Ads sold during this year's Super Bowl were the most expensive ever. Here are the best and worst commercials.
Advertisers shelled out at least $5 million for 30 seconds of screentime time during this year’s Super Bowl.But official sponsors weren’t the only ones that won: One of the biggest brand winners was Crock-Pot, which didn't even have a commercial of its own.
Here are our picks for winners and losers of Super Bowl 52.
Winner: PepsiCo.
After a disastrous 2017 — remember the tone-deaf Kendall Jenner ad? — Pepsi made a strong comeback with a joint ad for Mountain Dew and Doritos and another one for Pepsi.Its 30-second commercial brought together stars from across generations, including Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson, taking viewers on a nostalgia trip.
On the other hand, Peter Dinklage and Busta Rhymes teamed up to take on Morgan Freeman and Missy Elliot in this epic showdown between fiery Doritos Blaze and Mountain Dew Ice.
The ads clearly touched a chord, for Pepsi already had over 36,000 tweets engaging with the brand by the first half. The combo ad had over 68 million social impressions, according to iSpot.
Winner: Budweiser
Budweiser followed its powerful "Born The Hard Way" spot from last year with a philanthropic bet this year.In this year's Super Bowl ad, the brand is highlighting its charitable side, and how it has donated 79 million cans of water to disaster relief since 1988.
The effort seems to have paid off, with the brand scoring over 4.1 million impressions, according to iSpot.
Winner: Crock-Pot
Crock-Pot went on the defensive after a Jan. 23 "This is Us" episode, when it was revealed that the cause of the house fire was a faulty slow cooker.But then it got support from the NBC show itself, with a hilarious new ad for the show featuring Milo Ventimiglia eating some chili made in — you guessed it — a Crock-Pot.
This way, Crock-Pot won the Super Bowl without spending a single dollar. Digital content engagement around Crock-Pot increased by 84% after the ad supporting the slow cooker was released, according to data crunched by Amobee.
Winner: Amazon
Amazon's star-studded 90-second spot had people buzzing days before the big game, and was an instant recipe for success.It features a host of celebrities including Rebel Wilson, Gordon Ramsay, Sir Anthony Hopkins and even Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, and has already been viewed a whopping 23 million times on YouTube.
Winner: The NFL
Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. doing their own rendition of "Dirty Dancing" in a Super Bowl ad for the NFL was hands down the best ad this year.Manning went from a regular football player to winning the internet's hearts in a single swoop. And it got people talking as well, with 99% of the sentiment around it being positive, according to iSpot.
Watch the ad here.
Loser: Dodge Ram
Dodge Ram's Super Bowl ad featuring a speech by Martin Luther King did not fare well with people, sparking widespread criticism online almost instantly.The ad showed workers and shots of Ram cars set against a Martin Luther King Jr. speech from 1968, and was slammed for its use of an iconic civil rights speech and Black History Month to sell cars.
Loser: Michelob Ultra
Chris Pratt spends his whole time prepping for an audition, where he's ultimately just being considered for an extra role.Disappointing.
Loser: Diet Coke
Diet Coke's ad this year was originally supposed to be a quick social media video. But the brand liked the video so much that it made it its Super Bowl ad.It looks like it.
The spot, made by Anomaly Los Angeles, shows actress Hayley Magnus doing a little dance. However cute, it doesn't quite leave an impact.
Loser: Thirsty brands jumping on "Dunk in the Dark" part 2
Doritos, Wendy's and Tide sought to recreate Oreo's infamous real-time "dunk in the dark" moment from 2013 when there was a short blackout during a commercial break in the second quarter.But they fizzled out without a trace.
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