Ah, the Super Bowl. When sports fans everywhere gorge themselves on salty snack treats and frothy libations and non-sports fans like myself, um, play with Legos or something. Even if you don't watch football, you know that advertisers roll out some of their best stuff during the game. AOL Sports has a site where you can view some classic Super Bowl spots, including the Joe Greene jersey ad and Apple's "1984" spot. You can also vote for your favorite. On February 7, commercials from Super Bowl XXXIX will be added.

[via Advertising/Design Goodness]

Okay, my radar doesn't normally zero in on sports news.  However, whilst reading about the "Road to Forty" campaign that will run until Super Bowl XL and will feature current players like Daunte Culpepper and LaDainian Tomlinson receiving sound advice from past Super Bowl champions, I couldn't help but notice the spots (six in all) were all directed by Tarsem, the same man who directed REM's "Losing My Religion" video, not to mention that weirdo head trip movie The Cell. Seems like an odd choice to direct a bunch of football players, none of which can dance nearly as well as Michael Stipe, I'm sure.

GoDaddy boss Bob Parsons has been ready, willing, and able to discuss (and defend) his company's commercial during last weekend's Super Bowl on his blog.  Yesterday, Parsons posed, in the form of a title, the question of whether or not the ad was indecent - and gave his side of the story.  Aside from the fact that Parsons has all his ducks in a row, the use of his blog for this purpose is fantastic, and gets a quality discussion going.  The PR points that he could potentially be racking up is huge, but we'll see if it all makes a difference in a few months, as we'll hopefully get an idea on what kind of business growth they've experienced at GoDaddy.

On Thursday, advertising & marketing research firm Gallup & Robinson released its survey results of brand recall and what amount of impetus to buy or shop for a product or service came about during this year's Super Bowl.

Some highlights: 

• Budweiser, Pepsi/iTunes, and the Ford Mustang were the three highest recalled brands, all remembered by more than 60% of those surveyed
• When asked about the Silestone commercial (featuring the Chicago Bears and Dennis Rodman), only 5% remembered seeing the brand in the ads
• Those responding to G&R's survey also ranked the Ford Mustang ad as their favorite, with Budweiser's "Thank You" second.  Additionally, viewers ranked the Mustang with the highest increase of brand perception, or likability.

The full results are available here [pdf].

An alert AdJab reader is quick to point out that Careerbuilder didn't stop at their Super Bowl spots with the whole chimpanzee thing (yes, they're not monkeys), as they've gone forth to create yeknominc.com, the website for the fictional (we hope) company that the chimps are playing around working at in the original ads.  Fortunately for us, they've left open the backdoor to their Intranet, full of fun things like "training videos."

Also pointed out (hopefully he's not doing this research while at work) is that Yeknom, Inc. (yes, it's monkey backwards) is looking for some new staff, with jobs posted on Monster for "Competent Human Person" and "English-to-Monkey Translator."  On Hotjobs, you'll find the "Human" job as well as a "Banana Peel Recycler" and "Flung Poo Collector" - hopefully that last one has some good benefits.

[Thanks, Jim!]

Ameriquest, whose amusing spots were the talk of the Super Bowl ad plate, is excited about the buzz brewing since the game has ended and a few days have passed.  A company SVP stated that Ameriquest was "extremely pleased at the overall response to the family-oriented halftime show and to our commercials" in an announcement Thursday, and some of those who rated the ads (including AdJab!) thought their campaign was not only funny, but very well done. 

ESPN said "Bravo" in their rankings, and USA Today readers voted the "Romantic Dinner" ad #1.  So we all shouldn't be surprised when we take out mortgages from Ameriquest, right?

After the GoDaddy.com ad was pulled from running a second time on Super Bowl Sunday, it's no surprise that not only has the domain registrar's web traffic surged, but that they've actually got the actress (no, Nikki Capelli is not her real name) set to appear in two more commercials as early as this week.

Complaints to the FCC have been made public this week, and in one big 'ptooey' to the eye of the FCC, they've been told that the Super Bowl halftime show as "too boring" with Sir Paul McCartney all by his lonesome.  Not surprisingly, GoDaddy.com garnered eight complaints, and Carson Kressley's Diet Pepsi presence wasn't to be left alone - though only receiving one complaint. 

Gee, this would be a great award show, or ranking system.  Although Diet Pepsi would be in the bottom of this week's commercial rankings, "Also receiving votes."

The Mac Observer reports that according to comScore, Apple's website traffic jumped a whopping 172% after its spots with Pepsi ran during the Super Bowl.  Then again, we should have already known this, since it's been rumored for weeks that this campaign would reappear in '05.  But if Apple/Pepsi have proved anything here, it's that way too many people had their laptops with them while they were watching the game.

[Yeah, yeah.  I'm guilty as charged]

Neither beer, nor chips, nor cheesesteaks could stop the AdJab crew from throwing together a stack 'o' reviews of many of this year's Super Bowl spots.  Here's a more comprehensive list, with more to come (maybe) as the fallout ensues - and we don't mean from tank tops in GoDaddy.com commercials, thankyouverymuch.

• Ford Mustang
• FedEx
• Bud Light (Fantasies)
• GoDaddy
• Diet Pepsi (Saturday Night Fever)
• Ameriquest (Robbery)
• Bud Light (Cellphone photos)
• Lay's
• MBNA
• Mastercard (Marvel Heroes)
• Quizno's (Baby Bob)
• Consentino (Yes, the countertop company)
• Budweiser (Clydesdale Farm)
• McDonald's (Lincoln Fry #1)
• Batman Begins
• Pepsi/iTunes #1
• Heineken (Brad Pitt)
• Pepsi/iTunes #2 (Gwen Stefani)
• CareerBuilder.com (Chimp on the copier)
• Tabasco
• Mastercard (Spokescartoons)
• Ameriquest (Cat/Knife/Sauce)
• Emerald Nuts
• Subway
• MSN Search
• Olympus
• War of the Worlds
• Cialis
• Verizon (cottonmouth)
• Anheuser-Busch (Thanks)
• Ford Trucks
• Volvo
• MGM (Be Cool)
• XXX: State of the Union
• 20th Century Fox (Robots)

Plus, you can go here and vote on your faves!

Websurfers everywhere are scouring the Internet today for spots to find and watch the Super Bowl ads from 2005.  Their popularity has caused a few of the sites hosting them to become a little bit slow - if you're digging around and still haven't found anything, try the following:

• IFILM:  A full list of spots, sorted by ad creator
• AOL Sports:  Advertisements sorted by quarter of the game
• Ameriquest's four ads in a nifty 'microsite'
• McDonald's Lincoln Fry (click on the football on February 6)
• Tabasco's Tan Lines
• Degree's In-action Heroes
• Pepsi's spots (too many Carsons, not enough Eva Longoria)

Watch this space - more to come!

Buried within the movie ads that made their way into the '05 Super Bowl was 20th Century Fox's "Robots" spot, which actually had a football theme to it.  It looks like another dive into a futuristic world, one that looks totally inhabited by robots who have human characteristics like:  annoying their siblings and dancing like Britney Spears.  Not sure this one's a winner, and am now realizing that there's probably a reason I didn't remember seeing it at all.

Sony gets sequel happy in one of their two Super Bowl spots, this time around for "XXX:  State of the Union."  Ice Cube "takes over" for Vin Diesel in the lead, since Diesel is off changing diapers or something in his latest, "The Pacifier."  Samuel L. Jackson is still the boss, and Ice Cube is supposed to have "more attitude" than the previous guy in the role - or so the ad says. 

Let's be honest, are we really surprised that this franchise is still alive?  And yes, I use "franchise" very loosely.

MGM put some fan favorites, Uma Thurman and John Travolta, together in a star-studded cast for "Be Cool," the followup to "Get Shorty."  After telling us that everyone "wants to be gangster," the spot shows off a bit of gunplay, followed by Thurman asking Travolta if he can dance - you might notice a trend there or something.

The cast also includes singer/actress Christina Milian, Vince Vaughn, Steven Tyler, Cedric the Entertainer, The Rock, Danny Devito, Andre Benjamin, and Harvey Keitel.  Talk about wanting to be a fly on the wall on this flick's set.

Oh, and the website's pretty hot, too - check it out at becoolmovie.com.

Volvo's "first step" into Super Bowl advertising was a big one, enlisting Sir Richard Branson to don a spacesuit and offer up a trip into space on Virgin Galactic.  You can find out more at Autoblog and BoldlyGo.com.  Sure, space travel isn't open to the public yet, but getting to be first in line isn't such a bad thing, is it?