One of the most expensive media buys a company can make, the superbowl is always paid close attention by hundreds of millions of viewers. And so of course everyone likes to give their opinions on what ads were good, bad, or just weird. We generally have to suspend our opinion on great strategic ads, because the superbowl spots are always more about entertainment that solid ad messaging. But we’ve pulled together a list of some winners and losers below, with the embedded ads. Let us know in the comments section which ads were your favorite.

Winners:

Google – With Google’s first-ever television media buy, it showed everyone how integrated it has become into our lives, and also emphasized all the different things you can do on Google. Add in some warm and fuzzy feelings at the end and you’ve got a recipe for success. However, we were confused that Google released the ad online before it aired during the superbowl. Why ruin the surprise?

Denny’s- There is nothing more captivating than screaming chickens. With an ad message tied well to the promotion, these ads were funny and strategic.

Dodge – This commercial speaks to men, and is enjoyable for women. With grabbing creative, this was an easy favorite.

Doritos – Lot’s of commercials and consistent messaging make Doritos a consistent superbowl success. We thought the ads this year were the funniest yet, and hope they can keep it up.

Losers:

Bud Light – Although the spot was entertaining, there was only one spot! We’re used to seeing several bud light commercials, and seeing much funnier ones than the Lost parody that they aired. Sorry Bud Light, but you set the bar too high, and our expectations were let down. Hopefully you’ll be back in full force next year.

Focus on the Family – This commercial sparked a lot of controversy before the superbowl for it’s strong anti-abortion message, which had everyone poised to pay attention. Yet when the ad aired, the abortion message was taken out, and so the message came across as weak. Without a strong value proposition the ad did little to attract supporters, and didn’t drum up any outcry from the detractors (which is sometimes a good thing).

What did you think about the superbowl ads? Which were your favorites?

The Cyphers Agency is proud to announce an important addition to our team! Jocelyn Rimbey has been working as an intern in our Word of Mouth (WOM) department for over six months, and has been instrumental in our success. We decided she was too good to just be an intern, so we’ve hired her full time! Her official title is now “Word of Mouth Coordinator.”

Jocelyn went to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (not to be confused with Ohio State University). She majored in Creative Advertising and Branding, with a focus in Marketing. She loves accents, bows, French hats (see below) and coffee. Among her many WOM talents, she’s  especially good at writing blog posts.

As a Word of Mouth Coordinator, Jocelyn will be responsible for spreading the word about our clients. This can involve developing blogger relationships, posting on online forums, managing ambassador programs, guerilla marketing, running flashmobs, or any other creative ideas we come up with. We are constantly impressed with her writing, creative thinking, proactive attitude, and eagerness to learn.

Congratulations Jocelyn, we’re glad to have you!

Here are a couple of pictures of Jocelyn so you all can get acquainted:

If you haven’t heard, Toyota has recently been hard at work cleaning up the mess of its 2.3 million vehicle recall. While it is potentially devastating for Toyota, whose entire brand image has been based on vehicle reliability, it led for some pretty opportunistic moments for others in the auto industry.

Hardly anyone took advantage, but GM stepped up to the plate with an awesome incentive program that helped capture what would otherwise be some pretty loyal Toyota consumers. The best part about GM’s plan is that they didn’t alter their positioning at all. They haven’t made any new promises or changed their advertising. They simply allow Toyota owners (who terminate their Toyota lease, of course) to get up to $1,000 off a new or leased GM vehicle: a pretty good incentive for making the switch. Toyota’s fumble couldn’t have come at a better time for a company like GM; it has allowed them to really push their own promises of reliability and quality to a very tuned in audience with a specific set of needs. So whether or not Toyota is handling their recall the right way is almost beside the point; GM has stepped in at exactly the right time to take advantage of their competitor’s weakness.

As far as any business goes, it is important for your company to be able to handle problems and crises with foresight and grace, but it is just as important to know what is going on beyond your company. Keeping tabs on your industry and your competitors can bring advantageous opportunities to really reach your audience.

At any advertising agency, there are many parts. There is usually some mix of creatives, account service, word of mouth/social media, traffic, and PR professionals. (Hint – if you want to see the people behind The Cyphers Agency, click on some of the links in this blog post)

We thought it would be a good idea to let you know what all of these people do, and why, when you put us all together, we come up with such great ideas.

Account Service – The people in account service at The Cyphers Agency are constantly making sure that our clients objectives are being accomplished. They oversee all projects and campaigns, and provide strategic and planning insight throughout the process. Communication (to keep clients happy, and keep the agency “account”-able) is essential with account service personnel.

Creative Department – These groovy folks aren’t just the ones creating ideas, websites, building facebook and iPhone apps, designing print ads, and filming television ads. Yeah, they do all that, but their most important job is conveying ad messages and accomplishing strategic objectives in unique and memorable ways. If you can see it, these people did it. And they put a lot of thought behind the idea.

Word of Mouth / Social Media (we call it “Push-N-Pull” here at Cyphers) – This department spreads the word for our clients. Whether our clients want to increase awareness, increase web traffic, improve customer service, search engine optimization, increase customer reviews, (BREATH….) perform market research, distribute promotions, handle a crisis, or just start “Facebook-ing” and “Twittering”, this is the department that will be getting your message to the people that want to hear it.

Traffic – This department handles the behind-the-scenes management of all the jobs. Who needs what? Where does that job need to go next? Traffic handles the who, what, when, where, and why for all of our clients. Most importantly, our traffic department ensures that all of our jobs are out the door to clients on time.

So hopefully you now have a greater understanding of how advertising agencies work. Why does ours work so well? Because we don’t just do our jobs separately. From brainstorms to our open office to staff meetings to following each other on social networks, there is a lot of communication here at The Cyphers Agency. That way, when something important happens, we all know about it quickly. Or when someone has an idea, we can all build on it quickly. This is just one of the reasons that The Cyphers Agency is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

Yesterday, as I walked into work with our creative director, my attention was brought to a pile of phone books lying on the ground beneath our mailbox. Darren, our CD, noted that they were for our office complex to use, but that they had been sitting there for about a year. A YEAR!

The nearly untouched pile of phone books got our minds turning. How long ago was it that EVERYONE wanted a spot in the Yellow Pages? It was one of the best tools to use in any print campaign.

We don’t mean to continually beat it into the ground, but times are changing. Web 2.0 is happening. It’s no longer the way of the future. Need a number? Google it. Need to find a company? Google it. Advertisers need to step up and embrace new mediums to really meet their customers.

We also don’t mean for you or your company to jump the metaphorical traditional advertising ship. Not at all. Print media is still relevant and can have a place in an advertising campaign. We’re just saying that it can’t be the only weapon in your arsenal. And more than anything, we believe in integration: using the right tools for the right audience, mixing necessary mediums.

So if you are one of those people or companies that is stuck in that traditional mindset of only using print advertising, you better step up your game and embrace new ways of communication. Because if you don’t, you’ll get left behind, just like the pile of untouched phone books sitting on the cold, hard ground outside of our office.