Best and Worst Commercials of 2006

We have reached the halfway point in the 2006 season of commercials. We kicked the season off with the studs 'The Grinch' Theme duds of the Superbowl commercials where we all loved the FedEx cavemen and the Budweiser Streaker. But this season Deck the Halls featured the duds: the Nationwide Fabio parody, the Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist ads, the H3 Little Monster, the Sprint commercials, and the annoying Taco Bell guy.

Moving into the second half of 2006, the ads have somewhat rebounded with plenty of studs; but there monster models also plenty of duds still out there. Here are your Best and Worst of 2006:

Best – Sublymonal Advertising from Sprite

The latest ad from Sprite has quickly become an issue of debate on many online forums. People are loving it and others are hating it. Hit or miss advertising Alabama Lemon Laws very dependant on what demographic you’re in. If you hate it, it means you probably aren’t in their target market. The Evel Knievel who are loving this ad are teens and young adults who see it as a very new and creative type of commercial. The people who are hating it are the people who think it is offensive and repulsive (the eye turning into a mouth and the “Obey” slogan slapped across the screen while someone snaps their fingers in your face).

But you know what? The people who hate it are talking about it. The ad does its job with its target market and is extreme enough to get the other markets talking. It’s generating great buzz. And when you have a soft drink that already sells, you want the buzz.

Best – Jimmy Fallon/Parker Posey Dance from Pepsi

Continuing with the soft drink theme, we move to Pepsi. This ad came out at the very start of 2006 and features the song Streamline by Newton. The ad was done by the same guys who did the FedEx caveman commercial. There’s no dialogue. All they do is dance. So why is it a great commercial? They cast the right people, they used the right song, and Pepsi plastered it everywhere. The song became a hit in pop culture almost immediately. Critics of the commercial simply dislike Jimmy Fallon and are immediately turned off by his humor. They do not see the straightforward advertising methods used.

Do you know the test to see if a commercial is really doing its job? When you see people walking down the street whistling the tune that’s featured in the ad.

Worst – “Brilliant!” from Guinness

Paper cut outs with European accents. I get it. But they try to appeal to low calorie beer drinkers while trying to be funny. It’s tough to deliver a message and be funny at the same time. Few ad agencies pull it off, and, when they do, they don’t use paper cut outs.

Their low calorie message is also wasted. It’s an attempt at staying competitive amidst the explosion of lite beers. Why are they trying to be competitive there? Guinness is synonymous with very stout drinks. No lite beer drinker is going to be Green Lantern by this.

Best – Unpimp Your Auto from VW

Featuring two German engineers (one of which starred as the crazy German guy in Armageddon), these commercials are from Crispin Porter + Bogusky and parody the latest MTV generation craze of “pimping” your car out. If there’s one generation that can stand to laugh at itself, it’s the MTV generation.

The accents will immediately get your attention and then you’ll laugh at the hilarious antics they use to destroy the cars (they even haul out a trebuchet to launch one). “Representing Deutscheland, ya!” You can’t help but talk about them. Even non-VW enthusiasts are caught quoting the commercial.

They’re also targeted correctly. The ads sell the GTI – one of VW’s sportier cars. And all of the other VW ads are well targeted. The Passat and Jetta commercials where the cars get into accidents are very memorable. It’s one thing to say that your car will let you walk away from an accident, but it’s another to actually show it. Great ads.

Worst – Subservient Chicken from Burger King

Originating at the end of 2005, these commercials carried over into 2006 with the “Big Buckin’ Chicken” ads. Like the VW commercials, these were done by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. But I guess you can’t win them all right?

Granted the website Crispin Porter did for Burger King was hailed as one of the best viral marketing websites ever created, the entire “Subservient Chicken” ad campaign was a failure. The commercials of the rock band dressed in chicken suits, the guy on the couch telling his chicken to change clothes, and the “buckin’ chicken” commercial didn’t get the message across. I don’t even know what message that was actually! It strayed completely away from the “Have it Your Way” theme that has been part of Burger King since the 70’s and tried to include some shock value. Only, it fell short on the shock and did not get anyone talking about the ads. Bring back the Lunch Break commercials!

Best – Gecko Interviews from GEICO

How can you top the old car insurance commercials from GEICO? “I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GIECO.” It was drilled into our brains. Kids made punch lines out of the catch phrase on playgrounds around the country. You can’t top that kind of advertising.

The new GEICO commercials are going back to advertising fundamentals: English accents and funny animals. The Gecko has always been the mascot for GEICO, but the Martin Agency is capitalizing on the iconic value the Gecko brings to the company by making him the star of their commercials. Sometimes you don’t even realize what he’s saying. Sometimes you just focus on how real the machineized Gecko looks. And sometimes you just laugh at his accent. We’re Americans. We love funny animals with accents.

But there’s also strategy behind it. We all know the brand because of the past commercials with the catch phrase. Now GEICO is focusing on selling the benefits of the company. They’ve built the Gecko up, and now they want us to follow him. Genius advertising.

Heather Loftiss is President of Water Design Studio ( target="_new" www.waterdesignstudio.com">www.waterdesignstudio.com ), a Houston based advertising agency. She also publishes The client Connection ( target="_new" www.morerepeatsales.com">www.morerepeatsales.com ) online newsletter.