Ad Critique- “The 100-Year Game”

One of the ads that I chose to critique was the NFL’s “The 100-Year Game” commercial from the 2019 Super Bowl. When I attended the NFL’s panel on Thursday, “Modern Brand Building: The NFL Players and League”, the NFL’s CMO, Tim Ellis showed us this commercial and explained why they chose this specific commercial for the league’s one hundred year anniversary. The commercial is two minutes in length and so it would have cost around $21 million to air, as Super Bowl commercials cost about $175,000 per second. This ad was entered into the film craft category, however, it did not win a lion. What I loved about this commercial was how relatable it was across all generations. I remember watching it for the first time during the Super Bowl with my dad and brother and how much they enjoyed seeing not only the new players they love, but players that my dad watched when he was growing up. This two minute commercial brought back stories that my dad could share with my brother and memories from watching games past. If you haven’t seen the ad, I can go ahead and give a brief synopsis. The commercial is set at a black tie dinner, celebrating the league’s 100th anniversary. All hell breaks loose when a golden football topples off of the cake and everyone in the room begins screaming “fumble.” The ad highlight key moments in football history such as Tom Brady and his record five (now six) Super Bowl rings, Odell Beckham Jr.’s legendary one-handed catch, and Emmitt Smith’s record 18,355 rushing yards. The entire commercial had a cast of forty four past and present players and two women– one being the NFL’s first female referee, Sarah Thomas, and the other being Sam Gordon, the sixteen-year-old who filed a Title IX lawsuit in 2012, at only nine-years-old, against schools in 2012 for not allowing female students to play tackle football. Overall, the commercial connected players and fans across nearly six generations and highlighted the NFL’s support of women joining the league/sport in various ways. In my opinion, it was the perfect ad to highlight the league’s 100th anniversary and reminisce the last one hundred years of football.

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