Ads from car companies hit the spot

The Super Bowl commercials have become legendary. They garner almost as much attention as the halftime show and football game itself. Unfathomable amounts of marketing dollars are spent on ads that are apparently seen by 114 million people on Super Bowl Sunday, which was Feb. 3.

While the commercials are normally leaked or posted online before game day, and we can visit YouTube.com to check them out, I always wait until they air on TV during the game. Call me a suspense junkie. There’s something about seeing them for the first time on the big screen and within the excitement of the much-anticipated day in football. This year I asked my supporters on Facebook and Twitter to weigh in with their opinions about which brands they felt put out the most effective and entertaining commercials. For the most part, their opinions were right in sync with mine. And we have a winner.

The car companies did a fantastic job of capturing the essence of their brands. Each make obviously has its own allure, and I think they spoke to their individual target audiences in a unique way, while keeping the ads entertaining. There are always the funny ones, such as Hyundai’s ad in which the family uses their car’s turbo power to quickly maneuver around every over-the-top roadblock imaginable, and the tagline is “Trust us, it’s better to be up front.”

Another funny spot was Kia’s, in which a child asks his father where babies come from, and the dad paints an outlandish mental picture story about how babies come from a place called “Baby Landia,” then go through space for nine months only to enter into the world through the family’s ... Sorento tall wagon.

Another funny spot was for the new Hyundai Sante Fe in which the parents took their children on a day trip that included every child’s dream adventure.

Other commercials brought with them edginess and sexiness. In the Go Daddy (a company that sells Internet domain names) commercial, racing driver Danica Patrick explains that the brand embodies two characteristics: sexy and smart. She explains that model Bar Rafaeli represents sexy, while nerdy guy, Walter, represents smart. We then see an uncomfortably close shot of Bar and Walter kissing for the remainder of the commercial. This one got a lot of flak, but all the talk created more than 10 million online views of the commercial in the days that followed Super Bowl. Go Daddy took a chance and certainly made a statement.

There were edgier commercials, such as Kia’s, in which a man carelessly runs his fingers across the new Forte, when a hot and sexy female robot grabs him, gives him the proverbial “wedgie” and sends him flying across the room, landing on a food table. The tagline was to respect technology, which Kia apparently offers in the Forte.

Another edgy spot and a fan favorite was Audi’s. A teen is on his way to prom, going solo, when his dad throws him the keys to his Audi. The boy feels empowered behind the wheel and then walks swiftly and confidently into the prom dance, grabs the gorgeous prom queen and plants a big kiss on her lips. We then see him driving proudly home, behind the wheel of the Audi, with a black eye, but with a huge smile. The tagline, “It’s all about bravery.”

It is tough to say that there was a theme this year because the commercials were all so incredibly different, but most bordered on irreverent and even playfully violent. The brands took chances. Many of my Twitter and Facebook followers remarked that the woman robot beating up a guy was too aggressive and even offensive. A few remarked that the Audi spot was too violent. But they did provoke plenty of debate, and for the most part all ended with a feel-good message.

An ad that stands out in my mind, and one that also received plenty of comments from many fans and friends was the spot from Volkswagen. It showed a man from Minnesota speaking with a Jamaican accent and encouraging everyone in a boring Monday office setting doing mundane work to feel positive and be happy. The tagline was “Get Happy.” It certainly made me smile.

However, the commercial that affected me most was for the Ram pickup. It reminded me of the Chrysler 200 and 300 commercials a couple of years ago that touted hard work and resilience in a down economy. In the case of the Ram, a narrator begins with, “On the eighth day, God created the farmer.” We see beautiful images illustrating the brave, fulfilling, grueling, hard-working, important life of “the farmer.” It was a longish ad, but I was moved by it. It inspired me and tugged at my heartstrings. The tagline was, “The Farmer in All of Us.” Interesting. It made me think, because for the first time in my life I may have even felt like I was part farmer.

This year’s Super Bowl spots were creative, sexy, fun, irreverent and entertaining. They made us smile, laugh and maybe even shocked us a bit. But among them all, the Ram spot was the best. It was a story, it was relatable, it was empowering and it made us feel.

Among her numerous accomplishments, Courtney Hansen is the author of her own book, the host of Spike TV’s “PowerBlock,” the former host of TLC’s “Overhaulin’u2009” and a writer with Wheelbase Media. You can email her by logging on to www.shiftweekly.com and using the contact form.