans (Captain America), Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), John Krasinski (The Office) and David “Big Papi” Ortiz (Boston Red Sox).
It also displayed how the remote smart parking assist feature parks and unparks while making the audience of about 200 million people smile and laugh. The tagline that showed at the end stated, “Bettah drives us.”
So, while the New England Patriots did not take home yet another Super Bowl, the funny Boston accents did win the best ad competition.
Mike Byrnes is a national speaker and owner of Byrnes Consulting LLC. His firm provides consulting services to help advisors become even more successful. Need help with business planning, marketing strategy, business development, client service and management effectiveness? Read more at ByrnesConsulting.com and follow @ByrnesConsultin.