The Best Halftime Commercials from Super Bowl 51

This year, we had arguably the best Super Bowl of all time. The New England Patriots came back from a 25 point deficit in the 4th quarter to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime 34-28. Overall, the event was really good. Lady Gaga was amazing, the national anthem was sang beautifully, and we had a great game without any major injuries or controversies. That means that it was a perfect night, wouldn’t it? Wrong. It was not the perfect night. As good as the Super Bowl was, the ads were very underwhelming. As someone who loves ads, that was very disappointing. Not all of them were bad, however, and here are my list of the my top 5 Super Bowl ads of this year!

5- Super Bowl Baby Legends- NFLShop.com

Putting babies in ads will always work. They are funny and adorable and everybody likes them. What I like about this ad from NFLShop.com is that they are dressing up the babies like historic players and coaches in Super Bowl history. That way, they are pandering to all audiences. We all enjoy watching a baby with fake moustache, but for a football fan, watching a baby dressed like Mike Ditka or wearing a cowboy hat like Von Miller is one of the best things you can possibly watch.

4- #CourageToChance- GNC

Very few times is an inspirational ad related to the product is selling. Personally, I have never enjoyed an ad that tries to be inspirational if they don’t even mention their product. But with GNC is different. They don’t mention their product per se, but since their product can help people achieve their goals(diet supplements, protein shakes, etc), it can inspire a lot of people that want to lose weight, gain muscle, or other things that GNC can help you with. Also, considering all the amount of fatty food people ate while watching the game, I wouldn’t be shocked if gyms are a little bit more crowded today.

3- Punished with Kristen Schaal – T-Mobile

Kristen Schaal is hilarious. And every time there’s someone legitimately funny in an ad, it will be so much better. Schaal makes what could’ve been a cheesy ad into a funny, raunchy one that actually gets its message across, while dragging Verizon (one of my favourite things about american ads is how often they call their competition out by name).

2- Born the hard way -Budweiser

With the current political climate, several people were expecting this year’s Super Bowl ads to be politically packed. For the most part, they weren’t. There were few ads that took a shot at President Trump, and while this one wasn’t a direct one(for a direct one, look at 84 Lumber’s entire halftime ad. However, that didn’t stop people from complaining about it. Several Trump supporters voiced their displeasure on this ad, but personally, I like it. I think it’s respectful and it gets its message across. And while yes, it doesn’t have a lot to do with actual beer, it does shows you the brand itself, which can also be a very good idea for an ad. Selling a brand is just as important as selling a product.

1- Super Bowl Commercial 2017 with Terry Bradshaw- Tide

Let me start by saying I am not a Terry Bradshaw fan in the slightest. That being said, this ad is the best of all of them. This ad is funny, Bradshaw plays his character very well, Jeffrey Tambor is one of the best comedic actors of the 21st Century, and Rob Gronkowski is there too! All of those are great factors, but my favourite thing about this ad is that it stays on message the whole time. It’s all about the stain, and how Tide could’ve helped Terry fix it! I will remember this ad for years to come, and more importantly, I will remember it was about Tide. And in my opinion, that’s what an ad’s main goal should be.

Well that is my list! Overall, we had a pretty down year in the ads department, but watching Tom Brady come back from being down 25 points to win his record fifth Super Bowl definitely made up for it! If you are interested in having your own Super-Bowl-caliber ad, contact us here