The 2014 Super Bowl (Commercial) Winners

Lindsey WeedstonBlog, TV Advertising

Seahawks Parade 2014

Image via @Seahawks on Twitter

Well, the Super Bowl is over, Seattle had their official celebration parade, and everyone’s returning to their normal lives – hanging up their team jerseys until next season. Meanwhile, the advertising sector is abuzz about whose commercial was the most successful.

Most of the top winners are big names who have a long history of appearing in the Super Bowl ad space, but we had a few newcomers and companies who came out of left field appearing on top lists of the most popular commercials. Here are the highlights:

 

Most Popular

There are, of course, different ways to measure the popularity of a commercial. TiVo named the Seinfeld-themed “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” as the most popular ad (though it’s not a true paid advertisement), while USA Today’s Ad Meter gave the title to Budweiser’s “Puppy Love.” Seeing as “Puppy Love” was TiVo’s second place winner, we can officially name Budweiser’s love story between a dog and a horse to be the champion of the Super Bowl ad “Most Popular” division.
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

GoDaddy’s “Bodybuilder” took the third place spot on TiVo’s list, while Doritos’ “Cowboy Kid” and Budweiser’s “Hero’s Welcome” came in second and third, respectively, according to USA Today. Toyota’s “Terry Crews & The Muppets” (from our Most Anticipated list) came in at #5 via TiVo, with newbie Squarespace making the list at #10 with “A Better Web Awaits.”

 

Most Shared

Budweiser Puppy Love Ad
What’s popular doesn’t mean much to digital marketers without shares. Unruly Analytics has been monitoring the global sharing rates of video ads, and several of the Super Bowl XLVIII ads have popped up on the list since game day. The rankings have been fluctuating, but in the past week there’s been one clear winner that’s maintained share numbers, which are almost double that of the runner up.

And that’s Budweiser’s “Puppy Love.”

All in all, Budweiser has done phenomenally well during this Super Bowl, with “Hero’s Welcome” often not far behind on this year’s top lists. Bud Light’s “Ian Up For Whatever” has also appeared on Unruly’s Top Shared list and TiVo’s Most Popular list. With all of this information, we’re ready to officially declare the following:

 

Budweiser is the Super Bowl XLVIII (Advertising) Champion

Ian Up For Anything Ad

 

If there’s anything that advertisers can learn from this, it’s that people love sentimentality and the celebration of our nation’s veterans, but mostly they love puppies that become friends with other kinds of animals, because it’s so adorable. They also like seeing ordinary, unsuspecting citizens being thrown into a match of “tiny tennis” with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What did you think about this year’s Super Bowl commercials? Were they worth the hype?