A young guy in a recording studio asks country sweetheart Faith Hill for advice. He’s ordering flowers for his girlfriend and doesn’t know what to say. Hill thinks he should tell her how he feels and ‘say what’s in your heart.’ He proceeds to type, ‘Dear Kim, your rack is unreal.’ Not only does this guy give the girl a beautiful bouquet, but he’s also honest. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. This commercial takes a very familiar, simple concept and makes it funny. You can’t get more cliché than ‘speak from your heart,’ and this guy has the guts to do just that. If you’re close to your boyfriend or girlfriend, take a page from this guy’s book – be sincere, and get some help from a Grammy winner if you can.

 

Coca-Cola

An epic battle is about to ensue between a race of monkey-sloth hybrids and Ork-like creatures. Both races have dragons to aid them in the fight: The Orks have a fire-breathing red dragon, and the monkey-sloths wheel out an ice sculpture of a dragon. When the red dragon decimates the ice in one hot breath, a bottle of Coca-Cola springs up from the cold remains. The remaining dragon drinks the Coca-Cola and, refreshed from the beverage, opens its mouth and attempts to hurl out a fireball. What a surprise when fireworks spew from its open mouth. The monkey-sloths take this chance to attack, and the opposition retreats. The advertisement is a welcome change from the cute, fuzzy polar bears and jolly St. Nick. Very ‘Lord of the Rings,’ very entertaining. It strays away from the typical mantra of Coke: two opposing forces brought together by the soft drink. At least the bad guys didn’t give in to the fizzy drink to make friends.  

 

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken takes a personalized route for its Super Bowl commercial. It starts out like a regular, run-of-the-mill advertisement: good-natured people working on the Colonel’s secret recipe. Cut to your average, run-of-the-mill family enjoying said chicken. There’s a surprise ending: A video of a bucket of chicken and the Syracuse University insignia right next to it. Whoa! The last thing I expected was the KFC announcer to say ‘Go Orange.’ This commercial combines the best of two worlds: delicious fried food and the university we know and love.

 

Best Buy

Technology, it is a-changing. What better way to show this than the Prince of Darkness and a bowl cut-endowed pop sensation? In this commercial-in-a-commercial, Ozzy Osbourne is attempting to sell a smartphone with a 4G network. The commercial’s production teams cut the advertisement, and now Osbourne needs to sell a smartphone with a 5G network. By the end of the ad, Justin Bieber has taken Osbourne’s place with a 6G-compatible phone. Best Buy is showing that the store will buy back your old technology with their Buy Back program. Original, right? Though it’s not creative with its initiative names, Best Buy sure knows how to make an entertaining ad.

 

E*Trade

During the last Super Bowl, most of the more captivating commercials included babies – more specifically, the E*Trade baby. That little guy wowed us with his knowledge in stocks and charmed with his sass – anyone remember Lindsey, the milk-aholic? This year, the baby has grown up, or at least it looks like it. He’s still in his high chair, but he’s got a luscious head of hair, and he’s being measured for a suit. He discusses how E*Trade has ‘hands-on customer support,’ which puts the suit measuring into perspective. What makes this commercial great is it acknowledges the baby won’t always be a baby. E*Trade takes into consideration that people actually grow up over time. Realism is a good thing in commercials. Who knows? Maybe there will be a hormonal E*Trade teenager in an advertisement for Super Bowl LVIII.