KISB = Keep It Simple, Brands

By Deven Nongbri, Vice President, Digital, Houston

Even though the game itself was a one-sided romp, the marketing sideshow known as Super Bowl ads continue to be of interest both before, during and after the big game. A well-executed campaign has tactics leading up to the game, real-time marketing elements for the game itself and a little something to amplify the buzz following the game. Advertising in the Super Bowl (whether your brand is on TV or not) is a huge deal these days.

It's critical that your marketing efforts both reach and engage your intended audiences. Given the fact that 111.5 million viewers watched the game on TV (and even more were reached online), your message needs to be accessible to those millions, i.e. simple to understand.

Albert Einstein once told the faculty at Princeton the same thing, "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." The same holds true in the agency world, if you don't have a grasp of your client's product/service, how can you create effective marketing communications?

With that in mind, which Super Bowl advertisers have a simple enough message to get through to the proverbial six year old in all of us? We decided to see for ourselves with my own four year-old son and seven year-old daughter providing running commentary on the ads during the game.

So which ads won the day for the kids? 

Wonderful Pistachios 

The overwhelming favorite of both kids was the "Wonderful Pistachios, Part 2" spot. Who'd have thought fifteen seconds of airtime would have the kids rolling on the ground laughing so much? Fake news man Steven Colbert was the just the right amount of pushy to get the point across and surprise everyone in the process. I see green pistachio-head costumes in our Halloween future. 

Heinz

Two year-old, "It tooted." Enough said. And it brought the house down. And now we'll be dealing with kids trying to get that exact sound from every plastic condiment bottle in the fridge. I wonder how this played out with others?

Doritos

Of the two Doritos ads shown on TV, this one clearly had the kids engaged. They liked the idea of the kid pulling one over on the adults, but our scientifically-minded four year-old summed it up with, "Too bad time machines don't work." They both understood the humor and the product; bad news next time we head to the grocery store with them.

I was sure the special effects of the Transformers and Spider-Man trailers would have ranked higher on the kids’ lists, but the three ads above were recalled right away, and with a level of real enthusiasm complete with sounds effects. It could also be that their top three spots were all food items, things they could relate to and have probably tried at one time or another. 

What did they think of the kids they saw in ads? 

Cheerios – Gracie

Seven year-old: "She needs to just eat those Cheerios before her Daddy gets to them." Not saying that happens at home. Nope. Never.

Coke – America the Beautiful

Both kids were stopped in their tracks when the first child started singing. They both listened intently as the ad played and my four year-old made a surprisingly thoughtful comment, "It's nice to hear different people sing the same song." I'm pretty sure that's as simple a message as Coke would want to get across. 

Did the kids pick up on any real-time marketing efforts? 

Thankfully, no. From what I could tell, other than Buffalo Wild Wings informing folks they didn't have a button to liven up the game, no single brand stood out like Oreos did last year. 

Any parting thoughts from dad?

The Radio Shack spot was pretty comical and kicked off a lot of conversation about what 80’s characters everyone saw in the commercial. Said our seven year-old, "You actually remember those guys when they were on TV the first time?!" Yeah, kiddo, I do.