Offbeat humor, upbeat messages dominate Super Bowl 50 ads

NEW YORK— From a strange creature called “Puppymonkeybaby” to a tear-inducing Audi ad, Super Bowl ads ran the gamut this year from offbeat humor to heartfelt messages.

On advertising’s biggest night, Chrysler celebrated Jeep with an ad filled featuring black-and-white portraits of veterans, kids and pop icons. In Audi’s spot, a depressed aging astronaut remembers his joy for life by driving an Audi sports car with his son. And in a quirky Doritos ad, a fetus in a sonogram appears to rocket out of the womb to chase a bag of chips the mother angrily tossed away.

The goal for advertisers: to stand out and win over the 114 million-plus people watching the big game on Super Bowl Sunday, much the way the Denver Broncos triumphed over the Carolina Panthers. With ads costing a record $5 million for 30 seconds this year, the stakes are high to stand out from the 40-plus advertisers and be remembered.

In general, advertisers played it safe with universally liked celebrities such as Anthony Hopkins (TurboTax) and Ryan Reynolds (Hyundai), cute animals and pro-America themes.

“It’s been a pretty safe night,” said David Berkowitz, chief marketing officer at advertising agency MRY. “There’s relatively little going over the top.”

Offbeat humor reigned with a creature called “Puppymonkeybaby” — pretty much exactly what it sounds like — in an ad for Mountain Dew’s Kickstart. The ad sought to show that three great things go together, since Kickstart combines Mountain Dew, juice and caffeine.

“It’s on my list of the weirdest ad of the night, but it’s very catchy and people will be talking about it,” said Kelly O’Keefe, a marketing professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Heartfelt messages were in abundance too. SunTrust’s ad urged people to take a breath and feel better about their financial health. BMW’s Mini urged people to “defy labels.”

Most ads managed to avoid the somber tone struck last year, when an ad for Nationwide about preventable household accidents bummed out many in the audience.

There were a couple of misfires. Two pharmaceutical ads highlighted unappealing digestive conditions. One promoted an anti-diarrhea medication Xifaxan with a small-intestines mascot taking a seat at the Super Bowl. Another sought to raise awareness about “opioid-induced constipation.”

“This just isn’t a topic that people want to hear about during a Super Bowl,” said Villanova University marketing professor Charles Taylor.

Offbeat humor

Mountain Dew’s ad might have been the weirdest ad of the night, but Doritos’ ad also seemed likely to divide viewers. The spot showed a couple during a sonogram. When the mother throws away a bag of Doritos, the fetus seems to zoom after it, to the consternation of all present.

“It caught you a little off guard, but it fit the brand,” said O’Keefe.

Some Super Bowl watchers agreed. Brian Kearney, from Morris County, New Jersey, was watching the game with about 15 people and said the ad was a hit with his friends.

“I thought it was hysterical, we all cracked up,” Kearney said.

Other ads with offbeat humor: Bud Light featured Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen traveling around America promoting “The Bud Light Party.” A Shock Top ad showed actor T.J. Miller trading insults with the brewery’s talking orange wedge mascot. And the outdoor goods-and-clothing company Marmot showed a man palling around with an actual marmot he appears to be falling for, all to illustrate falling in love with the outdoors.

Money Money Money

Eight years after the financial meltdown, financial companies are feeling more comfortable promoting their products and services. Six advertised in the big game, including including SunTrust Banks, PayPal, Quicken Loans, Intuit brand and Intuit’s TurboTax and Social Finance Inc.

Most promoted optimistic messages about money. TurboTax, for instance, enlisted Anthony Hopkins to get out the message that you can file your taxes for free with TurboTax. PayPal’s music-video style ad asked people to embrace “New Money.”

“We’re officially over the mourning of 2008 (financial crisis),” said Mediapost columnist Barbara Lippert.

Cinematic ads

Some advertisers created mini-movies. Toyota went long with a 90-second ad depicting bank robbers who use a Prius 4 to escape from police. LG enlisted Liam Neeson in a futuristic spot showing off LG’s new OLED 4K TV. Hyundai’s “The Chase” ad, echoed “The Revenant,” showing people escaping grizzly bears by using Hyundai’s remote start feature.

“Super Bowl advertisers are sticking with light themes,” said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. “Last year we had serious ads about fathers and mortality. This year the ads are funny and creative.” TVJ

source: business.inquirer.net

Bruno Mars finally confirms Super Bowl performance

SAN FRANCISCO— Bruno Mars has finally officially confirmed he would perform at Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show with Coldplay and Beyoncé.


The pop singer posted a photo on Instagram on Friday of himself at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where Super Bowl 50 will take place.


 Mars wrote, “It ain’t a party if Mr $how Up & $how out doesn’t show up,” along with the hashtag “confirmed.”

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-producer had a show-stopping performance at the 2014 Super Bowl in East Rutherford, New Jersey. His hits include “Locked Out of Heaven,” ”Just the Way You Are” and “Uptown Funk” with Mark Ronson.

The Denver Broncos will take on the Carolina Panthers at the Super Bowl.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Halftime at the big game is among the top culture

NEW YORK—Warren Duncan has something in common with Madonna, Beyonce, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Prince—and doesn’t hesitate to let his grandchildren know about it every year about this time.

All performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, although it wasn’t quite the spectacle in Duncan’s time that it is now. He was at snare drum for the Florida A&M University marching band at Super Bowl III in 1969, when the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts.

“I really hated to see it transition to what it is,” Duncan said. “I really wish it would be like the traditional band halftime show.”

Those days have gone the way of leather helmets. The halftime show has become one of the year’s top cultural moments, so anticipated that it is commonly seen by more people than the game itself. The British band Coldplay steps into the spotlight this weekend, with an expected cameo by Beyonce.

The Super Bowl show can easily be divided into two eras: Before Michael Jackson and after. His 1993 performance established halftime as something more than an afterthought. With the fireworks and extras, Jackson proved no gesture could be too big.

The NFL begins planning its halftime show months in advance, negotiating with chosen artists and mapping out how things will proceed, said Mark Quenzel, NFL senior vice president in charge of the halftime show. Following Janet Jackson’s breast-baring episode in 2004, the league has maintained strict control.

“In some ways, it is the worst 12 and a half minutes of my year,” said Quenzel, who watches from the sideline hoping for no wind, rain, electronic glitches or – shudder – wardrobe malfunctions.

By the time Katy Perry rode in on a mechanical lion last year, and soared away on a platform designed to look like a shooting star, she had rehearsed the show some 40 times. “Anyone who has ever done it has been scared,” she told Elle magazine later. “You stay off the Internet for five days afterward.”

Today, it’s almost impossible to conceive that the second Super Bowl featured Miami-area high school bands at halftime. Florida A&M’s band performed in 1971, after Duncan graduated, and backed Prince in 2007. The University of Michigan and Grambling State University bands performed twice.

Duncan can barely recall what his band played that day; a James Brown tribute sticks in his mind. He better remembers hanging with his friends on a Miami street at 3 a.m. when Jets quarterback Joe Namath rode by in a car filled with women, holding out his index finger in a promise of a victory he later delivered.

The lineup for the 1980 halftime show – a salute to the Big Band Era with the youthful singing group Up With People – practically screams at anyone under age 50 to find something else to do.

Up With People was such a regular part of Super Bowl halftime that Tim Lane participated in four of them: singing “Philadelphia Freedom” for the 1976 Bicentennial-themed show, in the chorus for the Big Band tribute, operating a spotlight for 1982’s salute to Motown and picking participants for the 1986 show.

The youth education organization still exists, and celebrated its own 50th anniversary last year. Lane is its vice president of alumni engagement.

“We love the fact that we did it as often as we did,” he said. “We don’t know if we ever will again.”

It finally dawned on the NFL in the 1990s that halftime was a massive missed opportunity.

For artists, it is a chance to perform before an audience whose size cannot be duplicated. “It has become kind of a bucket list item for even the biggest acts in the world,” Quenzel said.

Following Janet Jackson’s unanticipated exposure, the NFL ushered in a dinosaur era of big rock acts like The Who, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty whose best days were behind them. McQuenzel has sought to make the bookings more current. One of his proudest moments was hiring Bruno Mars in 2014 despite fears the singer wasn’t well known enough, but the show turned out well.

He encourages acts to invite special guests; Perry brought along Lenny Kravitz, Missy Elliott and some rhythmically-challenged dancers in shark costumes.

Artistic statements are fine, but Quenzel’s goal is strictly mercenary: to move from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second without anyone tuning out.

“We don’t micro-manage the artists,” he said. “We try not to. They understand our goals and we understand their goals. We respect what they do, and I think they respect the fact that we know our audience.”

He won’t talk about a wish list of future performers. It doesn’t take a long look at the charts to figure out two of the biggest music stars who haven’t stepped out on a halftime stage, though.

Adele? Taylor Swift? Are you listening?

source: sports.inquirer.net

Metallica, Alicia Keys, Nick Jonas part of Super Bowl concerts lineup

NEW YORK— The Super Bowl takes place a week before the Grammys, but the big game is rivaling the awards shows with a plethora of live concerts and on-site musicians, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica to Pharrell and Skrillex.

Alicia Keys, OneRepublic and the Band Perry will perform at concerts on Saturday, Friday and Thursday, respectively. Dave Matthews Band will take the stage Thursday and as part of the Sports Illustrated Experience, Iggy Azalea will perform on Friday, the same night Nick Jonas will perform at the annual “ESPN The Party.”

Lil Wayne and A$AP Rocky will headline the Maxim Party on Saturday, while Avicii, Elle King and Travis Scott will perform at a Rolling Stone magazine party the same night.

Though Super Bowl 50 will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, most of the concerts and parties will take place in San Francisco.

Fall Out Boy announced Monday that they will perform Friday during Verizon’s go90 Live free concert series at The Regency Ballroom. The rock band, which has performed around the Super Bowl in the past, said performing ahead of the big game gives musicians the opportunity to gain new fans.

“People are there and they’re hyped for the Super Bowl, so it’s a chance to win people over, which is awesome,” frontman Pete Wentz said in an interview last week.

Skrillex and country singer Hunter Hayes are also part of the lineup for the go90 Live, which is offering free tickets on a first-come, first-served basis at http://www.go90.com/sanfrancisco. Hunter and Skrillex will perform on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Metallica will perform at the AT&T Park the night before the big game, where the Carolina Panthers will take on the Denver Broncos and halftime show performers include Beyoncé and Coldplay.

Wentz, who said he joined a fantasy football league this year but lost, said he’s rooting for both teams — sort of.

“If I was a 10-year-old right now, I feel like there’s no way you’re not a Cam Newton fan. He optimizes cool and he looks like he’s having fun every moment he’s playing,” he said. “But at the same time, we watched the Broncos-Patriots game with my buddies from Denver …and it was cool ’cause it was emotional for them, so maybe I’m for the Broncos a little bit for my friends.”

DirecTV and Pepsi are teaming up to put on shows at Pier 70, including Dave Matthews Band, Pharrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The Chili Peppers, who performed with Bruno Mars during the halftime show in 2014, are expected to bring out special guests during their set.

Snoop Dogg will host the Player’s Gala on Sunday, where he will DJ, perform and host a Super Bowl viewing party. Zac Brown Band will perform at the Bleacher Ball on Friday, and Diplo and rapper-singer-producer Future will perform at a New Era concert on Saturday night.

San Francisco-based Third Eye Blind will perform at the 25th annual Party with a Purpose, while actor-singer Jamie Foxx will host a SiriusXM live broadcast on Friday.

Wentz said he hopes to see some of his musician peers throughout the week.

“I always try to sneak in something. …I will watch Metallica any chance that I get,” Wentz said.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net