Home
  1. Super Bowl Commercial Archive [VIDEO]
  2. 1999 Ads [VIDEO]
  3. A special look at the Super Bowl, the biggest advertising and marketing event of the year

A special look at the Super Bowl, the biggest advertising and marketing event of the year

http://www.latimes.com:80/excite/990204/t000010718.html

David Suissa

David Suissa is chairman and executive creative director of Suissa Miller Advertising in Los Angeles, whose clients include Acura, SkyTel and Jenny Craig.

The 10 best:

* Anheuser-Busch (Bud Lite): The toilet paper spot. An ordinary premise made brilliant by a killer one-two punch line.

* Apple Computer(): If you’ve got not one but two American icons (Apple and HAL), the subject du jour, and a haunting execution, you can get away with Super Bowl murder: not being funny.

* Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser): Louie gets a tongue-lashing. This spot stood out from lizard mania by being visceral, not just cerebral.

* Monster.com: Funny and endearing, with no animals, sex or special effects.

* Visa: Buckingham Palace. A fresh twist on the old palace guard routine.

* MasterCard: Cartoons. They Super Bowled a serious campaign by losing the schmaltz and adding the spoof.

* Land Rover: Not a belly laugh, but smart and to the point.

* Austin Powers: When everyone is having a party, silly is good.

* Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser): The lobster ad. Better than the Dalmatians because it had the chutzpah to include the beer in the story.

* World Wrestling Federation: If your audience knows that you know that they know it’s all fake, poke fun at yourself and they’ll love you.

The 10 worst:

* Buy.com: A guy sniffing a dog on national TV. Enough said.

* PepsiCo() (Pepsi One): They shot a cool-looking joke, but the punch line never showed up.

* First Union: Why would someone want a cold, corporate behemoth to get away from other cold, corporate behemoths?

* Cadbury Schweppes (7Up): Actually, no, I have no plans to become an “un.” How about you?

* Progressive Auto Insurance: The world’s most lovable alien sells out for an unknown name in an unlovable category. Bad career move.

* Volvo: Drive a Volvo truck and people will salute you. If they weren’t so hard to park, they might sell a million.

* Victoria’s Secret: The secret to great advertising is surprise. Someone tell Victoria.

* California Milk Advisory Board: The moon is made of cheese, but shoot, it’s not California cheese. Earth calling client: Tell us when to laugh.

* American Express: Seinfeld. A confusing overreach that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be an AmEx commercial or a Seinfeld trailer.

* AT&T: Big Brother’s back, and this time it’s personal.

CLOSE