'Bowled over (ok it's monday people)

Gonna go ahead and proclaim, with all of the advertising expertise vested in me from four college courses, that this is the best Super Bowl ad of all time: Not only does it ~comment~ on the national conversation in a memorable way — which is an understatement tbh — but it also ties in with the brand's overall communication objective (telling people that they’re hiring), the probable marketing objective (driving people to the brand’s website/to find out more) and puts the brand front & center as a plausible, believable “hero” of the spot.

All that shit alone is usually hard af to do in itself (think of advertising as a giant, ongoing college group project), but to do it in such a graceful, powerful way? Bravo, 84 Lumber — and the Pittsburgh creative agency behind it, Brunner.

Ads like these always remind me why I got into this kind of #brandedcontent gig in the first place — because yeah, sometimes hustling corporations for $$ is less than Pulitzer-worthy, but also, brands with money have an incredible platform to make a real statement — especially when you have mad reach to the entire Super Bowl audience.

But also, lest we forget: Super Bowl halftime 2k16 was still the best moment maybe of our lives???

Like Deez Links? Forward to Melissa McCarthy!