ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A big part of the Super Bowl traditions have been the commercials.
Commercial time in the Super Bowl is a valued commodity with this year's prices costing advertisers around $7 million.
Every Super Bowl, there's certainly to be some hits and fan favorites (E*Trade baby, Doritos Time Machine in 2014) and there are some ones where it was just really cringey (Salesgenie.com Pandas in 2008) or just flat out terrible (2015 Nationwide dead kid commercial)
This year there were some strong commercials (this writer personally liked BetMGM's Tom Brady has done enough winning and the M&M's Almost Champions) and there were some ones that you wondered if it was confusing.
Aaron Perlut, founder of Elasticity, a marketing agency in St. Louis, joined KMOX's Total Information A.M. to discuss this year's Super Bowl Commercials and which one's he did like and which one he didn't.
LIKED:
1. Dunkin’ ‘The DunKings’
Perlut thought Dunkin Donuts use of celebrities like Tom Brady, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Jennifer Lopez along with Fat Joe and Jack Harlow was excellent.
"They paid a lot of money for that beyond the $7 million and the production costs," said Perlut. "I thought they did a really good job with the celebrities. Each one you thought 'this person is in there I can't believe that'"
2. E.l.f. 'Judge Beauty'
Perlut liked the ad by the cosmetics company which featured TV judge Judge Judy as "Judge Beauty"
"I've never even heard of the e.l.f. brand," said Perlut. "I thought the ad was terrific, it was fast moving, it kind of kept you going and you're laughing at different points of it."
"More than anything, if you're spend $7 million and do this, know your audience. It's a beautiful thing at the Super Bowl because everyone is watching it and it's not just a bunch of hairy sweaty dudes that like sports. You have a diverse audience."
3. Kawasaki 'Mullets'
Perlut liked the Kawasaki ad which featured WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin and felt it sent a good message to the target audience of the ad, like himself.
"It was meant for people who ride side-by-sides and I have one cause I have a place in the countryside," said Perlut. "I thought it was good ad because it was harkening back to mullets, good fun red-neck silly humor."
4. DOVE 'Hard Knock'
Dove re-entered the Super Bowl commercial space for the first times in years and while Perlut thought the visuals in it were 'unspectcular', he thought the overall message was fantastic.
"It was really all about body image, supporting little girls and young girls in their teens" said Perlut. "It wasn't really about their products and I thought it was a terrific message for an advertiser to take because essentially you are drawing a line in the sand and saying 'We stand for something' and people love products that stand for something."
DIDN'T LIKE
Squarespace 'Hello Down There'
Perlut didn't hate the commercial giving it a 5/10 but he thought the commercial was rather confusing.
"I was a little perplexed by that," said Perlut. "When it comes to aliens, I thought Apartments.com one was better only because you had a character in it who's been in a couple movies that involved aliens. I thought the Squarespace one was a little flat to me. It wasn't bad, but it was rather confusing."