Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/27779
Broadcast ■ ■ ■ ■ A record-number 111 million fans tuned in to Super Bowl XLV earlier this year, making it the most-watched television program of all time. T e event is the ultimate clash of the titans—the best that the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference have to off er. Similarly, the game (with its astronomical Nielsen ratings) spawns a parallel competition that pits the best of Madison Avenue against one another in what has come to be known as “the Ad Bowl.” Some viewers, in fact, contend that they tune in to the game just to watch the ads—a big win for advertisers in an age when more and more viewers have their fi nger on the fast-forward button while watching pre-recorded shows. During the Super Bowl, though, fans see the commercials more as entertainment and less as a sales pitch. T at’s because Super Bowl commercials are famous for going all out in terms of their complex- ity; in contrast, some take a more subtle approach. Some use a serious tone; some focus on humor. Some capture our attention with cute animals; some with sexy women. No matter the tone, the expectation for a next-day watercooler discussion remains. T is year, audiences saw all these diff erent calls from the Ad Bowl playbook. And a number of the more popular spots required a digital assist, some more than others— from the beautiful all-CG epic fantasy piece complete with a fi re and ice dragon for Coke, to the comedy of the digitally altered Bud Light dogs that have a doggone time at a party, to the cute computer-generated Bridgestone beaver that shows us what Karma is all about, to a unique piece for Volkswagen featuring the CG “Black Betty” beetle, to a live-action/CG car heist that escalates from the daring to the downright ridiculous for Kia, to a cast of famous characters from TV past and present who subtly show their newfound postproduction-induced support for their favorite teams in a segment for the NFL. T ese spots relied heavily on digital work to pull off the gag, and each did so successfully. Here, we take you be- hind the scenes as we unveil the digital magic. March 2011 21