Super Day for Ads

The Super Bowl is over but between the Eagles win, Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show and, of course, the commercials, it’s still a big topic of conversation. Professor Mathew Isaac, PhD, chair of Seattle University’s Department of Marketing in the Albers School of Business and Economics, stopped by KING 5’s New Day Northwest to break down the highs and lows of this year’s Super Bowl commercials.

The top commercial on Isaac’s list was “Dream Job,” from Google, showing how artificial intelligence helps a father adjust to his daughter growing up.

“They always focus on this emotional resonance and they did that this year,” Isaac said, noting how the commercial attempted to add some humanity to AI.

Isaac also pointed to Instacart’s ad that, rather than featuring celebrities as so many commercials did, instead used notable food mascots to highlight the company’s home delivery service. He was also impressed with Liquid Death’s “Safe For Work” spot and Nike’s ad featuring women sports icons. Isaac called it a “really important commercial for Nike,” noting the company leaning into messages such as female empowerment and social justice.

On the other end of the spectrum, Isaac mentioned three ads he felt missed the mark, starting with Coffee Mate’s “Let’s Go Tongues” ad. While it generated plenty of discussion, Isaac said that’s not necessarily a good thing when the discussion is mostly negative.

Isaac also wasn’t impressed with Salesforce’s ad that featured actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson using AI to solve problems that didn’t really need AI to solve, and Mountain Dew’s Kiss From a Lime, which showed a seal with the face of singer Seal doing a version of his 1994 song, “Kiss from a Rose.” Isaac said the commercial relied on viewers recognizing a 30-year-old song to get the joke and that “it didn’t really connect very well to the brand.”

Check out Professor Isaac’s full appearance on the show where he shares thoughts on other Super Bowl 59 ads as well.