Super Bowl Ads - Different in the Best Way Possible

"There are too many j-school people in this room right now."

That's what a friend of mine said at our super bowl "watch party" last night (in quotes because watch is really a loose term when it comes to my group of 21-year-old girl friends, none of whom have any sort of loyalty to the Eagles or the Patriots or know the first thing about football: as evidenced by my other friend's google search history, Do football games have halves or quarters?)

Needless to say we were all there for the commercials. But for myself and my 5-or-so friends who are also a part of UNC's School of Media and Journalism, this was our heaven. We laughed and cried at every ad along with everyone else, but we analyzed and criticized and idealized them too.

So here's my takeaway - these spots were different in the best way possible. I mean, since when does Budweiser not use the Clydesdales, and who uses Morgan Freeman without his voice?? But boy did Budweiser make me cry, and boy did Mountain Dew make me laugh.

I apologize for my lack of eloquent wording, but these commercials rocked because they were a welcomed departure from the norm.

Let's take the tide ad for example, they took a chance and poked fun at so many of the super bowl ad templates we've seen since the beginning of time: the old spice man-on-a-horse, the cowboys leaning over a fence, the family surrounding their new smart home device.

By doing this, they effectively accomplished two things: first, their deviation from the norm made them stand out and in a memorable way; second, their ability to poke fun at spots we'd surely see again caused me, and many others i'm sure, to think of tide during other commercials: what a win for the brand.

I'd also like to second an insightful comment made by a Good Day New York interviewer in her conversation with ad industry execs, including Ogilvy CMO Lauren Crampsie: sex isn't selling. This change is huge, and obviously positive. Any departure by mainstream media from objectifying either gender is a win for everyone.

To reiterate, the spots from this year's super bowl were amazing -- almost as amazing as Justin Timberlake.

But not quite as amazing.