Pubdate: Mon, 27 Jan 2003
Source: York Daily Record (PA)
Copyright: 2003 The York Daily Record
Contact:  http://www.ydr.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/512
Author: Michele Canty

ADS GIVEN SUPER SCRUTINY

Members Of A York Advertising Firm Offer Their Takes On Commercials Costing 
About $2 Million Each

As two teams battled for which would be considered the greatest football 
team in Super Bowl XXXVII, another tournament raged when the players went 
into time out and the advertisers took over.

Like many watching the big game, employees of Marketing Works, a marketing, 
advertising and public relations firm in York, also came for the ads. They 
gathered at Sandy and Mack Wynegar's Wrightsville home, not only to watch 
the ads, but to rate the good, the bad and the really bad.

Some commercials, including a spot from Reebok featuring a football player 
tackling employees in an office, made the cut, and will probably be 
recognized in the firm's awards this morning.

Others, such as the Subway ad featuring Jared, who became famous when he 
lost weight eating the subs along with diet and exercise, got a 
tongue-lashing almost as brutal as Mr. Blackwell's yearly dish on bad fashion.

"I'm going to revive my comment from last year on this one," said Martin 
Bentley Krebs, Creative Services Manager for the company. "Go away (Jared), 
or I will eat you and your skinny friends, too."

Years ago, Krebs was working from home and watching the Super Bowl with a 
legal pad in hand. He began taking notes on the commercials, which are 
usually a hot topic of discussion around the office on the Monday after the 
game.

Soon, the commercials became the center of "awards," or tongue-in-cheek 
descriptions of how employees felt about the ads. For example, last year, 
Krebs bestowed the "Governor's Trophy for the Most Colossal Waste of 
Money," award to the Britney Spears/Pepsi through-the-decades campaign.

"It did not deliver nearly at the level that the hype promised it would," 
he said.

On rating the ads, Krebs added, "Sure, we're advertising professionals ... 
but we're also consumers whose opinions and tastes run just as wide and 
varied as the audiences we seek to target."

This year, some advertisers spent between $1.9 million to $2.1 million on 
30-second spots in the year's most-watched televised event, according to 
the Associated Press. During the game's first two quarters, 30 of about 61 
spots had been shown.

The commercials covered a broad spectrum, from teasers for ABC's own shows, 
to a Bud Light commercial featuring a man with three arms, to a Levi's spot 
with buffalo running through a city, to Willie Nelson using shaving cream 
to pitch H&R Block's services.

Viewers also got to see previews for new movies soon to be in theaters, 
including the latest installment in the Terminator franchise, "Terminator 
3: Rise of the Machines," with Arnold Schwarzenegger and an unstoppable 
female cyborg.

A public service announcement about drugs riveted the group of about a 
dozen gathered at the Wynegar house. The spot showed a woman looking at a 
pregnancy test with her husband, waiting for the results.

At first, viewers are led to believe the couple would be having a baby. 
Then the words on the screen showed they'd be the youngest grandparents on 
the block. The test was for their teen-aged daughter, who had used 
marijuana and made a poor decision.

"I thought it was pretty powerful," said Brenda Riddle, senior graphic 
designer. "You go from being happy for them, to the reality of being a 
parent and drugs. It hits close to home."

Many in the crowd agreed, scribbling down notes of praise for the ad. 
Riddle did question the ad's placement, which came after one that left the 
entire room laughing out loud.

Praise for other ads came from those gathered, including 8-year-old Sean 
Smeltzer, who came to the party with his father, Allen, and mother, 
Shirley, who works at the firm. He loved a commercial for Dodge trucks that 
involved high speed and a man throwing up - one the rest of the group 
thought was not so hot.

"It was gross, but it was really cool," Sean said.
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