What Makes a Super Bowl Ad Memorable?

As everyone knows, the commercials are one of the best parts about Super Bowl time. There are always the same questions running through everyone's minds: How much are they going for? Who's advertising? What's the big secret to be revealed? Which one's going to be the best?

I think some of the most memorable ads in more recent Super Bowl history are the Bud Light commericals (as always), Aflak, Career Builder (the monkey commercials) and my all time favorite to date: Terry Tate Office Linebacker.

The key to commercials are to connect to people through using techniques such as using humor, tapping into emotions, sparking curiosity, and appealing to our wants and needs such as hunger (food always looks better on TV doesn't it? And have you ever noticed how many restaurant commercials are on around dinner time?). So which technique makes a commercial memorable? I would have to say it depends on the person...I personally, am drawn to humor. In fact, I have my latest favorite posted below. And although I don't foresee this actually airing on TV, you better believe I downloaded it to my desktop to play every time I need a laugh.

Advertisers payout a huge sum for the Super Bowl Advertising space, and add that to the cost of producing the commercial...you have yourself a huge chunk of change. Is it worth it? I guess it depends on how good your commercial is. Studies will be done after the Super Bowl airs on how many downloads occurred , how commercial recall is (how well people remembered the actual advertiser responsible for the commercial), what people thought, etc. I may not remember what company Terry Tate was representing, but everyone remembers his commercial and all you need to find the company behind it, is a google search away.

Fans Don't Even Have Compassion for Kids

This past Sunday, at the Colts/Chargers playoff game, multiple kids were selected as honorees for winning a punt/pass/kick competition and they each got to represent an NFL team. When high school freshman, Anna Grant, sporting a Patriots jersey, stepped up to be honored, she was not greeted with cheers and applause, but she was booed by the fans in Indianapolis. Luckily, she seemed to have a good sense of humor about it, knowing she was walking into dangerous territory, but I'm sure it wasn't the type of experience she dreamed it would be.

To off-set this negative experience, the Patriots owner Robert Kraft extended the once in a lifetime opportunity for Anna to be present at the coin toss of this weekend's game against the Chargers, plus tickets for her whole family. He had the mindset that she was a champion too and deserved to be recognized for it.

Although the situation may bring a slight smirk to the faces of everyone but Patriots' fans, it's still pretty sad if you think about it. Thankfully this girl was old enough to understand the rivalry, but how far do fan oppositions have to go? I have friends who are Patriots fans that won't dare wear their jerseys out this weekend for fear of Chargers' fans. Where does "it's all in good fun" start and "going to far" end? I guess I just felt bad for Anna as Robert Kraft obviously did. Hopefully the rest of this season will remain in the "good fun" category and stay safe.