Super Bowl 2012: 10 Companies That Always Have Great Commercials

The thing that separates the Super Bowl from all other football games is the fact that it’s more than a game.

It’s an advertising portal, too.

Over the years, some of the most innovative commercials, not to mention some of the funniest and most thoughtful, have been designed to debut at the Super Bowl.

And there are non-football fans who enjoy the camaraderie of a Super Bowl party but are actually more captivated by the commercials than the football.

Just to be in the advertising competition, companies have to pony up big bucks.

Some do it more consistently well than others.

10. Apple

OK, Apple only had one truly memorable Super Bowl ad.

But it was a Hall of Famer.

It was the commercial vision that set the standard back in 1984.

It introduced the then-new Macintosh computer.

Apple never got Mac to become the leading computer. But the Mac platform served as a launching vehicle for the iPod and iPad and iPhone.

Overall, how’s Apple doing these days?

9. Wendy’s

The burger chain has long been involved in using the Super Bowl to sell munchies.

That being said, there's one Wendy’s ad that stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Curiously, it also debuted in 1984, as did the Apple Mac ad.

It was the "Where’s the Beef?’’ ad that at least temporarily made a star out of commercial actress Clara Peller, who made "Where’s the beef’’ one of the more unforgettable catchphrases of the decade.

Wendy's made alternate versions of this one for years.

8. EDS

You may not know just what services EDS provides, but if you’re a fan of Super Bowls past and present, you probably remember their commercials.

The first, back in 2005, showed a group of rough and grizzled Cowboys herding cats, or at least, trying to herd cats.

The second was a takeoff of the Pamplona "running with the bulls,’’ only with men running with squirrels.

Funny? Clever?

You bet.

Even if you don't know exactly what "managing the complexities for the digital economy'' means.

7. E-Trade

Those E-Trade Baby commercials that television viewers now simply can’t avoid all started with a Super Bowl advertisement.

But that’s just the latest.

Back in 1999, E-Trade debuted with a 60-second spot featuring a chimp and some chumps.

The monkey add went nowhere until the end, with the punch line "We just wasted $2 million’’ and wanting to know what the viewer was doing with his/her money.

6. Heineken

Even back in 2005, it was a major get for any advertiser to have Brad Pitt in an ad.

Heineken did the trick, making light of Pitt’s having to deal with the paparazzi after he opens the fridge to find there’s no Heineken, necessitating a humorously hazardous dash to and from the store, with none less than the Rolling Stones providing the soundtrack..

Three years later, the beer company played off the hugely stereotyped differences between men and women in the "walk-in fridge’’ commercial.

All the women gathered in a large apartment are enthralled by the wonders of a huge walk-in closet full of shoes and clothes.

The men have a meltdown over a walk-in fridge full of nothing but Heineken.

5. McDonald’s

Back in 1993, the burger behemoth went to basketball during the ultimate football game to sell its signature Big Mac.

Larry Bird and Michael Jordan put on the most outrageous game of H-O-R-S-E ever, making more and more outlandish trick shots, all for the winning of a Big Mac.

The string of special commercials continued through last year, when a bear takes his son out to celebrate a great report card by eating some McDonald's—getting it by emptying a nearby car with a family munching away.

4. Coke

Perhaps, the most well-remembered commercial came from Coca-Cola back in 1979, with the Steelers’ Joe Greene running into a young fan after having had a tough day.

It might have been the greatest Super Bowl ad ever, with the kid giving Mean Joe his bottle of Coke and, at the commercial’s end, Greene saying thanks by giving the kid the jersey off his back.

Coke has been at it ever since, including the 2008 entry in which Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloons vie for a Coke, with Charlie Brown winning.

3. Snickers

If there's a modern equivalent to the Mean Joe Greene Coke ad, it would have to be the entry of Snickers back in 2010.

What can be said about Betty White being tackled in the middle of a weekend football game among friends?

(Does anyone remember that Abe Vigoda was in the add, too?)

It ignited White’s career, and it led to a 2011 follow-up with Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis.

2. Pepsi

For a couple of decades now, Pepsi has been selling its brand by putting together signature commercials for the Super Bowl.

One of the best was the memorable Pepsi vs. Coke spot.

But there are plenty of others, including a spot where 1990's sex symbol Cindy Crawford stops to get a Pepsi from a machine and two nearby kids go crazy—for the new-look Pepsi and Diet Pepsi cans.

Lest we forget, Justin Timberlake put his body through a beating back in 2008 to sell both Pepsi and Timberlake MP3s.

1. Budweiser

Perhaps, no company has spent more money producing Super Bowl-ready commercials than Budweiser.

And they have not always been about the beer.

Back in 2002, the Budweiser Clydesdales walked through field and town, then over the Brooklyn Bridge. Ultimately they take one knee while the camera pans to the New York City skyline where the World Trade Center Towers used to be.

Three years later, Budweiser came back with its "Heroes’’ ad, in which people at an unidentified airport applaud returning soldiers.

But Budweiser also had beer to sell, which they did with a memorable group of frogs in 1995.

And, lest we forget, the Bud Bowl, pitting Bud vs. Bud Light, started here, too.