It was like the Super Bowl of ads

The Super Bowl comes around every January (or sometimes February) to turn the country's eyes to the advertising industry for at least a few hours of the following Monday at work. (There's a football game I've heard about too.)

In Bowl spots, two makes a trend. Thus, there were a number of trends I noticed early on. (Later on in the night after a few Left Hand American Pale Ales, I stopped paying as close of attention. Go figure.)

Trend #1: People going through windows. Bud Light's first spot + Audi's Transporter spot + Dorito's "Crystal Ball."

Trend #2: People getting hit by buses. The second Dorito's Crash the Super Bowl spot ("Magic Bag" we'll call it) and Jack in the Box (in some markets).

Trend #3: Yellow cars. The Potato Heads spot for something (Who remembers? It certainly had nothing to do with the Potato Heads), Fast and Furious (which has the same name as the original, just a different tag) and Hyundai (who ran three spots!)

Trend #4: 3D. SoBe, Pixar, NBC. WHO CARES? They ran 3D spots twenty years ago. We need holograms. Plus, Sobe spots are infuriatingly awful.

Trend #5: GoDaddy sucking. They continue to make ads that make me want to quit my job tomorrow and take a position at AdBusters. Awful. Awful. Awful.

Trend #6: Badass movie trailers. GI Joe, Star Trek, Year One. Yessss.

Trend #7: Heart-felt fake-outs. Frosted Flakes, Cars.com, Universal Studios. When you reveal the logo at the end of your spot, the audience shouldn't groan.

Trend #8: Showing old things next to their modern, updated counterparts. Audi "Transporter" and Pepsi's "Refresh."

Trend #9: Hostility in the workplace. Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, Bud Light, Doritos and probably ten others I forgot. Not a big surprise here. Everyone hates work, right?

There were undoubtedly plenty more, but my beers were calling me later on in the game. As for my top picks, they are, in no particular order:



Careerbuilder.com - "Tips" - Wieden+Kennedy, Portland
A bit long, but so bizarrely funny. Nicely done.



Hulu - "Alec in Huluwood" - Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Crazy idea. And having Baldwin makes this spot.



Coke Zero - "Mean Troy" - Crispin Porter + Bogusky
A funny-ass remake. Awesome ending.



Monster.com - "Double Take" - BBDO, New York
Used a metaphor/visual I've never seen before. Smart and very unexpected.



Miller High Life - "One Second Ad" - Saatch & Saatchi, New York
Got a bunch of buzz even before the Bowl. (I overhead people talking about it in a coffee shop yesterday.) Great idea. Even funnier when run in with everything else.



Coca-Cola - "Heist" - Wieden+Kennedy, Portland
A beautiful, lighthearted spot. It was just nice.



Cash4Gold - "One-UP" - Euro RSCG Edge
Uhhhhhh . . . What?


Also, if you happened to be viewing the game in Boulder, Colorado, you saw a spot for Mile High Flea Market. Very random. I have a sneaking suspicion that Cash4Gold will get the highest recall simply from a WTF standpoint. Overall, I thought it was better than some past years. There was a decent enough mix to keep things interesting, and nothing so unforgivably bad I wanted to murder myself (except GoDaddy and SoBe).

So, that's my wrap-up. What'd you think? What were your favorite/most despised? Should advertising be abolished, or can we stick around for at least another year? What says you?