Jade Manning and Vince Osmond: Super Bowl 2023 – an expensive reminder that there is no formula for great ads

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Jade Manning and Vince Osmond: Super Bowl 2023 – an expensive reminder that there is no formula for great ads

By Jade Manning (right) and Vince Osmond (left), founding partners, Today the Brave.

 

It’s 2012. A young Jade and Vince are in their office at TBWA Johannesburg (hard to imagine, but all creative teams had offices back then). While our collection of He-Man figurines watch on, we wait for a video to load on our Macintosh computers. Eventually, we can click play on the Carlton Draught ‘Beer Chase’ commercial.

Ninety seconds later, the packshot appears, accompanied by one of the greatest lines of all time – Made from Beer. Staring at our laptops, we simply shake our heads in envy, and despair. But mostly despair. Because we’ll never be able to make something this awesome. “Those Aussies are so lucky”, we say. “If we had those brands, those budgets and those brave clients, we’d make awesome ads too”, we reassure ourselves. Must be nice.

It’s 2023, and we’ve long since left the cushy offices of TBWA Johannesburg. Two desks down, a young creative team digest this year’s Super Bowl ads. Conveniently for this story, they say something to the effect of “If we had those brands, those budgets and those brave clients, we’d make awesome ads too” But we’ve been in Beer Chase country for eight years now, so our response is a bit different; there is no formula for making great ads.

Just take a look at this year’s Super Bowl commercials.

This is one of the most-watched spectacles of all time. Brands are spending unspeakable amounts of money. Brilliant agencies with access to ridiculously famous celebrities – all the ingredients that we were convinced made for great ads. But in 2023, we still haven’t seen another Beer Chase.

Of course, this is not to suggest that all the ads are stinkers. Far from it. ‘The Singularity’ from Squarespace, ‘Great acting or great taste’ by Pepsi Zero Sugar and ‘One hit for Uber One’ are some of the goodies – the ones with ideas, not just celebs. But they lie amongst many thorns.

It leaves you wondering; what went wrong? Where does it unravel?

Perhaps the issue begins with believing that money and famous people are a guarantee for success in the first place. But if Super Bowl 2023 can teach us anything, it’s that there is no equation. No formula. No shortcut.

Even after you’ve been handed all the money. After you’ve been given the greatest brief. After cracking a killer idea. After getting the nod from John Travolta or Danny McBride. Even then, it’s no shoo-in for high fives.

It’s a terrifying realisation, and it’s why bravery will always be our greatest ally.

To be clear, ‘brave’ doesn’t mean everything needs to be Skittles, or even Beer Chase for that matter. Every brand’s DNA and version of bravery is different. Bravery helps us step into a world of unknowns and emerge with a point of difference, a bit of clarity, and a touch of magic which great ads have always had in common.

Cut back to 2012. Thanks to Elon’s breakthrough in time travel, an older Jade and Vince step into their Johannesburg office, wearing out-of-season black leather coats. Whispering unnecessarily, Jade says “There is no shortcut”. It’s too whispery. Younger Jade and Vince ask us to repeat. It’s awkward now. ‘There is no shortcut!’ Jade shouts, now too loudly. We grab a He-Man figurine and quickly we exit.