Volkswagen’s excellent new Beetle commercial manages to tell its own story while paying tribute to their smash hit from last year’s game. This extended version adds an extra 15 seconds to the 60-second spot that will be shown February 5, but you’ve all been really good this year so we thought you deserved it.
This year’s advertisers are bringing to the airwaves more hotly anticipated commercials than ever before, and are using every marketing trick in the book to draw in viewers and keep them interested. Today we’ll run down the most anticipated spots of the year, and show you what’s already been released to tease eager fans hungry for their Super Bowl commercial fix. You may not even know that you’re anticipating some of these commercials, but trust us, you are.
Last year’s Passat ad featuring a diminutive Darth Vader was the breakaway hit of all of 2011. Volkswagen hopes to repeat the success of that spot again this year… and is turning to Star Wars nostalgia again to do so.
Along with beer and, for the past several years, Doritos, the Super Bowl ads feature a huge proportion of car commercials. Men, alcohol, testosterone, cars, it’s clearly a winning combination as far as Madison Avenue is concerned. While Bud Light commercials get all the glory, there have been several memorable car commercials over the years that deserve a second look.
The Super Bowl enjoys a unique place in American television: when the commercials come on, people actually start paying more attention to the broadcast. Each ad slot is the most expensive and most-watched 30 seconds of television in the world (and let’s face it, probably the universe). Some companies pour their heart, soul, and several million dollars into 30 little seconds of time that might make or break their sales for the year.
The past ten years have been remarkable in terms of political, social, and technological change, and the Super Bowl ads reflect that. Let’s take a walk down memory lane at the past ten years of Super Bowl commercial history.
Volkswagen by all accounts ran away with the prize for best Super Bowl commercial in 2011, with their Darth Vader-starring Passat ad. The Beetle played second banana with an under-appreciated CG spot featuring, well, a beetle racing through the grass. This year VW hopes to make lightning strike twice, and is letting the 2012 Beetle take center stage.
This is shaping up to be one of our favorite commercials this year. It has the excitement of a high-performance car commercial, without actual featuring any cars. The effects are amazing, the bug somehow has personality, and the tease of a new 21st-century Beetle is almost too much to resist. We may be looking at buying a new car later this year.
We kind of wish they had saved this one to air on Super Bowl Sunday… this spot is the kind that people will talk about and watch over and over, so we see no real good reason why they should have leaked it online so early. We’re kind of wondering if that’s really a kid in the costume or a, you know, little person, since his body acting is so much better than the actual actor who played Darth Vader in the films. Another thing we’re curious about: how George Lucas could possible so low on cash that he needed the licensing money from this commercial, after repeatedly raping our cherished childhood fantasies with those horrible Star Wars prequels.
Volkswagen has finally leaked their Darth Vader Super Bowl 2011 commercial to the Innertubes, and it has everything you want in a good car commercial: tiny Darth Vader, John Williams’ Imperial March, even an actual car! We’re actually glad George Lucas needed the money and sold the old Sith Lord to VW for this spot. It’s a cute commercial and very well acted by whoever is in that tiny costume, and does a good job of showing off the car without clubbing you over the head with a list of features.
Two major auto manufacturers are going the sci-fi route for their commercials in Super Bowl XLV, including leveraging our most cherished childhood memories in order to shamelessly shove inventory out the door.
If you haven’t seen this yet, then we really don’t want to spoil the experience of watching it for the first time. It’s a beautiful example of what a commercial can be, what they should all aspire to be, and of how you can tell a story and grip the audience’s attention without whoring out your brand or clubbing people over the head with marketing lingo. The fact that this is a car commercial actually makes it even more amazing somehow.
