Best & Worst - Commercials

In the age of Tivo and other DVR devices, I'm the minority - I actually enjoy watching commercials on television. I don't necessarily enjoy a ridiculous amount of commercial breaks (which seemed to be every 30 seconds in the AFC Championship game) but I do like to see which companies are coming up with creative ads. To me, having a good commercial involves being successful in two elements: you must capture the attention of the audience and you must garner a response that provides an interest in your product.

Many companies are successful in the first part of this equation - it's easy to catch someone's attention. I could scream the F-word on the street and get everyone's attention, but that doesn't make it a good idea. The second part is more difficult because it's the actual response and the measurable of the effectiveness of the ad. It's the element of providing a call to action to the audience and then seeing whether or not they will actually respond. And in my opinion, this is where commercials can backfire for a company. A commercial could be great and cause me to have an interest in a company, or it could be so bad that I vow to never use that particular company. So...here are my best and worst, which means companies whose ads make me want to use them and companies whose ads are so bad I never want to use them.

Best - these are examples of commercials from companies who really know how to connect with their audience.

McDonald's - Sadly, the product doesn't usually deliver, but the commercial is able to create serious expectation.

Apple - Possibly some of the greatest commercials of all time have been created by Apple. They have managed to create a culture and community that identify with their products, and their commercials make you want to be part of that community.



Disney - It's incredibly powerful to be able to evoke emotion in your commercials, and Disney does a wonderful job of this. Their ads make you think of memories and your family, which will always have an effect on people.

Worst - these ads make me wish these companies would go out of business.

Go Daddy - I don't even understand the point of it - go to our site with the hope of seeing naked women? And even if that is the hidden message, get someone more attractive than Jillian Michaels!



Geico - There were so many bad examples that it was difficult to chose from. Actually, I could have done an entire post about bad Geico commercials and provided at least 10 examples. I don't care about having insurance because I just want to shoot myself anytime I see their commercials.



Luvs - So many problems here. The idea is weird and it probably doesn't help that it's disgusting.

There were tons of other companies I could have used as examples, but those were a few that stuck out the most to me. And to end this post with a completely random (not particularly effective) and wonderfully creative commercial, I present KIA!