According to Nielsen Media Research, an average of more than 93 million people watched the Indianapolis Colts soundly defeat the Chicago Bears in the drenching rain in Miami to become champions of Super Bowl XLI. The battle for the Midwest’s best was apparently pretty popular across the entire country, as the ratings showed that it came in as the third most-watched program in broadcast history, behind the “M*A*S*H” finale in 1983 and Super Bowl XXX (Dallas vs. Pittsburgh) in 1996.

In an event where many in the audience tuned in just to watch the commercials, which averaged $2.6 million per 30-second spot, companies that bought time during the Super Bowl had a lot to lose. Was the super price worth it? An extensive search of past Super Bowl ads revealed little empirical evidence that they motivate sales but left no doubt that they do motivate a great deal of discussion. It seems the residual effect of a Super Bowl ad, while difficult to measure, is even more difficult to deny.

The new wrinkle this year was the consumer-generated spot – ads concepted, and in some cases produced, by “real people.” Several commercials were the result of contests put on by companies for people to create their own spots. Doritos, the NFL and GM aired these, and they drew mixed reviews depending on which critic or blog you were reading.  Across the board, most of this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads earned mixed reviews.

By just one measure, IAG Research surveyed viewers and found that their three best-liked spots were the Doritos consumer-generated “Live the Flavor” ad, the Blockbuster rabbit and guinea pig using a real mouse to get online ad, and the Coca-Cola video game ad. As for recall, IAG found that the top three most-recalled ads were the Bud Light hitchhiker ad, the GoDaddy.com office tour ad, and the Bud Light pool-playing ad.

Perhaps the most advertisers can hope for is that when people remember, for example, the ad where Kevin Federline dream-rapped about being a VIP while on his shift as a fast-food worker, they will recall it was Nationwide being advertised and not French fries.

Here, then, is MillerWhite’s annual Super Bowl Commercial Recollection Test. See which products and companies you can recall. (Answers are below.)

The Super Bowl Product/Brand Test:

1. What beverage did Carlos and his buddy enjoy while watching the game after the girls left?
2. What company offered an alternative to getting robbed by the masked bank cashiers?
3. A Sheryl Crow performance attempted to carry this storyline promoting what beauty product?
4. Competition for a promotion becomes a bizarre battle in this spot for what company?
5. Kings of the jungle argue over the pronunciation of what fast food?
6. Dwayne Wade shows up Charles Barkley in a promotion for what?
7. What chilled beverage do the sand crabs worship?
8. A checkout girl gets really excited about what snack product?
9. When Ultra Man defeats the Mapasaurus, what technology helps him out?
10. What auto cures severe ceiling hair?
11. Robert Goulet was back in the office for what snack food?
12. What online tool made Pierce such a successful salesman?

And now that the season and the analysis – of the game and the commercials – are over, as the NFL’s winning consumer-generated ad pointed out, it really is hard to say goodbye!

The Answers: 1) Bud Light, 2) E-Trade, 3) Revlon hair coloring, 4) careerbuilder.com, 5) Taco Bell’s carne asada steak taquitos, 6) T-Mobile, 7) Budweiser, 8) Doritos, 9) Garmin GPS, 10) Nissan Versa Sedan, 11) Emerald Nuts, 12) Salesgenie.com

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