The Replay

Super Bowl XLVIII TV Commercials: The Good, The Bad, & The Awkward

• The Good: Budweiser's "Puppy Love"

• This commercial had everything you could ever wish for in an ad: puppies, friendship, and Don Jeanes. 

• The Bad: T-Mobile's "Kill Your Contract" 

• Not to be confused with the "No Contract" ads from T-Mobile (which were actually clever), the "Kill Your Contract" commercial was, dare I say it, more mind-numbing than the game. We're already in a food coma from the copious amounts of party appetizers we've consumed. There's no need to spend millions of dollars to put us to sleep. No creativity, no imagery, no wit. It made T-Mobile come across as a brand that's lazy and careless with their media dollars. Kill your contract? More like kill your reputation. RIP

• The Awkward: Dannon Oikos' "The Spill" 

• Oikos, I don't know what direction you're going here, but as Joey Gladstone would say, "cut, it, out!" Somehow Dannon Oikos managed to make a yogurt ad starring the cast of Full House more sexual than a GoDaddy ad. Honestly, I don't know what was more awkward: Bob Saget in a commercial involving implied sexual favors or Audi's Doberhuahua. Yikes!

Super (Boring) Bowl

In addition to the TV commercials, this year's Super Bowl saw an incredible jump in social media usage. As much as I'd like to say that it was due to an increase in the popularity of online interactivity, I think it'd be foolish to not attribute some of the usage to the fact that people were simply bored out of their brains (in case anyone needs an indicator of just how boring the game was, Rugrats in Paris was trending on Twitter...). However, it's safe to say that the TV commercials also had something to do with the increase in social activity. The following infographic by Friend2Friend illustrates the increase in hashtag usage during the Super Bowl over recent years.

Brands are People Too

In addition to some brands using their TV commercials to drive people to their social platforms, many were engaging in friendly online verbal sparring in order to further promote their message. As long as everyone plays nice, this is an effective method of gaining popularity, because it gives brands a more authentic presence which generally makes them more trusted and likable. 

Battle of the Brands: The Right to Wear Wings

The Contenders:

• Volkswagen
• Victoria's Secret
• Red Bull

Round 1:

• Victoria's Secret starts with a jab: 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Thanks, @VW. #SB48 pic.twitter.com/GtVkQo1sqm
— Victoria's Secret (@VictoriasSecret) February 3, 2014

• Volkswagen takes a swing:

Hey @VictoriasSecret, if we get our #wings every time a #VW hits 100k miles, how do you get yours? http://t.co/mZyFpZBdKk
— Volkswagen USA (@VW) February 3, 2014

• Victoria's Secret blocks:

Nice try. It's our secret ;) RT @VW: Hey @VictoriasSecret, if we get our #wings every time a #VW hits 100k miles, how do you get yours?
— Victoria's Secret (@VictoriasSecret) February 3, 2014

Round 2:

• Red Bull throws the first punch:

You don’t have to wait 100,000 miles to get wings. #givesyouwings
— Red Bull (@redbull) February 3, 2014

• Volkswagen follows with a combination: gives you wings, gives you rainbows

Hey @RedBull, how many cans until rainbows? #givesyouwings #givesyourainbows http://t.co/WMi9iFNTBN pic.twitter.com/HYzUmN5Rmj
— Volkswagen USA (@VW) February 3, 2014

Brands that are clever even when they are just winging it (pardon the pun, I couldn't help myself) are incredibly impressive and very fun to follow.