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BRIAN:

Once upon a time, Super Bowl commercials generated buzz by being funny, eliciting emotions or creating a “wow” factor. Nowadays, creativity is rarer to find, and 2016 was no different (see Persil laundry detergent ad for an example of zero creativity). This year, I’ll pick the Toyota Prius car chase as my favorite. Although the first spot was a bit long (1:30), I liked the montage of clips (e.g. news programs, game shows, fans, etc.), which help to drive home (no pun intended) the messages of new features, safety, quiet and fuel-efficient. The follow-up commercial in which the police get a Prius was a nice touch.

TAYLOR:

I had seen most of the advertisements posted throughout the week leading up to the Super Bowl, so I was interested in seeing the ads that weren’t released early. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed in the Super bowl ads this year; however, the one that did make me laugh the most was Hyundai’s “First Date.” It was clear that laughter was the theme of the advertisements this year, and this ad hit the nail on the head. Every dad with a daughter could relate to this video as the hilarious Kevin Hart played the over-protective father who strategically lets his daughter’s date take his new Genesis car for their night out. Using the car’s new technology, Kevin could spy on his daughter throughout the night. Hyundai also produced other clever commercials during the Super Bowl, including the Elantra ad “Ryanville,” which starred Ryan Reynolds.

ALLISON:

Super Bowl commercials are hyped up to be the most comical, witty and creative commercials of the year; however, this year I was once again disappointed. Overall the commercials were nothing special in my eyes, but there were a few that stood out. I mostly enjoyed Taco Bell’s “Bigger Than” commercial. It was funny and relatable by incorporating, and almost poking fun at, today’s pop culture and trends. Taco Bell described its new Quesalupa as being bigger than drones, man buns, Tinder, hoverboard scooters, and so on. Taco Bell is targeting the late-night, grab-and-go millennials. It is a creative and relatable way to portray the Quesalupa as the next big thing.

JESSICA:

I really enjoyed the Doritos Dog commercial. Three dogs attempt to enter a grocery store to get Doritos through various methods (like riding on the bottom of a grocery cart) as the stingy store manager clearly points to the “No Dogs Allowed” sign in the store window. Finally, the dogs stack on top of one another underneath a trench coat to achieve a human-like appearance, managing to enter the store and purchase Doritos. Interestingly, this commercial was created by Jacob Chase, a participant in the PepsiCo Frito-Lay’s Crash the Super Bowl campaign.

Even if you didn’t grow up a sports fan, you still watched the Super Bowl for its advertisements and maybe even the halftime show. You knew that the ads you saw were being released for the very first time. It’s also one of the only sporting events in which people don’t leave the room during commercials (unless they need to refill) because they are what many people look forward to seeing.

This year–like the past several years–that feeling of being surprised has disappeared. I guess it was only a matter of time, as companies have released their ads weeks prior to the game, with the hopes of increasing exposure.

As I think about it, it is a smart move for companies. Since companies are spending an average of $4.8 million plus production costs for a 30-second commercial, it makes sense the organization would want to extend the buzz to make the investment worthwhile. It could make a one-day campaign turn into a 10-day campaign. Also, releasing early gives the company a chance to break through some of the clutter.

It will be interesting to see how pre-releasing these ads will affect viewership numbers during the game on Sunday.