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Pokémon's 20th Anniversary Super Bowl Commericial Uploaded

Griss

Member
That was really surprisingly terrible. Just bloody awful.

'Hey, what if we make a typical sports product ad, then shoehorn terrible CGI pokemon into the last 5 seconds as a bait and switch... would that make pokemon cool again?'

Lame as hell. Also fun that it opens in Brazil when Nintendo pulled out of there. Good luck to that little Brazilian kid if he actually wants to play Pokemon.

Nothing in pokemon is like athletic training, and playing pokemon is about as far from an athletic activity as is humanly possible. The ad is just discordant as fuck. As a huge pokemon fan for every single one of those 20 years, I'm disappointed by this.
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
I doubt that your average Carolina Panthers fan knows what any of these are, so I fail to see how a commercial that neither describes nor depicts these concepts can be seen as advertising them.

Oh man this thread is already a fucking advanced class in marketing I tell you
 
pretty meh commercial, honestly if they had just put a "pokemon go- mobile" after the 20th logo it would have had people asking "what is pokemon go?" and etc

the superbowl will be watched be a ton of people, even if Go is not releasing anytime soon, at least let people who haven't heard of it become curious of it.

no Blastoise :(
 

L Thammy

Member
What the commercial doesn't tell you is that the football team later made it to the Super Bowl themselves. But they had to quit before the final match so they could fight a green-haired PETA member whose castle.appeared under the stadium.
 

Zalman

Member
Just saw these on Twitter, I didn't even notice them. Dat logo:
CZlNBPdUkAAYI5t.jpg:large
Also, 1996:
 
Yeah they should've just had 5 minutes of Pokken gameplay feed with a Lucario vs Suicune. You know Pokémon the general public know and love.

That would've been a hecka cool Super Bowl commercial.
 
Okay, now I get this. Seeing the achievements of others and it acting as inspiration is a Pokemon trope. The protagonist of Gold and Silver wanted to become a champion after seeing Red due it and also because he met Lance along the way. Obstacles come their way, but they always train to realize them in the end.
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
Yeah they should've just had 5 minutes of Pokken gameplay feed with a Lucario vs Suicune. You know Pokémon the general public know and love.

That would've been a hecka cool Super Bowl commercial.

Because 10 seconds of piss poor CGI was that much better
 

21XX

Banned
I doubt that your average Carolina Panthers fan knows what any of these are, so I fail to see how a commercial that neither describes nor depicts these concepts can be seen as advertising them.

Were you alive when Pokemon was gigantic? I mean, not today's gigantic, but on-the-cover-of-Time-and-featured-in-news-cast-after-news-cast gigantic?

Do you honestly think someone is going to see that and not know what Pokemon is?

All this negativity is surprising to me. It's like you wanted some silly anime cartoon commercial with a product placement at the end. Sure, the CG is a little iffy, but the I think the messaging, atmosphere and visuals are light years beyond some Pokemon commercial you'd see running before the stupid anime.

The dad telling his son "You can do that" at the end is a very sweet moment. It goes beyond "Hey check out this new Pokemon thing!" It fits with the anniversary theme. "This is something I used to love and had big dreams about. Now it's yours."
 
Maybe I wouldn't think this commercial was so bad if the CG didn't look like it was CG from a PS1 game. I'm sure most people watching the Super Bowl are going to laugh at this shit because of it.
 

Griss

Member
Maybe I wouldn't think this commercial was so bad if the CG didn't look like it was CG from a PS1 game. I'm sure most people watching the Super Bowl are going to laugh at this shit because of it.

Real-time video game graphics look better than this shit nowadays. Shit, Pokemon X designs looked better.

They spent so much money shooting these big (useless) crowd scenes on location and then cheap out completely on the most important part, the CGI.

It's clown shoes.

Do you honestly think someone is going to see that and not know what Pokemon is?

Yes. I call them 'children'.
 

DrArchon

Member
OK, you got me with the "Like no one ever was" on the top of the door to the locker room. Other than that, I'm not feeling it. Maybe that's because I play games regularly so I know Pokemon is still a thing, but the whole commercial just felt like it was reminding people that Pokemon still exists so it didn't do much for me.

I'd have much rather seen more Pokken gameplay, but I know that wouldn't fly for a Super Bowl spot.
 
It's absolutely fine as a big, "Hey, remember Pokémon being a thing? It still is!" campaign.

This is targeted directly at the mainstream, 20-something audience who remember Pokémon from the days where it was the biggest thing in the world and haven't given it a spare thought since. It's a far better use of time that just revealing Z or something ("filled with Pokémon that you don't care about!").

I will say that I'm pretty surprised Go isn't explicitly namechecked, though. I'm guessing that's a little further out than we thought.
 

JoeM86

Member
Rather than being negative, let's all try to get all the references. For example the Moomoo Milk and Rare Candy in this bit

CZlMxytUsAA8wHJ.jpg:orig


It's absolutely fine as a big, "Hey, remember Pokémon being a thing? It still is!" campaign.

This is targeted directly at the mainstream, 20-something audience who remember Pokémon from the days where it was the biggest thing in the world and haven't given it a spare thought since. It's a far better use of time that just revealing Z or something ("filled with Pokémon that you don't care about!").

I will say that I'm pretty surprised Go isn't explicitly namechecked, though. I'm guessing that's a little further out than we thought.

To be fair. The mishmash of CG Pokémon and real life in trailers has been happening for years, long before Pokémon GO.
 

21XX

Banned
Real-time video game graphics look better than this shit nowadays. Shit, Pokemon X designs looked better.

They spent so much money shooting these big (useless) crowd scenes on location and then cheap out completely on the most important part, the CGI.

It's clown shoes.



Yes. I call them 'children'.

I'm going to bet that most kids have at least a passing idea of what Pokemon is.

You don't need to be shilling a product to create a successful ad. Don't think of what it's trying to sell. Think of what it's trying to tell.

(I stand by that last part but recognize its corniness).

Also, the CG is definitely, definitely not the most important part. This is not an issue of graphics for fucks sake.
 

L Thammy

Member
This person gets it.

AR or VR Yugioh with unique animations to all the monster cards would be the best.

I don't think that's what they mean. I think they mean that they won't accept AR until you physically collapse from exhaustion from playing a card game with holograms.
 

jholmes

Member
Were you alive when Pokemon was gigantic? I mean, not today's gigantic, but on-the-cover-of-Time-and-featured-in-news-cast-after-news-cast gigantic?

Do you honestly think someone is going to see that and not know what Pokemon is?

All this negativity is surprising to me. It's like you wanted some silly anime cartoon commercial with a product placement at the end. Sure, the CG is a little iffy, but the I think the messaging, atmosphere and visuals are light years beyond some Pokemon commercial you'd see running before the stupid anime.

The dad telling his son "You can do that" at the end is a very sweet moment. It goes beyond "Hey check out this new Pokemon thing!" It fits with the anniversary theme. "This is something I used to love and had big dreams about. Now it's yours."

I was in fact cognizant of Pokemon's release in North America when it was happening, because I was of sufficient age. I don't want this to be a commercial full of anime visuals. I believe the company to be wasting its resources trying to appeal to a demographic that is unfamiliar with the product 20 years removed from its height of popularity. I would at least understand the need to have paid for such an expensive ad if there were something to sell, but this ad does not try to sell anything. It is, as I said on the first page, a quintessential Super Bowl ad, not designed to inform consumers but instead to self-congratulate. If you personally find it entertaining, that's great. But I don't think it's the best way for TPC to spend money.

And I think that covers all the bases.
 

Azuran

Banned
Lucario in a Super Bowl commercial while Jigglypuff and Meowth were nowhere to be seen. Deniers have officially been BTFO
 

ash_ag

Member
I have to say that I expected them to advertise Pokémon GO. It's pretty unexpected that they decided to have an ambiguous ad that essentially pushes Pokémon as a value, rather than a product. It's incredibly interesting though. I feel TPC is trying to establish Pokémon as a franchise that refers to pretty much everyone, regardless of age, country or interests. Very ambitious, and looking forward to seeing their next moves.
 

21XX

Banned
I was in fact cognizant of Pokemon's release in North America when it was happening, because I was of sufficient age. I don't want this to be a commercial full of anime visuals. I believe the company to be wasting its resources trying to appeal to a demographic that is unfamiliar with the product 20 years removed from its height of popularity. I would at least understand the need to have paid for such an expensive ad if there were something to sell, but this ad does not try to sell anything. It is, as I said on the first page, a quintessential Super Bowl ad, not designed to inform consumers but instead to self-congratulate. If you personally find it entertaining, that's great. But I don't think it's the best way for TPC to spend money.

And I think that covers all the bases.

Fair enough. I love the celebration aspect of it and as someone who considers Pokemon to the be purest crystallization of my childhood, it struck a major chord. I think the messaging and sentiment reach far beyond just selling something.
 
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