Super Bowl XLI Commerical Review - Third Quarter

Highlights of commercials from the third quarter include Diamond Nut's spot featuring Robert Goulet, Coca Cola's "Happiness Factory" from last year, E-Trade's "Bank Robbery" spot, and Career Builder's "Promotion Pit".

[3rd Quarter]
Walt Disney Co Ad for 'Meet the Robinsons,' a Disney-created computer-generated animation family film. [Agency: In-house]

E-Trade - (:30) "Bank Robbery" shows bankers as bad guys with animal masks robbing customers, VO asks "Tired of getting robbed by your bank?" Decent spot. The way the beginning was shot, it almost had a movie ad feel to it. [Agency: BBDO NY]

Coca Cola - "Happiness Factory" by Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam which aired back in 2006. [Agency: Wieden + Kennedy]

Anheuser-Busch/Bud Light (:30) - "Gorillas" - A camera flash makes one gorilla forget their plan to attack the Bud Light delivery guy, foiling their plan. Best part of the ad - the face the gorilla makes when the flash blinds him. [Agencies: DDB, Chicago, Downtown Partners, Toronto and Cannonball, St. Louis]

Revlon - (:60) In "Not Fade Away" Sheryl Crow uses Revlon's new Colorist 'colorant' during a tour -- much to the chagrin of her personal colorist. Surprise - the spot also features Ms. Crow's soon-to-be released single, a remake of Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away.' Meh. Footage was shot interesting, and that's about it. [Agency: Endeavor, Hollywood]

Career Builder - (:30) "Promotion Pit" - I liked the workers' armor, especially the binder hat and bubble wrap sleeves. Spot for new "It's a jungle out there" campaign directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man. 7 second preview of one spot can be viewed here. (info here) [Agency: Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago]

Taco Bell - "Lions" was decent. I think the other ads of the campaign are bit better. Still bugs me that they call it Carne Asada Steak, since it's redundent, but oh well. Promote Carne Asada Steak Grilled Taquitos with a spot where two lions watch campers at the Serengeti eating Taco Bell and discuss how to properly pronounce "Carne Asada". One lion can't get the rolling of the r's and the other tells him to "Say it sexy like Ricardo Montalban" and get a lesson in rolling their R's when voice over announcer Ricardo Montalban chimes in. They are also running an online promotion at Carne Asada Improv where you can view three other spots, "Teeth", "Serengeti", and "Or the Guy" featuring the lions. [Agency: DraftFCB, Chicago]

Phillips-Van Heusen - (:30) "Some Guys" - Spot highlighted Van Heusen brands showing a man who has the right clothing for any occasion as he goes backwards though his day until we see him getting dressed. Not a bad spot. Decent. [Agency: In-house and HomeNYC]

Toyota Tundra "Seesaw" is yet another demo ad for the truck showing off acceleration and braking power. Decent, but nothing exciting. Directed by Andrew Douglas of Anonymous Content. [Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles]

Diamond Nuts - (:30) "Robert Goulet" - Rather funny when Robert Goulet messes with your stuff. I like how we see him hiding from the one guy who ate a nut to keep away low energy Spiderman-style on the ceiling. Robert Goulet stars in this spot where he hides keys and causes havoc in an office while the workers hit their low energy points of the day. It was directed by The Perlorian Brothers via Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, music composition by Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau of Beacon Street Studios, Venice, Calif, and editing by Ian Mackenzie of Mackenzie Cutler, New York. See a preview for the spot here, click on video. (info here) [Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco]

T-Mobile - "Barkley and Wayne" - Dwayne Wayne and Charles Barkley - old spot from November 2006.

FedEx - (:30) "Not What It Seems" - This was OK, but nowhere as good as a majority of FedEx spots. Other spot was better. "Not what it seems" Shows an office meeting where it is announced the company is switching to FedEx Ground. One employee doesn't believe it's fast, becuse of the name, then goes on to show you can't judge odd office workers by their names. [Agency: BBDO, New York]

Nationwide - (:30) "Rollin' VIP" Starring Kevin Federline. Bravo for him to be able to make fun of himself. (info here) [Agency: TM Advertising, Irving, Texas]

Anheuser-Busch/Bud Light (:30) - "Hitchhiker" - What do you do when you don't have a funny bit in the first part of the ad? Do it again. "The Hitchhiker" starts with spooky music plays as a couple drives down a dark road. While the woman fumbles with a map, her boyfriend slows down to pick up a hitchhiker. She is alarmed and points out he's holding an ax. "But he has Bud Light, " the boyfriend pleads." "And an ax!" she insists. The boyfriend asks what the axe is for, hitchhiker says it's a bottle opener. We then see all three in the car as they pass another hitchhiker with a chainsaw...the first hitchhikers says "hey he's got bud light and a chain saw". [Agencies: DDB, Chicago]

Dunkin' Donuts - Maple Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich spot might be local. Guy has a tree in his cube at the office because he likes maple in the morning. His co-worker tells him about the sandwich at DD's. Not bad, if you remove the whole maple syrup doesn't pour out of a tree reality part.

Honda Motor Co. - Corporate spot promoting Honda trucks and talking about adding innovation. meh. [Agency: RPA, Santa Monica, Calif.]