Bud Light’s Skydiver ad earns highest grade in MSU Super Bowl ad competition

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A Bud Light television advertisement featuring a pilot jumping out of a plane after a six-pack of beer, earned the top grade in the Michigan State University Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retail’s list of the best commercials of Super Bowl XXXIX.

While football fans watched the New England Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday night’s game, MSU advertising faculty members huddled to watch and grade the commercials. Of the nearly 60 commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, the experts rated the Bud Light commercial as the top ad in a solid but unspectacular year for Super Bowl television ads.

“Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi are usually the kings of Super Bowl advertising,” said Bruce Vanden Bergh, professor of advertising at MSU. “They always entertain and reinforce their brands with their target markets, but their overall offerings this year were nowhere near their usual standards.”

Commercials for Budweiser featuring a mule and some Clydesdales; P-Diddy and a Diet Pepsi truck; and a Fed Ex spoof of all Super Bowl ads featuring Burt Reynolds also scored high marks from the advertising faculty.

Using an A through F grading 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 ads for Cialis, promotional spots for upcoming motion picture releases, a Gladys Knight spot for MNBA and a spot for Degree deodorant featuring action figures.

Here's how the faculty of MSU's Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retail graded the commercials: