MBA Students Rank Reebok Spot Top Super Bowl Ad
ST. LOUIS (AScribe Newswire) — Super Bowl XXXVII is over, but the Super Bowl ads — which cost a cool $2-plus million for a thirty-second spot — are still battling it out. For the third year in a row, MBA students at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis critiqued the Super Bowl ads during the big game with local advertising executives.
Here’s their picks for the top Super Bowl ads:
The Reebok “Terry Tate” ads topped the Washington University MBA students’ list. “Reebok’s message really resonated with us as they attempted to motivate better performance amongst workers and metaphorically show that Reebok apparel enhances athletic performance,” said MBA student Ryan Boyle. “The room was silent for this spot, probably the only time this occurred all night. I think this represents Reebok’s foray back into heavy competition with Nike.”
Another favorite included the St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Budweiser spot with the Clydesdales playing football and a zebra as referee. Washington University MBA student Matt Goodwin related to the Budweiser spot. “Based on the controversial ending to the NFL playoffs, Anheuser-Busch did an excellent job of highlighting a current happening by using the signature Clydesdales and a zebra; it was brilliant! People will be talking about this ad for a long time to come.”
The Fed-Ex “Castaway” ad was also highly ranked by the Washington University MBA students, though some of the students questioned the timeliness of the spot since the Castaway film, starring Tom Hanks, came out over two years ago.
“Although the game wasn’t close, which is what advertisers in the Super Bowl dread, most of the ads were interesting and pretty effective,” said MBA student David Ferman. “Humor was the apparent theme of the day, and the students really reacted well to the 2003 ads.”
Major sponsors of the Olin School of Business “Super Ad Bowl” included 3M, Anheuser-Busch, The Coca-Cola Company, and Frito Lay.