Sentiment, empowerment, taking a stance, and strategic media vision put these ads in the top 5 for me:

Dove Dads

This one tugged the heart strings. My dad made a lot of time for us kids, from working on house building jobs to coaching our football teams, the ad brought those memories to the forefront. I’ll never buy Dove as long as Suave does the job, but I truly felt like a consumer while watching it.

Nike’s Instagram

This too resonated with me from all the backyard football games while we pretended to be our favorite superstars. Nike’s Instagram copy is always top tier work, but I think they did a great job with the aspirational play toward their younger audience on the youth-driven Instagram platform.

 Always’ “Like a Girl” 

A great hashtag Twitter extension, an empowering message, and a blend of authentic storytelling, P&G did not disappoint.

Budweiser’s Other Ad

You know, the not-the-puppy one. Sure it was low production cost, and it was the product-focused ad of its typical 1-2 story-product ad combo punch, but Budweiser took a risk and separated itself from the craft beer scene while tactfully not pissing anybody off too much. The bluesy southern rock background music and all caps copy brought forth that “You craft beer dissectors do your thing, but this is who we are, who we’re for, join us or don’t” attitude that only the brand’s king persona can project.

Eat24

If a good advertising friend didn’t point this ad out, I would’ve missed it. In fact, I did miss it purely because of the reason it’s in the top five. Eat24’s creative may have been average, but whoever decided to buy the 30 minutes before game time slot, you’re the man. You looked at the audience of the Super Bowl, realized they’re lazy & hungry, and realized it was a perfect direct response opportunity. Most brands make activation/awareness plays, showcasing new products & campaigns, but it was refreshing and smart to see Eat24 take a shot deeper in the funnel.