By Mark  Brandau

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Upset chickens starred in Denny's Super Bowl ad.

MIAMI (Feb. 8, 2010) The Super Bowl is one of the most important advertising days of the year, and several restaurant companies, including Denny's and Taco Bell, paid as much as $3 million to air commercials during this year's game.

Marketing expert Mark DiMassimo, chief executive and chief creative officer for New York-based agency DIGO, said the overall 2010 lineup of Super Bowl ads was a “conservative, mediocre year.”

“It wasn’t a terrible year,” DiMassimo said, “but it also was a year that lacked a big event or a breakthrough spot. It seemed as if advertisers had lower aspirations or just failed to reach the levels of previous years.”

The 2010 Super Bowl was notable for the advertisers that were conspicuously missing, he added, including Pepsi’s highly publicized decision not to produce a commercial in favor of a digital campaign, McDonald’s advertising before the game and not during, and Burger King’s decision to sit this year out.

Just before the matchup between the Saints and Indianapolis Colts kicked off Sunday, McDonald’s aired its Super Bowl ad, recreating the famous “Nothing But Net” shooting match between Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. In this commercial, NBA superstars LeBron James and Dwight Howard staged their own slam-dunk contest. At the end, after Howard breaks the backboard, Bird makes a humorous cameo, eating the McDonald’s lunch that James and Howard were competing for. Click here to watch McDonald's commercial.

DiMassimo said McDonald’s decision to advertise in pregame and not during the event was a worthwhile calculation.

“If the spot didn’t run during the game, typically the advertiser wouldn’t pay as much,” he said. “Typically, they pay less and get the audience they pay for, but you don’t get the buzz that goes with being a Super Bowl advertiser.”

The first restaurant chain to launch an ad during the game was Papa John’s, with a “Papa’s in the House” spot in the second quarter. Papa John’s announced in late January that it was the official pizza sponsor of the Super Bowl and the NFL. Like many of the chain’s commercials, this ad featured Papa John’s founder and chief executive John Schnatter.

By Mark  Brandau

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Papa John’s also introduced Monday a promotion that offers guests three free toppings when they buy a large cheese pizza for $9 because the Super Bowl champion Saints scored three touchdowns.

Denny’s rolled several spots in this year’s Super Bowl, reprising last year’s splash promotion, a Grand Slam breakfast giveaway. The first of the ads came in the third quarter, and featured screaming chickens, who supposedly are dreading providing all the eggs for the family-dining brand’s nationwide promotion. The Grand Slam giveaway will take place Tuesday, and the chain also will give a free Grand Slam to guests on their birthday this year. Click here to watch one of Denny's commercials.

“Denny’s campaign was just terrific,” DiMassimo said. “I loved the way they told stories through those three spots. It was an ad campaign about something, so they didn’t abandon their business just to do a stunt. They had a real event, with something to sell, and they knocked it out of the park.”

“On the other end of the spectrum was Taco Bell’s,” he added. “I haven’t talked to anybody that enjoyed it. It was just an expensive miss.”

In the fourth quarter, Taco Bell promoted its Five Buck Box meal with a rap from NBA legend Charles Barkley, who got an assist from current Los Angeles Laker Lamar Odom. Taco Bell’s use of NBA players continues its sponsorship this year of the NBA and this month’s NBA All-Star Game. The chain also had partnered with point guards Brandon Jennings and Derrick Rose to give healthful-lifestyle tips in conjunction with Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet marketing campaign. Click here to watch Taco Bell's commercial.

While companies normally want to advertise earlier in the Super Bowl, DiMassimo said, they all benefited from a close game between evenly matched teams during Super Bowl XLIV, as the Saints and Colts weren’t separated by more than a touchdown until the pivotal play of the fourth quarter.

“I haven’t seen the [ratings] numbers, but when the game is close, the late viewership is much higher,” DiMassimo said. “This one was a nail-biter, with a real story behind the Saints. The ads that ran later got their money’s worth and got some association with some excited feelings.”

Other marketing experts also said the Super Bowl ads were a little lackluster this year, citing disappointments from Anheuser-Busch, which rolled several Budweiser and Bud Light commercials, and Coke. In the Adbowl online contest, conducted by Albuquerque, N.M.-based ad agency McKee Wallwork Cleveland, none of the restaurant advertisers made the top five commercials as voted by consumers.

Snickers took the top spot in Adbowl, with a commercial starring Betty White and Abe Vigoda, followed by ads from Doritos, Google, Volkswagen and another from Doritos.

Contact Mark Brandau at mbrandau@nrn.com.