Super Bowl

The Story Behind Kendrick Lamar’s Buick GNX for the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime performance featured a prominent automotive centerpiece: a black 1987 Buick GNX. The vehicle, which played a key role in the show’s opening moments, holds significant personal and artistic meaning for the rapper. The GNX, or Grand National Experimental, was a limited-edition performance car produced by Buick in 1987. Only 547 units were manufactured, making it a rare and sought-after collector’s item. Lamar, born in 1987, has a personal connection to the vehicle. His father reportedly drove him home from the hospital in a Buick Regal, the base model for the GNX. The car’s appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show coincides with Lamar’s latest album, titled “GNX,” released in November 2024. Throughout the album,

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Behind the Scenes of the 2024 Kia EV9 Super Bowl Commercial

This Super Bowl season, Kia is set to enchant viewers with a 60-second commercial for the all-new 2024 Kia EV9. The commercial is designed to showcase the EV9 as a beacon of hope and a source of power to illuminate the lives around us. To examine the making of the commercial, Michael Kahn, Publisher at The Weekly Driver conducted an exclusive telephone interview with Russell Wager, Vice President of Marketing at Kia America. Wager shared behind-the-scenes insights, revealing the creative process and strategic thinking that went into the making of the “Perfect 10” commercial. Featuring the collaborative track “Wish I Was Here” by Cat Power and Coldplay, the ad tells the heartwarming tale of a young figure skater, her father,

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Super Bowl: Melissa McCarthy saves the planet in a Kia

Kia takes chances with its Super Bowl commercials. Who would have thought a pack of talking hamsters would be successful promoting the Kia Soul? But it’s been a hit for years. The Kia commercial last year featuring Christopher Walken, the “Walken Closet,” and beige and colorful sock puppets is arguably on the top-10 all-time Super Bowl commercials list. It brilliantly promoted the Kia Optima. And now comes along Melissa McCarthy, the comedic actress who while driving a 2017 Kia Niro has the task of saving the planet. She tries to save whales, trees, the polar ice cap and the rhinoceros kingdom. While promoting the 2017 Kia Niro, McCarthy meets catastrophe in each of her attempts to be an eco-warrior. The

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Christopher Walken Sells Kia in Super Bowl with socks

Leave it to actor Christopher Walken to use socks as hand puppets, his unique timing and his equally unique voice characteristics, and a clever take on his last name to sell Kia automobiles during Super Bowl 50. The 60-second advertisement “Walken Closet” will debut during the fourth quarter. It features the Academy Award winner employing a colorfully, stylish sock and a dull pair of beige socks. Walken demonstrates how the next generation Optima stands out as a midsize sedan among others that look and drive the same — like beige socks. Kia’s multi-platform campaign will spotlights the 2016 Kia Optima is a series of commercials and other marketing campaigns. It’s an alternative “for those searching for more in a vehicle

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Christopher Walken lends pipes, pitches Kia in Super Bowl 50

Christopher Walken may or may not drive a Kia. But like Blake Griffin, his predecessor as a celebrity spokesman for the South Korean manufacturer, Walken is anything but basic and boring. He doesn’t blend in. That’s the catch in the carmaker’s in three new commercials touting 2016 Kia Optima. Walken, the Academy Award-winning actor, narrates but does not appear in the already airing spots titled “Middle C.” He also does the narration only in the yet-to-be broadcast “Cookie Cutter” commercial. But fans be ready. Walken will appear in a another new Kia commercial set for broadcast during Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016. Kia is promoting the new Optima as a “vibrant alternative for those determined not to blend

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Super Bowl hype begins as Hyundai reveals ad campaign

Let the Super Bowl hype begin. Hyundai will do its share. In its first year as an official NFL sponsor the carmaker will have four commercials televised before, during the broadcast and at haltime of Super Bowl 50 next February. Hyundai, a long-time Super Bowl advertiser, will run two in-game 30-second spots before halftime, with the new creative appearing during the first and second quarter of the game. Hyundai also secured the coveted pre-kick slot and will run a new 60-second ad as viewers are primed for the start of The Big Game. The pre-game show will also feature another all-new 60-second Hyundai spot. Hyundai did not advertise in this year’s Super Bowl, but the Koream manufactur will be part

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Carmen Electra does Wayne Chung in VW Super Bowl commercial

The mix of actress, model and personality Carmen Electra and English new wave band Wayne Chung might seem  odd. But Volkswagen thinks it works in the manufacturer’s teaser for its 2014 Super Bowl commercial. Puppies, a rooster, babies, confetti, an annoying car alarm and some cheap jokes are in the mix, too. It’s all accompanied by the tune, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight.” It’s of five Top 40 hits Wayne Chung had and it reached No 2 in 1986. The spot shows two Volkswagen engineers developing an algorithm to create the ultimate Game Day commercial. Things quickly go awry. And the one-minute tease ends with one of the VW engineers saying, “I don’t like that.” I don’t like it, either. Matthew

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Super Bowl commercials: Hyundai to tout Genesis, Elantra

Let the 2014 Super Bowl and its commercials — especially for carmakers — begin. And for Hyundai, the game Feb. 2 will mark the automaker’s seventh straight time participating in the biggest advertising day of the year. Hyundai will focus on two c ars in two 30-second spots on Fox Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII, the Hyundai Elantra and Hyundai Genesis. The Elantra is the South Korean manufacturer’s best-selling car. The Genesis is the Hyundai’s luxury sports sedan. The Genesis commercial spot, which will be broadcast in the first quarter of the Super Bowl, will focuses on a suite of 360-degree, sensory-based active-safety features like emergency braking and lane-departure warning. The Genesis ad will also highlight the sedan’s AWD

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Sexy model's 'Seduction' still selling FIAT Abarth . . . now eight million times

Since its debut about 3 1/2 months ago, the FIAT 500 Abarth commercial Seduction, which features Romanian model Catrinel Menghia and was showcased in the 2012 Super Bowl, has now been viewed nearly 8 million times on YouTube. In the one-minute spot, a young man fantasizes while seeing a beautiful woman's skirt slightly rise. Menghia is the woman who morphs into the Fiat. She also stars in the Nissan Juke Sports Illustrated commercials. When the woman catches the young man staring at her, she approachs, slaps him, then pulls him closer and whispers into his ear. Via translation, she says: What are you looking at? Uh!? What are you looking at?! (slap) Are you undressing me with your eyes? Poor

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Chrysler, Clint East Super Bowl commercial parody: Bailouts, Madonna, Polar Bears

It's halftime. Both teams are listening to a Madonna performance that sounds eerily similar to a Lady Gaga song they'll hear 10 years from now. It's halftime in America, too. People are out of work and they're hurting. And they're wondering where all their money went. Well, $12.5 billion of it went to Chrysler. In the form of a bailout. But it's okay, because Chrysler is all-American. Though technically 58.5% of Chrysler is owned by an Italian corporation. And Chrysler manufactures many of its vehicles in Canada. And Mexico. But I guess that doesn't make for a great commercial. Unlike polar bears. Or dogs. Or that digestive yogurt. Yeah, Americans are hurting. And their dollars are being used to bail

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Chrylser, Clint Eastwood Super Bowl commercial parody: It's halftime in Grand Rapids

In this parody of the Clint Eastwood's commercial for Chrysler, the voiceover isn't as strong as it could be. Nonetheless, it's about Grand Rapids, Mich., and it's halftime. Public art, graffiti, odd road signs and locals walking the streets are teased, and the parody works well. The video ends on a positive note, with its maker professing his love for Grand Rapids. James RaiaA sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004. In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness

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Toyota reinvents Camry, babies, DMV and pizza curtains in Super Bowl ad

Toyota made one of the best commercials for the 2012 Super Bowl. It's toutig the 2012 Toyota Camry, carmaker decided to do more. In the one-minute commercial, here's what Toyota has done: This is the re-invented couch. It also comes in male. This is a re-invented police officer. He's also a masseuse. This is the re-invented baby. It doesn't poop. It it also a time machine. The re-invented DMV. It's a little nicer. The re-invented blender. It plays Lionel Ritchey. The reinvented plant. It fights crime. The re-invented curtains. They are made of pizza. This is re-invente rain. It makes you skinny. And this is the re-invented Toyota Camry available with everything you could possibly want. James RaiaA sports, travel

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Clint Eastwood gets down and dirty for Chrysler, America in Super Bowl ad

With Clint Eastwood and his still powerful but raspy voice as the audio and images of Detroit and its people draped in shadows and often in darkness, Chrysler for the second straight year presented the only two-minute commercial in Super Bowl XLVI. Like Eminem last year, Eastwood was hired to star in a two-minute movie. Eastwood's role was in “It’s Halftime in America.” Unlike most carmakers, Chrysler didn't release the video or a tease to it prior to the same. Its absence only added to the suspense of its pending broadcast. And when Eastwood emerged from the shadows just before the start of the second half, he was captivating. With some overt and some subtle references to both his movies

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VW, Darth Vader and determined St. Bernard star in Super Bowl commercial

Even when Darth Vader, the usual go-to Volkswagen star for the carmaker’s Super Bowl commercials isn’t in his usual fictional villain prominence, he’s around. In one of VW’s spots for Super Bowl 46, it’s an overweight family pet dog that gets top billing. The dog undertakes a human healh fitness routine — treadmill, swimming, a better diet — to lose weight. When the dog is fit, he can fit through his owner’s doggy door, and he can match the speed of new VW Beetle cruising down the street. The dog’s name in Bolt. Darth Vader shows up in a bar at the end of the commercial to cause pain to a couple intergalactic patrons with strong opinions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-9EYFJ4Clo James RaiaA

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King Elton John gets dethroned in campy Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi

Sir Elton John has seemingly mellowed in recent years. He's a married guy now and his once flamboyant Liberace-Gone-Wild approach has transitioned into a more Wall Street-executive-with-hair-weave style. One exception is his new Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi. The over-the-top Elton is back with his one-minute commercial with X Factor winner Melanie Amaro. They act out a epic, medieval music showdown. Elton has his outrageous Kings clothes, platform heals and some oversized glasses, circa the performer's signature look from 30 years ago. Amaro's blasts out the beginning of "Respect," the epic pop tune made famous by Aretha Franklin. Amaro gets the last laugh, plunging Elton in the dungeon. James RaiaA sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years,

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Super Bowl commericals: For creepy Cars.com ad, two heads not better than one

It's sometimes hard to know what the creative minds behind the commercials are thinking, particularly when considering a spot like the Cars.com 30-second ad that will be broadcast in Super Bowl 46. The plot is odd: Inside a dealership showroom, a car shopper is talking to a friendly dealer. But it's no ordinary visit. As the customer and salesman are chatting, the car shopper's inner confidence is unleashed from his neck and shoulder in the form of smooth Disco-singing head. The tune: "Baby, I want that car!" Some internet viewers have commented that the commercial "creeps them out." That's a three-word review hard to disagree with. It's also a commercial that likely fits into the category of being so unique,

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