048: Super Bowl 2022 Best Ads

Welcome to Will It Stick? podcast, where hosts Melissa and Alexis cover creative advertising campaigns, PR stunts, and marketing activations that brands of all shapes and sizes pull, and dive into the research and data to understand if it worked.

Super Bowl 2022 was finally a great show for the advertising industry! After a few years of just plain BLAH, we got some great ads this year. We’ve lined up our top six ad picks of the 2022 Big Game. We want to know… do you agree with our picks?

#6: E-Trade Baby is Back

It’s been a few years since the E-Trade baby has graced our TV screens, actually, it’s been since 2014. And I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised with his re-emergence in the 2022 Super Bowl ad for E-Trade. And, a lot has changed in the world of personal finance since 2014 when the E-Trade baby last appeared on the screen. I mean now Cryptocurrency is a normal thing, legal sports gambling is booming and inflation is wack, a global pandemic caused uncertainty … so there’s a lot more to navigate now. That’s why this new commercial is so smart – because our E-Trade baby is found living OFF THE GRID – and the world now needs him back to guide amateur investors through the confusing world of personal finance and apparently, he’s the only one who can help.

#5: GM – Reduce Carbon Footprint with Dr. Evil

There was definitely a trend this year with brands addressing climate change in their ads. Which is important because we have to make some changes as a society or we are royally F-ed. I personally thought Mike Myers coming back as Dr. Evil for GM was the best one. In the commercial Dr. Evil is surrounded by his co-stars from the Austin Powers film – Rob Lowe is Number Two, Seth Green is Scott Evil (and he now has a baby who we find out at the end looks just like Dr. Evil), and Mindy Sterling is Frau Farbissina. GM did a 90 second spot that was released ahead of the game on the Today Show and a 60 second version ran during the third quarter of the Super Bowl.

#4: Uber Eats – Uber Don’t Eats

Uber Eats is now more about just delivering FOOD now, they can deliver well…anything. And this commercial is the perfect way to bring that to life. Uber engaged some well-known celebs like Jennifer Coolidge (Stifflers’ mom), Nicholas Braun (succession) and Gwyneth Paltrow….and they made sure that each celeb played a role that was so perfect based on their fictional characters or real life pop culture happenings. In one of the ads – we see Gwyneth Paltrow sampling her very own vagina candle. Yep you heard me right. Her brand Goop released a candle in 2020 that was named “This Candle Smells Like My Vagina” because when she smelled it…she really thought it smelled like. And it sells for somewhere around $75. Anyways, you can now buy items from Goop and get the delivered to your door through Uber Eats. SO, having Gwyneth attempt to eat her candle to showcase the fact that you can get regular non-edible products through Uber Eats is kind of brilliant. having Nicolas Braun drink dish soap – it’s just entertaining but mostly a great way to let us know that Uber Eats is about more than food now. Even better is the fact that they play that super famous TikTok “Oh NO’ song behind the ad as people attempt to eat non-edible items. It’s really unforgettable, and SO GOOD.

#3: Kia – Robo Dog

This ad had all the things to get my attention – first off, a sad Robo dog, second actor Sam Page who I fell in LOVE WITH in the series the Bold Type. Also, it’s all set to the song Total Eclipse of the Heart which makes it EVEN BETTER. In this Kia ad for its all electric EV6 crossover SUV, we see a robotic dog sitting on display in a store with big glass windows, with a $299 price tag next to him. He’s longing watching a real dog get love and attention from its owner outside the window and you just want to cry for this little electric pup. Then, through the window the dog spots a man, Sam Page, charging his electric car and he realizes, maybe this guy will love him since he loves his electric car and he’s an electric dog. All the pup wants is how own forever home, so he goes for it. The car drives away and the dog escapes the store and jumps from building to building trying to chase the car down. Suddenly the dog finds the car and as it makes its final jump off a rooftop to land on the car its battery runs out of charge while it’s falling. Then when it opens its eyes, Sam Page has rescued the dog and has charged him, and then we see the dog driving away with Sam in the Kia. It’s FREAKING ADORABLE.

#2: Alexa – Mind Reader

This next ad was ALMOST my favorite. This one was for Amazon’s Alexa was IMO, genius. Maybe it’s because I think SNL’s Colin Jost is hilarious and adorable, plus he’s married to none other than Scarlett Johansson, who i mean c’mon no matter your gender or sexual preference how you not be obsessed with her!? And, they are BOTH in this 60 second spot which ran in the 4th quarter of the 2022 game.

It looks like they are in their home and it starts out with Colin showing Scarlett how amazing it is when he tells Alexa its time to watch the big game….she lowers the blinds, turns on the TV, dims the lights and eve chills the Rose. At the same time, they both say “It’s like she can read your mind.” and suddenly we’re transported into a montage of events between the couple showing Alexa reading their minds but those moments are hilarious.

#1: Rocket Mortgage / Rocket Homes: Barbie Dream House

And our collective fave Lex – the one that we were texting eachother about the minute it happened…. ROCKET MORTGAGE.

When this ad starts out, you think it’s an ad for a Barbie Dream House, but then suddenly its not… it’s an ad for how you buy a home with Rocket Homes, Rocket Mortgage’s new platform for buyers. In this 60 second spot, Anna Kendrick who we recently have talked about in our Super Bowl stunts episode, is assisting Barbie to buy her Dream House, listed at $225 on Rocket Homes. But when the alert comes in, there are SO many aggressive buyers who are looking to swoop in and score the deal on the Dream home…we meet Better Offer Betty, Cash Offer Carl, and House Flipper Skipper. All these characters are played by dolls, and little kids – and while the little girl who is playing with Barbie who wants to house gets nervous when all the other buyers come in, Anna explains that there is no need to worry, because Barbie got a verified approval that shows she can buy the home and that puts her ahead of the rest.