Well that was a fun Super Bowl.

Macgruber won! Cash4Gold.com won! Coke won! Who won? Who Cares! We’re all right. I’m right. You’re right. Check opinions at all the links at the top of the page. They’re right too. The person who would never use the product but who loves the ad? No more right than someone who might hate the ad, but uses the product.

Then there’s my buddy, the USA Today Fad Meter, which basically awarded $1,000,000 to two nobodies—their words—for coming in No. 1 with their Doritos spot! Cool for them, really, but again, 288 people between Oregon and Virginia constitute the basis for how ads are measured? Whatever. I’d rather trust boxing judges. Not to mention, what other time of the year do you compare an ad for one product to an ad in a completely different category? (Ironic too how Pepsi will pay a ton for a major redesign of their logo yet let amateurs handle the chips.)

Some general thoughts below about what stuck out. Check the tags at the top of the page too for what people were saying as the ads ran during the game. One of the best insights that I saw about Coke vs. Pepsi came via Twitter and is exactly how I felt about the two brands:

“Pepsi is a culture leech. Coke is a culture embracer.”

And now for the rest of the show...

MacGruber? Jetpacks has that. I think it was a better move for SNL the night before than as a Super Bowl spot. Was a line crossed or a once-dead trail blazed again with blatant SNL product placement? If so, they should just start doing the show from ShopRite for other brand tie-ins.

GoDaddy caused some people to complain and switch, while one entrepreneur on Twitter took advantage. (You think Bob Parsons really cares if he loses a few customers over an ad?)

Hulu? Thought it worked and pushed the notion of a network pretty well. Coke hit the sweet spot, especially with the insect one. Hyundai’s felt like the most balanced brand message of the night from spot to spot.

Bud? Jumped this year. Literally. A ravine? Although I dug the Drinkability spot on the slopes though. Over all, the live-action cartoon-like violence where nobody gets hurt falling four stories meter was pinned. I grew up in the world of Jackass and appreciate that stuff as much as anyone, but there’s a line there between drinkability and believability. The slopes worked because it wasn’t beyond the realm of dumbass stunts are possible.

Pepsi Max? Thought it was a great strategy to appeal to men and away from the usual idea that only women drink diet soda, but then, it went all Bud. “I’m good,” after a painful fall? Never saw that phrase coming. Sure I questioned the need to run movie trailers, but I’m going to see Star Trek and G.I. Joe.

Cash4Gold.com was supposed to be the first direct response ad in the Super Bowl. Denny’s never got that email. Come Tuesday with their free meal offer, they’re gonna need extra waitstaff to handle the crowd from their version of direct response.

The WTF? factor was in full swing. Cheetos? I loved it. Felt like an extension of the Random Acts work from last year. Sure it was set up with a Bud-type scenario, but the execution was smooth and at least felt plausible. (I will not confirm or deny that I once did something similar with an a-hole’s car in McDonald’s involving french fries and seagulls, I just won’t.)

No ED ads.

But speaking of brands that moved away from campaigns, Careerbuilder? America loves chimps with lasers, not jungle office warfare and not screaming employees in some David Lynchian nightmare. In times like these, I question if America’s drones need to be reminded of how dreadful the job they can’t walk away from is.

Pedigree? Walked away too much from the genuine honesty of Dog’s Rule for funky pets. If it ain’t broke....

The 3D experiment? Couldn’t tell ya how it looked, except that without glasses, the shift in color made it look like my first TV out of college. Actually, surprised GoDaddy didn’t try the 3DD thing.

As for selling all its ad space, hmmm, can’t remember a Super Bowl with as many promos for the network’s own shows. Realizing it’s a Heroes nation, I still think the best promos for a network running right now are USA’s Characters Welcome campaign.

Until next year ad freaks.

Tags: superbowlads, sb43ads, SBadwatch09, superads09