EAST LANSING, Mich. - A Bud Light television advertisement featuring a falconer who wonders how his pet falcon keeps finding Bud Light topped the Michigan State University Department of Advertising's list of the best commercials of Super Bowl XXXVI.
While football fans watched the New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams in Sunday night's game, MSU advertising faculty members huddled to watch and rate the commercials. Of the nearly 60 commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, the experts rated the Bud Light falconer commercial as the top ad.
"Anheuser-Busch is the king of Super Bowl advertising," said Bruce Vanden Bergh, professor of advertising at MSU. "They always entertain and reinforce their brands with their target markets."
Commercials for E-Trade, featuring the return of the E-Trade monkey; Pepsi's Lipton Brisk; and a Hot Jobs.com "wannabe" court stenographer also scored high marks from the advertising faculty.
Using a 10-point scale, the faculty rated each commercial based on creativity, production and overall quality. The team considered whether each commercial's strategy was unique and relevant to the appropriate target consumers and also determined whether its execution was memorable and bolstered the reputation of the product.
Among the commercials that failed to meet the experts' expectations were promotional spots for upcoming motion picture releases, anti-smoking ads from Philip Morris and the mlife ads from AT&T Wireless.
"Cut the cord on mlife," said Brenda Wrigley, assistant professor of advertising. "We finally know what mlife is, and we're not impressed. It's a bad analogy."
The experts were split on the use of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States in spots featuring Budweiser's famous Clydesdale horses visiting Ground Zero in Manhattan and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giulianni for Internet job site Monster.com.
"As a native New Yorker, I didn't like having my emotions blatantly manipulated," said Nora Rifon, associate professor of advertising. "All cause-related marketing has the potential to backfire; what does Budweiser have to do with New York?"
Here's how the commercials rated according to MSU's Department of Advertising faculty experts:
The "Top Ten Touchdowns," out of 111 possible points:
1. Bud Light falconer - 102
2. E-Trade monkey - 100
3. Bud Light satin sheets - 97
4. Hot Jobs parrot/court stenographer - 96
5. M&Ms-hotel - 92
6. Lipton Brisk - 88
7. Universal Orlando Frankenstein - 86
7. Bud Light robots - 86
9. Budweiser out of towner - 85
9. H & R Block Coen Brothers- 85
9. Budweiser True Card - 85
9. Levi's Crazy Legs - 85
The "Five Fumbles," in order of worst first:
1. "40 Days and Nights" movie spot - 37
2. Quizno's guillotine - 38
3. AT&T Wireless mlife/stomach - 39
3. Philip Morris anti-smoking/"Know Your Kids' friends" - 39
3. Monster.com Rudy Giulianni - 39
MSU's Department of Advertising is consistently ranked among the top advertising programs in the nation.