In Response to Will Ferguson

So, what was your favorite commercial and why?

I personally love commercials that do a good job at balancing selling their product(s) and grabbing the attention of the viewers. Recently I have been enjoying the AT&T commercials. In each commercial it starts off by a man in a suit asking a question, one that relates to their product, only a group of kids answer. I like these commercials because they are all completely random, you never know what to expect. Although they do little advertising their product, the overall commercial draws you in right until the end. By drawing you in, you are inevitably being introduced to their product without ever truly realizing it. Here's an example of one of their commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61LjTwME7w

Is it a good way of advertising a product, if the product never truly gets mentioned until the end?

The Clydesdales: "Brotherhood"

The Super Bowl time slots for commercials might has well be an industry itself. Companies strive to get their commercial(s) on at a good time during the game. They spend time on making sure their commercial(s) will "grab" people's attention and present their product(s) in a way that will make people want to buy their product(s). This one particular Budweiser commercial stood out to me: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPG7PcI67dE

The commercial tells a story about a man and his horse. Budweiser provided a commercial that was unlike other commercials because it didn't aim to capture potential consumers through comedy, romance or any of the other "normal" ways of gaining attention from their viewers. In this case, Budweiser used emotion to grab attention. While watching the commercial you can't help but to feel for the owner when the horse seems to not remember him; until the end when the horse runs after the owners car. It had all the elements to drawing you into the story. It's amazing, to me, that some companies can create advertising that shares a story rather than continuously explaining their product(s). This commercial only shared glimpses of the well-known beer of Budweiser, but was still effective in my mind. 

Do you think that this is a good way for companies to draw people in to their commercials? Is the emotional state a good way to advertise products?