Sports
Super Bowl LIV: A comprehensive ranking of the top-20 commercials – Sportsnet.ca
Super Bowl LIV is in the books, and that means it’s time to re-live the best commercials from the big game.
More anticipated in some households than the actual Super Bowl, or even the halftime show, are the interstitial advertising spots that break up the periods of play. No matter your level of engagement with the game or your football knowledge, everyone wants to watch the commercials.
In the PVR and on-demand generation of viewing, live-event advertising has become coveted ground. The most sacred and lucrative of which is Super Bowl commercial real estate, and this year the cost of a 30-second commercial during the 2020 Super Bowl was $5.6 million, up $400,000 from 2019.
Despite the price, we saw political ads from Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg trying to get in on the action.
This is the one game that produces both a captive audience and an urge to share reactions, thus creating impressions on social media. This year’s ads skewed light and funny overdramatic and serious.
I’ve made it a habit to make a not-so-definitive and totally-open-for-debate list of the best Super Bowl commercials every year.
Here are the top-20 ads from Sunday’s Super Bowl 54.
20. Michelob ULTRA – Jimmy Works It Out
Michelob Ultra light beer utilized Jimmy Fallon and wrestler/actor John Cena to show Fallon getting fit with help from the likes of Usain Bolt and The Roots.
19. Audi – Let It Go
In a savvy move, the car company tapped into the fandom of two of the biggest hits in recent memory: Frozen and Game of Thrones. While stuck in traffic, Maisie Williams (a.k.a. Arya Stark) sings Disney’s Let It Go in the Audi e-tron Sportback — the company’s new electric vehicle. For Audi’s eleventh Super Bowl appearance, they used 72andSunny agency and it culminated in their best ad yet.
18. WeatherTech – Lucky Dog
For the second straight year, WeatherTech featured the CEO’s dog. This time it was used as a way to pay respect to and solicit donations for the University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine, which saved his dog’s life.
17. Mountain Dew – The Shining
In this homage to the cult classic The Shining, Bryan Cranston acts out Jack Nicholson’s role and Tracee Ellis Ross plays Shelley Duvall’s character.
16. Budweiser – Typical American
Featuring the U.S. women’s national soccer team chugging victoriously, this ad does a fantastic job of letting “typical” Americans know they’re anything but. It’s a clear attempt to unite Americans in a divisive time, and it works.
15. Google – Loretta
Tissue alert. When an elderly man starts to ask Google to help him remember his wife, it hit me hard.
14. Walmart – Famous Visitors
In their first Super Bowl ad, characters from Arrival, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, the Bill & Ted franchise and more arrive to pick up something they need at Walmart, like us mere mortals do.
13. Pop-Tarts – Fixed the Pretzel Commercial
Pop-Tarts gets an assist from Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness in this spot designed to introduce the brand’s new pretzel line.
12. Snickers – #SnickersFixtheWorld
It turns out that life’s great problems (like corrupt politics, laughable baby names and always-incorrect autocorrect) can be solved by one thing: a Snickers bar. Who knew?
11. Doritos – The Cool Ranch
It’s the gift we didn’t know we needed — a Lil Nas X vs. Sam Elliott Western shootout-style dance-off to Old Town Road.
10. Amazon News – What did we do before Alexa?
Amazon knows celebrity power couples garner attention. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi ask a silly but equally funny question, “What did we do before Alexa?” This ad had #BeforeAlexa trending well before the game was over.
9. Cheetos – Can’t Touch This
The ’90s are coming back in style, so obviously MC Hammer is back too. In a clever twist, one of his classic songs is used to show Cheetos lovers that getting that orange dust on your hands can actually be a benefit.
8. TurboTax 2020 – “All People Are Tax People”
This commercial has an original version and a remix. When you have people from all walks of life doing various hip-hop dances in celebration for doing their taxes, you have a winner.
7. Rocket Mortgage – Jason Momoa Super Bowl Commercial
In what is undoubtedly the strangest ad of the bunch, Jason Momoa stars in Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loan’s Super Bowl commercial. Momoa unveils what he’s actually like behind closed doors. For better or for worse, you won’t be able to un-see this.
6. Genesis – Going Away Party
In one of the most well-shot spots of the night, Hyundai, which owns Genesis, used celebrity power couple Chrissy Teigen and John Legend to tell the story of “new luxury.” The 60-second spot was the inaugural Super Bowl commercial for Genesis.
5. Hyundai Sonata – Smaht Pahk
Though it looks like this ad was made with New England Patriots fans in mind, it still resonates on a more universal level. Chris Evans, John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch and, yes, “Big Papi” David Ortiz himself, provide play-by-play of the Sonata’s new feature: remote smart-parking assist. The star of the commercial is undoubtedly the incomparable Boston accent.
4. Budweiser Canada – Whassup Again
Budweiser recreated the legendary “Whassup?” ad spot on its 20th anniversary, this time with a “smart” twist — and it targeted Canadians specifically as Budweiser Canada partnered with Uber in the ride-sharing company’s first Super Bowl ad. The last frame of the ad revealed a discount code to help get Canadians home after watching the game.
3. Jeep – Groundhog Day
Bill Murray, in his first-ever national television commercial, re-enacts his classic movie Groundhog Day, but this time around, he’s driving a 2020 Jeep Gladiator. Given that Super Bowl Sunday fell on Groundhog Day and that Murray has become a cult figure to sports fans, this was a win-win-win.
2. Hulu – Tom Brady’s Big Announcement
Tom Brady’s cryptic Twitter post seemed thirsty. Now we know why. It was not a goodbye to the NFL and a hello to retirement, it was a teaser for his Hulu ad in which he says goodbye to traditional TV and hello to streaming. The irony is that the spot aired on cable in front of millions, but regardless, kudos to Brady who managed to stay top of mind on Super Bowl Sunday, even though he wasn’t in the game.
1. NFL – Next 100
Once again, the NFL’s “The Next 100” commercial won the night. It displayed the old, new and future faces of the sport enjoying the game, including a goosebump-inducing Pat Tillman moment. In all, 32 kids were featured, one from each fan base, who were winners of the “Next 100” contest.
Sports
Start time set for Game 1 in Maple Leafs-Bruins playoff series – Toronto Sun
Article content
Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will be tuning in a little bit later than usual on Saturday night to see the puck drop for Hockey Night in Canada.
Article content
The NHL announced the start times on Thursday for the Eastern Conference playoff matches and the Leafs and Bruins will faceoff at 8 p.m. ET in Boston on Saturday, a bit later than the usual 7 p.m. puck drop for Toronto.
Article content
The game will be broadcast on CBC and Sportsnet in Canada.
Article content
Saturday’s other game will be the New York Islanders taking on the Carolina Hurricanes at 5 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.
The other Eastern Conference playoff matchups will start Sunday, with the Battle of Florida between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning going at 12:30 p.m. and the New York Rangers playing Washington Capitals at 3 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
With several Western Conference teams wrapping up their regular-season slates on Thursday, the remainder of the playoff schedule is yet to set.
Recommended from Editorial
The Maple Leafs also announced Thursday that the tailgate at Maple Leaf Square will open its gates at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Fans must register for a free mobile pass to be admitted to tailgates with passes available only on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and are non-transferable. Passes are available at 1 p.m. ET the day before each confirmed game with each fan permitted up to two passes per game.
Ahead of puck-drop, fans in the Square will be able to enjoy giveaways, special guests, a live DJ and more.
Share this article in your social network
Sports
How the NHL moved the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City – Sportsnet.ca
* public_profileBlurb *
* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *
Sports
Canucks fans aren't allowed to buy tickets to playoff games in Nashville – Vancouver Is Awesome
It’s a long flight to Nashville from Vancouver.
Over 3200 kilometres separate the two cities. With the Vancouver Canucks slated to play the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s easily the longest travel distance of any of the first-round match-ups. In fact, It’s a longer distance between two cities than all of the Eastern Conference match-ups combined.
But some intrepid Canucks fans were planning on making the trip. It’s the first time in nine years that Canucks fans have had a chance to see their favourite team in the playoffs in person, so it’s understandable that they would want to make the most of the opportunity.
Unfortunately, fans looking for tickets to Canucks/Predators playoff games in Nashville were in for a rude awakening when they checked Ticketmaster.
Fans were greeted with a warning on the Ticketmaster site that they would be unable to buy tickets from outside of the “Nashville Predators television viewing area – Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.”
“To better serve Nashville predators fans, a restricted sales area has been implemented,” reads the warning. “Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside the viewing area will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
Because the restriction uses the buyer’s billing address, this could even affect Predators fans from outside of the select states who might be temporary residents in Tennessee, such as students at Vanderbilt University.
Teams have done this before in the playoffs. Notably, the Florida Panthers restricted ticket sales to American residents only for their second-round match-up against the Toronto Maple Leafs last year. The intent is clearly to give priority to local fans and prevent opposing fans from filling the arena.
This is also nothing new for the Predators, who even have certain games on their regular season calendar where they restrict sales as well.
“Preds have certain “Gold Games” like Saturday games where they restrict sales to local in hopes of filling the arena with Pred fans,” said one Reddit user. “I’m a season ticket holder and there are games that we cannot even transfer the tickets. The only option is to attend or donate them.”
Canucks fans don’t even have the option of buying tickets on the secondary market. Sites like StubHub use Ticketmaster Ticket Transfers to pass tickets along from the original buyer but the message on the Ticketmaster site says, “Ticket Transfers will be disabled for this event.”
This has understandably upset Canucks fans who were hoping to make the trip.
That includes fans who were hoping to travel from closer to Tennessee, like this fan from Illinois:
Seemingly the only option for fans to buy tickets to the Canucks playoff games in Nashville is to have friends or family who live in the area who can buy the tickets for them.
PITB has reached out to the Predators for comment but did not receive a reply by publication.
-
Science6 hours ago
Jeremy Hansen – The Canadian Encyclopedia
-
Tech24 hours ago
Cytiva Showcases Single-Use Mixing System at INTERPHEX 2024 – BioPharm International
-
Health20 hours ago
Supervised consumption sites urgently needed, says study – Sudbury.com
-
Investment6 hours ago
UK Mulls New Curbs on Outbound Investment Over Security Risks – BNN Bloomberg
-
News20 hours ago
Canada's 2024 budget announces 'halal mortgages'. Here's what to know – National Post
-
Tech6 hours ago
Save $700 Off This 4K Projector at Amazon While You Still Can – CNET
-
News18 hours ago
2024 federal budget's key takeaways: Housing and carbon rebates, students and sin taxes – CBC News
-
Science19 hours ago
Giant, 82-foot lizard fish discovered on UK beach could be largest marine reptile ever found – Livescience.com