Some people watch the Super Bowl for the football and others for the ads. I find myself in the latter party and this year I was not disappointed in the slightest.
Super Bowl LII had some solid commercial ads this year, but none hold a candle to Tide’s fantastic #TideAds. Tide’s campaign was like a virus during this year’s commercial breaks.
Saatchi and PG&E struck gold by making every ad a “Tide Ad.” From the perspective of an unsuspecting viewer, you could not tell which commercial would turn out to actually be an ad for Tide.
Tide effectively infected every ad shown at this year’s Super Bowl LII, because whenever a commercial break started you were already looking for clues to see if it would turn out to be a Tide Ad signified by the dissolution of an alternate reality by the appearance of actor David Harbour, best known for his role in Netflix’s Stranger Things.
The ads were unparalleled to any of the other brands paying millions of dollars to show their best and brightest advertisement ideas. This is the kind of Super Bowl advertisement that will have people talking during years to come.
There was one other commercial for a laundry detergent brand called Persil, but even then I thought it would turn out to be a Tide Ad. It was in the realm of possibility, especially after the Mr. Clean and Old Spice ads turned out to be Tide Ads.
As silly as it sounds, I found myself on the edge of my seat during every commercial break. The living room erupted in cheers of disbelief whenever Harbour started to pan into frame.
This could not have come at a better time for Tide, after the recent controversy over the #TidePodChallenge trending on social media sites. It was a smart move to just use the brand versus highlighting a specific product. All Tide products have the same function, to clean your clothes, no matter what form of it is thrown in with your dirty clothes.
Even after the Eagles won and claimed the Lombardi Trophy after a shocking and well-played game, I was still thinking about the pure genius of the Tide commercials.
Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles, apologies to the loyal Patriot’s fans and hats off to the genius behind Tide’s Super Bowl LII ad.