Super Bowl 2013 Best Insights

I'm on a roll this week with highlights of this year's Super Bowl advertising ... it's so much fun, we might as well make it last all week!  We've all picked the worst, the best, and several in between.  I just can't get enough, so now I'd like to pick those that captured the essence of good marketing.

Say what?  Yes, it's time to pick the commercials that had the best consumer insights.

Mining data and finding the little nugget of an insight is the magic behind making an emotional connection ... and the spirit behind every single ole' fashioned focus group.   I learned very early in my career at Johnson & Johnson, and then at Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi, that finding the right insight separates good from bad advertising.  And we certainly saw it the other night.

So of course whenever I'm observing any kind of marketing, I'm searching to find the insight and to learn from it.  Sadly, they are not always easy to find.  They were there the other night, not in abundance, but if you looked hard enough they were there.

Let's break it down ... the best insights from the Super Bowl advertising 2013.

Audi:  the brand tapped into a universal emotion of feeling insecure and left out.  There's not a person in the world who can't relate to prom jitters and that awful insecure feeling.  Audi nailed it, by showing the confidence (and bravery) that can come from driving a killer car.  Not an emotion unique to cars, just ask any skin care, cosmetic, or hair care brand.



Go Daddy:  we finally got to see what this brand is all about, and it's not about selling scantily clad women.  It's a web hosting services company that helps make ideas happen.  There was a little male bashing here (which is counter culture), but the brand was able to depict that emotion of having limitless ideas but not having anywhere to take them, and the combination of frustration and hope that results.



Speed Stick:  a hidden gem, especially in the insight department.  In full disclosure, this is a Cohn & Wolfe client, but I still love what the brand did.  It captures the idea of a high pressure moment, and the need to stay calm, cool, and collected.  The magic is in the social media extension of #HandleIt which brings it all to life even more, asking guys to tell about their high pressure moment and how they got through it.  Maybe I relate to this one so much because I had a few #HandleIt moments this week myself on Fox & Friends!



Insights are the currency of good marketing, so pay attention and get inspired.  Marketing is a spectator sport, and we are all learning a lot from the Super Bowl Ad Bowl!

What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
Author, The Experience Effect series
Professor, NYU

PS - Next up ... Join us this Sunday night 2/10/13 for live tweets about the marketing during The Grammy Awards at #GrammyExp.