Amazon wins Super Bowl ad game
Commentary: According to the USA Today's Ad Meter, Jeff Bezos and his supporting actors offered the most-loved big game ad.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
He's got a bit of Ben Kingsley about him, no?
Last week must have been very tense for Jeff Bezos.
Amazon's CEO had given his all in an acting performance that offered nuance and vulnerability.
Yet what if the great American public had given his company's Super Bowl ad -- in which he appeared, playing the worried CEO of Amazon -- the thumbs down?
Now he can celebrate. USA Today's famed Ad Meter declared that Amazon's ad was people's favorite.
It was, just like the game in which the justice elements of the league prevailed, close.
Amazon's ad, in which Alexa temporarily lost her voice and was replaced by a galaxy of underperforming stars such as rapper Cardi B and actor Anthony Hopkins, came out just ahead of the NFL's delightful "Dirty Dancing remake -- featuring New York Giants Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr.
Here are both of them for you to compare.
Was that the winner for you? Or is this?
Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether it will celebrate or, indeed, whether Bezos intends to continue his acting career after this triumph.
The Ad Meter's methodology is to ask real human beings to vote online during Super Bowl week and all the way through game day.
Those voting were asked to offer scores of between 1 and 10. The winner had the highest average, which, in Amazon's case was 7.1836. The NFL managed 7.1777.
With this win, Amazon joins an elevated list. Anheuser-Busch won it every year from 1999 to 2008. It won again every year between 2013 and 2015. For the last two years however, Korean car brands have dominated, with Hyundai being victorious in 2016 and Hyundai last year.
I watched the game at 37,000 feet, with a New York NBC feed for company.
It was a subdued year for tech companies, many of whom played it safe or didn't participate. T-Mobile was an exception with its appeal for equality.
May I confess, however, that the ad that that created the greatest reaction for me came from New Jersey-based Cure auto insurance?
Please enjoy. (You won't if you're a Patriots fan.)
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