Big-time TV spots battle in the Ad Bowl

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - One Albuquerque business gave people a chance to rate the highly-touted Super Bowl XLIV commercials Sunday from the comfort on their own homes.

McKee Wallwork Cleveland, an Albuquerque based advertising group, developed the web-based program 10 years ago. While it may seem like a fun way for amateur critics to voice their opinions, there's a lot on the line.

“We wanted a place for people to actually vote on the ads,” MWC Account Supervisor Deena Crawley said.

Voting on the Web site started immediately after the first commercial played. The judging was left up to tens of thousands of consumers from across the world.

“We've even had people from other countries vote as well,” Crawley said.

It was a simple process. All the voters had to do was log on to adbowl.com or add the Ad Bowl application to their iPhone.

Voters then rated each commercial, based on a five-star system, on their likeability and effectiveness.

The critics were tough.

“There are some that fall off the edge,” Crawley said. “I would say the True TV that we just saw, not so good and the one for Boost Mobile people really pumped it up a lot and it flopped.”

While the truth may hurt, that's exactly what advertisers want to know.
While humor seemed to top the charts, it doesn't always mean the ad was effective.

“I thought it was great. It's not going to get me to buy Bud Light, but it’s humorous,” Mike Procter said.

As playful as the Web site may seem, it's serious business. Just hours after the Super Bowl came to end; the votes on adbowl.com were being tallied up.

On Monday morning advertising firms and corporations will look over the information gathered by the Web site and make some tough decisions.

“Some people are really going to get a pat on the shoulder tomorrow and say 'Well done you really made a good ad' and others are going to say 'Uh maybe this ad agency that made this commercial you're out of here we need to look for someone else,'” Crawley said.

The site not only helps the clients of MWC marketing. The advertising company has gained a lot of exposure and business since starting adbowl.com.

Preliminary results were posted to the Web site Sunday night.