How Does American Advertising Influence the UK? Super Bowl Ads 2012.

I have to say I am surprised about how much coverage the American Super Bowl advertising is getting in the UK this year. It seems to be massively hot news and everybody is talking about the adverts and which ones were the best and worst! I think this is down to how social media has made our world so much smaller. The Super Bowl weekend is one of the most watched sporting events in the world, watched by an estimated 114 million people, so I can understand why it's such a talking point this week.

The common consensus it seems is the Honda one is about the best with Mathew Broderick having a "Day Off" Ferris Bueller style. I think the best thing about the clip is the car as it trades off the nostalgia of a classic 80's film.

For those who don't remember 1986 here's a clip of the original film:

I preferred the quirkier Toyota ad:

With 70 advertising slots all sold out and brands paying up to $3.5 million for 30 seconds of air time this is big business...estimated at having generated over a 1/4 billion dollars in advertising sales it's no wonder we're all talking about it both sides of the pond. The last ten years have seen prices for slots rise by 50% ...it clearly is the advertising event of the year globally.

Half time seemed dominated by car ads - the Volkswagen one wasn't too bad, and the Chevrolet one was entertaining enough. Kia's blatant sex sells attitude is more 1986 than 2012 and Audi opted to get in on the popularity of vampire themes in the media over the last couple of years.

The half time entertainment was a collaboration between Madonna, LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, MIA, Cee Lo Green, and the Cirque du Soleil:

Among the worst half time ads, sad to say, included British stars. H&M seemed to be showcasing David Beckham himself rather than the range of clothes...did they have the same advertising agency as Kia? Elton John was holding court for Pepsi, Ricky Gervais causing havoc for Time Warner Cable, and Coca-Cola 's insipid ice-skating polar bears... luckily not a Brit' in sight for this last one.

All eyes in the UK were on the advertising - with lots of sporting events over here this year there will be plenty of brands looking at ideas for adverts over the summer... or will we see some recycling of the Super Bowl ads? It seems as our world gets smaller we are more and more influenced by what happens elsewhere.

Oh and I think some blokes played a bit of American football too..