For once the ads didn’t overshadow the football, but they were still pretty good. With many people calling Super Bowl LI the most exciting contest in years – possibly the best ever – the second-half comeback by the Patriots to finally best the Falcons in overtime was a mixed blessing for brands. On one hand, a bunch of ads that were originally relegated to post-game analysis got a boost, but with everyone probably talking about the game, was anyone actually watching them?
Anyway this year’s advertising offerings to the football gods were a mixed bag, as usual, judging by their varying fortunes online. Using YouTube views as a rough index of popularity (or at least publicity), Anheuser Busch’s “Born the Hard Way” ad for Budweiser, retelling the immigration story of founder Adolphus Busch to the United States, was the clear winner with 20.2 million views on YouTube at the time of writing.
