We get ourselves so lathered up about the brands in the Super Bowl that we kind of forget that without an agency (most of the time), these 30-, 60- and 90-second pieces of true American commercial art (some of the time) would not be possible.
Indeed, some in-house folk may have something to say about that but, let’s be honest, agencies still crank out some nifty stuff done by pros who have been at this for a while. So, let’s take a moment to celebrate.
First off, though, the numbers: This year, David has three ads (Burger King, Budweiser and Devour) as does Goodby Silverstein & Partners (PepsiCo). BBDO has 4,132 and Wieden + Kennedy made 23,144 ads for the Big Game. All kidding aside, of course, there are some other familiar names dotting the landscape like Droga5, Saatchi & Saatchi (you remember Tide last year, right?), Grey, Mother, David&Goliath, DDB, FCB, Innocean, 72andSunny, Merkley + Partners and Venables Bell & Partners.
There are plenty of other agencies that are either first-timers or just getting more into the Super Bowl party, including Red Fuse, GSD&M, Bullish, JohnXHannes, VaynerMedia (Gary Veeeeeeeeee!), VMLY&R (it’s first as a brand-spanking-new agency), m:united//McCann and Preacher.
Not only do these agency names help with the word count our editors expect, but they also show the breadth and depth of agencies in the mix … and these are just the ones we know about so far.
All we know is that Sunday is a day for agencies to shine (and start thinking about Cannes immediately thereafter). There will be some bright spots, some dogs (literal and metaphorical) and some ads that make us tilt our heads like confused dogs.
Regardless, pat yourselves on the back, agency land. The brands will get all the glory, but we know that behind every Super Bowl ad (well, most of them) is a hell of a great agency.
Join us for some entertaining, spirited Super Bowl coverage on gameday. We promise a moderate amount of good-natured tomfoolery. This year, I’ll definitely be watching the ads … not only because it’s part of my job, but because the Philadelphia Eagles (still technically world champions) are not playing this time around.
Worth a read: How Brunner’s 2017 84 Lumber ad about immigration remains relevant today.
Fyre Festival can’t catch a break: But why should they? Some funny from Shutterstock.
In other news: Get some extra budget. There’s a new creative award.
This week in Marty Swant (tech desk): Lose the Super Bowl? Uber will give free rides to the team for an hour after the game … so the players can collect their thoughts.
Goodby for them: GS&P snaps up two creative leads for BMW.
While we’re at it, we invite you to visit our sister site, AgencySpy, for more news and tidbits from the agency world. If you’re already an avid reader, we thank you for the support.
We’ll see you back here next week. And, as always, feel free to share your agency news with us—I can be reached at doug dot zanger at adweek dot com.
And #FlyEaglesFly … I mean, er, go Rams.
Warm Regards,
Doug Zanger
Senior Editor, Creativity + Agencies
(Fabulous stock photography of what could plausibly be an agency somewhere like Soho in New York or LoDo in Denver courtesy of Getty Images.)
