Filed under: Football
It's no secret that the Super Bowl brings out the best in marketers. Some of the most memorable moments of Superbowls past (certainly the blowouts) have occurred during the timeouts. Poignant, funny or heartwarming there's a place near and dear to our hearts for the Superbowl commercials that manage to make an impression as deep and lasting as the actual game. We've narrowed all of the great down to the Top 5. Take a look and tell us what you think. Even if you don't agree you'll at least get a chance to wax nostalgic with this set of vintage Super Bowl commercials.
1979 Coca-Cola: This spot proves that even menacing NFL defensive lineman have a soft spot-- even if it did take a bottle of Coca-Cola to loosen him up. Of course, this commercial technically aired before the Super Bowl, but we won't quibble if you won't. Reportedly it took a number of takes to get the commercial right because Mean Joe had trouble downing an entire bottle of Coca-Cola without burping during his final line.
1993 McDonald's: Pitting two of the best NBA players of all time against each other for a Big Mac was brilliant. Their tongue-in-cheek game of HORSE was the icing on the cake. This Super Bowl commercial may have altered the nature of playground challenges ever after.
1999 Monster.com: Wow! This ad managed to be poignant and funny at the same time. Perhaps it's because we have to sometimes have to laugh to keep from crying at the unfulfilled dreams of our youth. We challenge anyone to watch this and not give a split second thought to their childhood ambitions and how they've panned out. Even if you've outpaced your wildest dreams it still hits home. Monster hit where it hurts with this one.
2003 Reebok: Reebok sticks to the workplace theme to hilarious effect. Imagine if you could send a Terry Tate "Tackle-gram" to the person who steals your lunch from the office refrigerator or never brews an new pot of coffee. How many managers would like to send just this sort of message to employees? We guess: a lot. Thanks to Reebok for giving light to our workplace fantasies. We admit, this is the extended version that didn't actually air during the Super Bowl (Complain and we'll send Terry your way).
2010 Snickers: Seeing Betty White get tackled in the mud is jarring-- but funny. Ditto for her line about her teammate's girlfriend. The transformation that occurs after eating a Snickers is clever and memorable. Abe Vigoda getting tackled is a nice touch at the end.
Those are our favorites. Use the comments to tell us yours.