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JERRY BECK
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AMID AMIDI
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“It’s Mine”
by amid
February 3, 2008 10:53 pm


It

Not only was it a really good Super Bowl game, but Coca-Cola scored a touchdown with a terrific animation-related commercial titled “It’s Mine,” starring Underdog, Stewie from Family Guy, and, well, you’ll just have to watch to see the third character. Everything about this spot just works: an unlikely mash-up of cartoon characters, a complete story told in one minute with a sweet feel-good ending, and funny filmmaking throughout (even the shot selections are humorous). In fact, the non-animation crowd that I watching the game with actually cheered at the commerical’s ending. There’s something that doesn’t happen often.

Credits for the spot, which mixes live and CG, can be found at Duncan’s TV Ad Land, and an in-depth analysis of the commercial can be found in this blog post by Richard Buran. But before you go any further, watch it below.

02/3/08  11:26pm
Adrienne says:

I couldn’t agree more. The Perfect ending to the Perfect commercial. I also liked how just before Charlie pops up there’s a little girl who looks like Lucy holding the football. And how ironic can you get that the team that won the Superbowl was the “Underdog”!

02/3/08  11:42pm

Somewhere out there, Lucy is not in a good mood.

02/3/08  11:58pm
Blockhead. says:

I disagree to it being the “perfect ending”… if the characters were to be true to the originals… the one that ended up with the coke wouldn’t have. ;) He would have got close and the balloon would have burst or something. Having said that, it was one of the more enjoyable commercials of the night.

02/4/08  12:12am
Joshua says:

You know what’s really strange? I had never heard of Marcell Jankovics or his “Sisyphus” until you mentioned them on this blog three days ago, and watched it then. And during the Super Bowl, I saw it again — it was made into a commercial for the GMC Yukon Hybrid.

02/4/08  1:17am
Markus says:

Hopefully nobody will remember Stewie 40 years from now.

02/4/08  2:06am
Jessica says:

best ad of the night!

02/4/08  3:45am

Good ol’ Charlie Brown. He finally got a happy ending! Best laugh I got out of him, actually! :D

I’ll admit it was very clever how they filmed this ad using blimps as opposed to 2D/3D animation mixed in the real world, ala Roger Rabbit. Glad to see they went with the CLASSIC Underdog balloon too - probably to make things up for the movie, I expect.

02/4/08  5:28am

That was one of the coolest Super Bowl ads I’ve seen. It looked especially professionally done and the design was great. It was pretty clever too. It’s a good thing that not all companies follow the ridiculous “scantally-clad women/monkeys acting like people/talking babies/traumas to the groin = comedy gold” equation.

The best thing about this years ads though is that more people are actually paying attention to one of the greatest upsets in sports history!

02/4/08  6:21am
Charlie says:

I was rooting for Underdog all the way until someone better came along.

02/4/08  8:23am
Jess Price says:

Ha! What a fun surprise at the end!

I wonder how many kids were asking their parents, “Who is that flying dog?” (but recognizing Stewie on the spot)

02/4/08  9:32am
Paul N says:

Brilliant! And as a lifelong fan, I’m happy to see CB finally win one!

02/4/08  1:16pm
Christopher Cook says:

It comes full circle: Coca-Cola was the sponsor when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” first aired in 1965.

This spot was pure brilliance.

02/4/08  1:57pm
Graeme says:

actually brought a tear to my eye…

02/4/08  3:51pm
A Longtime Observer says:

I was trying to figure out WHY Underdog of all characters was going against Stewie, but eventually focused more on who was going to get the bottle. The fact that CHARLIE BROWN came out of nowhere caused me to bust a gut. And with that goofy smile too–good grief!

But still, WHY Underdog? Had this been ten years ago, it would have been a Rugrat.

02/4/08  4:34pm
Bob Porrazzo says:

I enjoyed that Coke commercial too. A lot of so-called Ad experts when talking about them in newspapers didn’t get the concept of the ad. They say the mission is to sell the product. Well, Coke as a global company sells itself. I was like “Dude, the concept was that anything can happen in life and even in the Super Bowl.” Or have these elites forgotten about symbolism?

In the ad I was rooting for Underdog–NO FAN OF FAMILY GUY–cannot stand toilet humor. But then things changed when old Chuck appeared on the scene to get the bottle of Coke. It’s not the football, but Charlie Brown finally got something.

02/4/08  5:39pm
precode says:

And of course, the music immediately calls to mind a certain classic Looney Tune…

02/4/08  7:13pm

I’m underwhelmed.

02/4/08  7:27pm
Andre says:

I love how Chuck pops up at the end- one of the best lines on Family Guy is when Stewie tells Brian “I like you because you look like Snoopy” [have they made any Stewie blockhead jokes?]

02/4/08  7:41pm
Chester B. says:

They only used the Underdog balloon because the rights to the Bruno Richard Hauptmann balloon were in limbo.

02/4/08  8:06pm
Christopher Olson says:

I like how the expression on their faces doesn’t change, but they can be interpreted differently in every shot. The first time I saw it, I could have sworn they had different gaping expressions for their mouths, but nope.
Great ad.

02/9/08  5:41am
UltimateX says:

Stewie showed more versatility and range in his expression and movement in this ad then any episode of Family Guy yet to be aired.

Of course, his face didn’t change once. Still, though…

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