The 8 Types of Super Bowl Ads You'll See This Weekend

What's This?

By Todd Wasserman2014-02-01 16:08:35 UTC

Super Bowl ads are like a miniature version of the film industry. There's (relatively) huge money at stake and the creators are torn between creating something new and noteworthy or falling back on established formulas. Ads in the Super Bowl don't usually have sequels, but they do have imitators.

If Doritos lit up USAToday's AdTrack the year before with a flatulent animal, then you can bet that the finest minds at Anheuser-Busch are burning calories late into the night figuring out how to get a laugh doing the same. If an ad agency scored by exhuming a decades-old entertainment property to resonate with aging Gen Xers, then one of their rivals probably quickly combed through IMDB seeking something similar.

See also: A Sneak Peek at Sunday's Super Bowl Ads

For viewers at home, here's a guide to the seven tried-and-true formulas that you will more than likely see in this year's game.

1. The Second Run

This ad behaves as if it is a continuation of a movie or a TV show. The gold standard is Honda's 2012 "Ferris Bueller" ad, which showed Ferris (Matthew Broderick) coping with middle age. Others include a 1999 Apple ad that imagined 2001: A Space Odyssey's evil computer HAL envying Macs for their Y2K-compliance.

In 2010, Coca-Cola also imagined a new episode of The Simpsons in which Mr. Burns has lost his fortune and a sympathetic Apu gives him a Coke. The use of the Second Run is so common that when word spread that there was a Seinfeld reunion in the works, many falsely assumed it was for a Super Bowl ad.

This year's examples: Oikos' Full House ad and Kia's Matrix ad.

2. The Cameo, Ironic and Otherwise

Like Hollywood, Super Bowl advertisers often rely on star power to get their point across. While some do straight-up endorsements, like this year's rejected SodaStream ad with Scarlett Johansson, often the stars show up out of context. Some famous examples include Snickers' 2010 Super Bowl ad, which featured Betty White and Abe Vigoda playing a rough-and-tumble game of tackle football, and schmaltz jazz star Kenny G in a 2011 Audi ad.

This year's examples: Arnold Schwartzenegger for Bud Light, Sarah McLaughlin for Audi, Ben Kingsley for Jaguar, Sean Astin for CarMax, Tim Tebow for T-Mobile.

3. The Timeline

Here the advertiser takes on a trip back in time to emphasize the brand's venerability. In 2012, for instance, Budweiser harkened back to the exultant moment in 1933, when the U.S. repealed Prohibition:

Pepsi's 2002 ad with Britney Spears also took this approach, as did the NFL itself in 2012.

Britney Spears Superbowl Pepsi [2002] by House-of-Britney

This year's examples: Pepsi's "There Since the First."

4. The Really Smart Pet (or Child)

A mainstay of Doritos ads, "the Really Smart Pet outwits his owner" usually to gets to the heart of the product being advertised. In 2012, for example, a rescue dog in a Bud Light ad showed a flair for fetching the beer from the fridge:

Babies are frequently subbed for pets. In fact, the talking baby has become a mainstay of many Super Bowls. The most famous example is E*Trade's talkative toddler. This Doritos ad (see below) from the same year shows a clever baby joining forces with Grandma to grab Doritos from a bratty brother:

This year's examples: In another potential Dorito's ad this year (the brand hasn't announced a finalist in its Crash the Super Bowl contest yet), a little girl rides a dog like a horse and lassoes up some Doritos.

5. This Product is So Good it Makes People Crazy

Another Doritos favorite, the idea here is that the average person is so obsessed with this awesome product that he (again, it's usually a guy) is driven insane. Other brands that have used this approach include Taco Bell, whose 2013 Super Bowl ad featured elderly people acting like teenagers when they eat the chain's food:

In last year's Crash the Super Bowl winner, a man also incurs the wrath of his pet goat, all for the love of Doritos:

This year's examples: In another Doritos spot, a man brazenly and unconvincingly lies to his boss about stealing the office's Doritos.

6. "Sex Sells"

It wouldn't be the Super Bowl if there wasn't a spot that caused at least half the room to sit there in slack-jawed amazement. GoDaddy, of course, used to be a big adherent of this type of ad, but has now switched gears. In recent years, Fiat has used beautiful women as a metaphor for its vehicles as well:

This year's example: H&M's David Beckham ad.

7. The Serious Moment

While everyone's trying to get a laugh in at the Super Bowl, an effective strategy can be to zig when others zag and offer a Serious Moment that will shut everyone in the room up. Chrysler excelled with this approach in recent years with its Clint Eastwood-narrated "It's Halftime" ad:

Dodge also won a lot of praise for its Ram Trucks "Farmers" ad from last year:

This year's example: Budweiser's spot, which features a veteran's homecoming.

8. Aww. It's a Puppy

When all else fails, bring out the cute animals. Budweiser has excelled at this. Last year, the brand's ad featuring a baby Clydesdale was one of the game's most popular:

This year's example: Lesson learned. Bud is back this year with another very popular ad featuring a puppy and the Clydesales who love him.

BONUS: The Top 10 Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads of All Time

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Topics: Advertising, Business, Marketing