Dove self-esteem ad earns highest grade in MSU Super Bowl ad competition
Contact: Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu
2/5/2006

EAST LANSING, Mich. – A Dove television advertisement for a self-esteem fund for young girls earned the top grade in the Michigan State University Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing's list of the best commercials of Super Bowl XL.

While football fans watched the Pittsburgh Steelers battle the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday night's game, MSU advertising faculty members huddled to watch and grade the commercials. Of the nearly 60 commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, the experts rated the Dove commercial as the top ad in a solid but unspectacular year for Super Bowl television ads.

Ads from Anheuser-Busch and FedEx scored well in the poll while the Whopperettes extavaganza from Burger King and the return of GoDaddy.com brought up the rear.
“Just like the beer industry itself right now, the beer ads were flat," said Bruce Vanden Bergh, professor of advertising at MSU. "Anheuser-Busch's stuff is just OK. It's decent advertising, it just seems like the same stuff they've been doing for 10 years."

Using a 10-point grading scale, the faculty rated each commercial based on creativity, production and overall quality. The team considered whether each commercial's strategy was unique and relevant to the appropriate target consumers and also determined whether its execution was memorable and bolstered the reputation of the product.
This year, advertising professionals, university faculty members and students from around the globe were invited to participate in MSU's ninth annual evaluation of Super Bowl television ads.

Nearly 600 professors, professionals and students participated in MSU's new online evaluation – Ad Pulse. The professors rated FedEx as the “most creative,” and the pros and students found Budweiser spots to be most creative – with the pros liking the young Clydesdale spot, and the students liking “stadium wave.”
The pros and the profs clearly found the Burger King spot to be the “worst investment of an advertising budget”. The students were polarized – voting it the No. 4 most creative but also the No. 1 poorest investment.

ESPN Mobile was found to be the spot that will drive the most sales among all groups.
MSU's advertising department expanded the reach and relevance of its analysis by engaging advertising industry professionals, professors and students from around the United States to answer a series of questions to supplement the MSU faculty ratings with their evaluation of some of the industry's most entertaining and impactful advertising.
Through MSU Ad Pulse, advertising and marketing professionals, professors and students participated in a one-hour window for voting on the ads that began at the two-minute warning and ended 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game at http://adpulse.msu.edu .

In partnership with Collaboration, a full-service marketing firm in Pleasant Ridge, Mich., MSU developed a Web site and virtual marketing campaign that allowed visitors to register their views on the ads that ran during the game.

“This is the most costly television advertising time of the year because the Super Bowl draws an enormous international audience,” said MSU advertising professor Bruce Vanden Bergh. “Beyond that, there is an intense and growing interest in what has become a separate Super Bowl for television advertisers, and each year the creative bar gets raised.

“The interest in the Super Bowl ads has become so intense that if you don't meet a pretty high standard you actually risk doing harm to your brand.”

Richard Cole, newly appointed chair of the department, believes that this year's effort was the first time that college and university professors and students, along with advertising and communications professionals, have been involved in this type of polling activity.

“MSU is rightfully proud of its history of academic evaluations of Super Bowl commercials,” Cole said. “This leadership has created an important platform for discussion.”

Members of the public are invited to interact with professors, professionals and students at the MSU Ad Pulse blog at http://research.adv.msu.edu/adpulse .
Here's how the faculty graded the commercials:

Dove self-esteem fund176Budweiser (stadium wave) 168FedEx (caveman)162Budweiser (young Cydesdale)155Bud Light (hidden fridge)151Career builder.com (monkeys)139Honda Ridgeline138Bud Light (hidden bottles)137Ameriquest (airplane)137Mobile ESPN134Budlight (bear)133Budweiser (sheep, horses)132Michelob Ultra131Nationwide (Fabio)131Hummer 127Fidelity Investments126Aleve (actor)125Sierra Mist (Security)123Toyota (dad & child)123Career builder.com (monkeys & donkeys)123Sprint (music downloads)122Ameriquest (hospital)121Ford (hermit)121Overstock.com121Budlight (roof scene)121Master Card119Mission Impossible movie117Sharpie117Degree deodorant 115Toyota Tacoma114Gillette Fusion109Vendetta movie108Pirates of the Carribbean movie108Shaggy Dog movie107Cadillac (fashion show)102Burger King (Whopperettes)101Disney World (50th anniversary)101NFL Mobile101PS cleaning product100Cars movie promo98Taco Bell 98Poseidon Adventure movie95World Baseball Classic95AT&T94Slim Fast94Diet Pepsi (brown & bubbly)9316 Blocks movie91United Way (NFL)91Herestobeer.com91T-Mobile (pbl)90Emerald Nuts90Diet Pepsi (Jackie Chan)89Fastest Man movie88Outback Steakhouse82Running Scared movie67Westin Hotel & Resorts66GoDaddy.com (boardroom)65Collaboration is a full-service communication company based in Pleasant Ridge, Mich. With clients such as DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, and The Detroit Medical Center, Collaboration engages consumers with business-building communication. For more information visit collaborationLLC.com .