Don't Forget the Most Creative Super Bowl Ever

There was a day when people dreamt of investing small dollars in an Internet business to rapidly make them millionaires.  The year was 2000 and the Internet bubble was at it's peak.  Super Bowl commercials were about more than just selling products. Brands took great risks investing ad dollars for the sole purpose of gaining consumer and Wall Street awareness to win in this new frontier.  It was a race to the top. Seventeen dot-com companies stepped up the plate and paid just over $73,000 per second for a network spot in Super Bowl XXIV.  This included Atlanta based AutoTrader.com and other well known brands such as LastMinuteTravel.com and Monster.com.  Then there was the group that had no business spending at that level.  Pets.com, Epidemic.com, and OnMoney.com were shut down before the next year's big game and many said their investment in the Super Bowl as their crowning blow.  

What did such bravado and irrational exuberance bring to the game? It was probably the most creative group of Super Bowl ads ever.  It included timeless, outside-the-lines, brave creative like Etrade's "money out the wazoo", EDS's "Cat Herders" and Pets.com's "sock puppet" from heralded creative agency Chiat Day.  

I don't remember the game, but I do remember the commercials.  Even as an Atlanta Ad Agency owner, I was doubled over watching the hilarious fun that was provided by the brands that took a financial and creative risk.  Today, the world is in a much more somber place.  While the economy is going strong, we are faced with a bitter impeachment process, a possible worldwide epidemic and a fragmented American public.  When you watch the game tonight you will see brands positioning themselves in a new modern society and their selling tools will be emotion and empathy.  This is the biggest entertainment event of the television viewing audience.  Lets go back to entertaining like we did in the year 2000. Have Fun!