Singularity and Super Bowl Ads

For the first time in awhile, Sunday’s Super Bowl ads were definitely more interesting than the game. (Poor Peyton Manning…)

So, how were the ads? Well, my generalization is that many were very similar in tone, message, production quality and creativity – they were not distinguishable from one to another. Much more of a homogenous appeal and approach. That’s a bit unsettling.

I give high marks for production quality – technology is wonderful – but low marks for creativity. Many were “cool” but in a similar way, with no underlying strong ideas to differentiate brand or message. Many seemed overly dramatic and philosophical. Emotional and serious.  Preachy even.

Of course some were as entertaining as we’ve come to expect – we like clever, we like emotional (to a degree). Radio Shack had a significant brand message to convey and they delivered in a memorable way. Puppies always win us over.

However, I hope I don’t have to rely on Microsoft or Budweisser to give direction to my life or to save the world. I don’t believe people expect nor want companies to influence how we think and feel. (Do we?)

Maybe not intentionally, but many messages seemed to play on fear of Singularity. That the world is happening so fast it will pass us by unless we buy that product or service.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity and http://io9.com/the-worst-lies-youve-been-told-about-the-singularity-1486458719)

The movie “Her” and the upcoming movie “The Singularity is Near” give us insight to what the future holds for information technology and artificial intelligence. And since advertising reflects society, I think we’d better pay attention to what those in the ad world are communicating back to us.

Right or wrong, good or bad, humorous or serious – I simply want to learn the benefits of products and services. Ads should relay that information, albeit in a compelling fashion. Save the preacher lessons for Sunday morning.

(But how about that Bruno Mars!)

-Dave Kuettel