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Super Bowl Ad Stories: “The Remake,” Featuring LeBron James and Dwight Howard When it comes to the Super Bowl, advertising agencies can spend months brainstorming the perfect ad. For Euro RSCG Chicago’s chief creative officer Jason Peterson, who’s produced four spots for the big game, that means concepting as many as 60 commercial ideas before finding the right one. “There are definitely a different set of parameters for the Super Bowl—expectations are completely different,” he says. “If you don’t create a talked about, cultural hit, then it’s a waste of $3 million.” Peterson says he and his team start with a basic wish list of ideas. “When we sit down to write Super Bowl commercials, we write down three things,” he says. “The first one being monkeys; the second being getting kicked in the nuts; and maybe the third is some outrageous use of the product, a catchphrase line, or one of those clichés, like putting a baby in the commercial.” The ad man is only half-joking. Year and year, commercials are filled with monkeys, crotch-kicks, and talking babies. Why? Because they work. (Read: eTrade baby.) These themes have a long history of success, so why not recycle them for contemporary ads? For Peterson’s spot last year he followed a similar model, using an archetype that’s worked magic in Super Bowl after Super Bowl: The Remake. Taking a classic commercial and refashioning it for a modern audience is a sure way to find success. After creating an all-time hit with Cindy Crawford’s 1992 ad, for example, Pepsi reintroduced the ad years later, playing off nostalgia for the original—with an updated punch-line. Click through to see original spots and their remakes, including the classic Michael Jordan and Larry Bird McDonald’s spot remake featuring LeBron James and Dwight Howard. Related: If you like seeing remakes, check out this series by Kirby Ferguson in which he explores the concept of how Everything is a Remix.

Super Bowl Ad Stories: “The Remake,” Featuring LeBron James and Dwight Howard

When it comes to the Super Bowl, advertising agencies can spend months brainstorming the perfect ad. For Euro RSCG Chicago’s chief creative officer Jason Peterson, who’s produced four spots for the big game, that means concepting as many as 60 commercial ideas before finding the right one.

“There are definitely a different set of parameters for the Super Bowl—expectations are completely different,” he says. “If you don’t create a talked about, cultural hit, then it’s a waste of $3 million.”

Peterson says he and his team start with a basic wish list of ideas. “When we sit down to write Super Bowl commercials, we write down three things,” he says. “The first one being monkeys; the second being getting kicked in the nuts; and maybe the third is some outrageous use of the product, a catchphrase line, or one of those clichés, like putting a baby in the commercial.”

The ad man is only half-joking. Year and year, commercials are filled with monkeys, crotch-kicks, and talking babies. Why? Because they work. (Read: eTrade baby.) These themes have a long history of success, so why not recycle them for contemporary ads?

For Peterson’s spot last year he followed a similar model, using an archetype that’s worked magic in Super Bowl after Super Bowl: The Remake.

Taking a classic commercial and refashioning it for a modern audience is a sure way to find success. After creating an all-time hit with Cindy Crawford’s 1992 ad, for example, Pepsi reintroduced the ad years later, playing off nostalgia for the original—with an updated punch-line.

Click through to see original spots and their remakes, including the classic Michael Jordan and Larry Bird McDonald’s spot remake featuring LeBron James and Dwight Howard.

Related: If you like seeing remakes, check out this series by Kirby Ferguson in which he explores the concept of how Everything is a Remix.

How Much Energy Do We Use While Watching the Super Bowl? GE mashed up statistics from Nielsen, the Energy Information Administration, ABS Alaskan, and the U.S. Census to figure out that the energy used to power home televisions watching the Super Bowl (over 158.5 million TVs) could power all the homes in Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and Dallas for 10 hours. We’re not suggesting you turn off the game, but it is something to think about as you bask in the glow of your big screen. As for the game itself? Renewable energy credits are offsetting power use at many NFL venues, and the recently implemented Super Grow XLV program (a partnership between the Texas Trees Foundation and the Texas Forest Service) planted over 6,500 trees in 12 north Texas communities, marking the biggest tree-planting effort in Super Bowl history. Cowboy Stadium (the site of this year’s game) also has targets to cut solid waste by 25%, water consumption by 1 million gallons, and energy use by 20% each year. Not a bad start.

How Much Energy Do We Use While Watching the Super Bowl?

GE mashed up statistics from Nielsen, the Energy Information Administration, ABS Alaskan, and the U.S. Census to figure out that the energy used to power home televisions watching the Super Bowl (over 158.5 million TVs) could power all the homes in Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and Dallas for 10 hours. We’re not suggesting you turn off the game, but it is something to think about as you bask in the glow of your big screen.

As for the game itself? Renewable energy credits are offsetting power use at many NFL venues, and the recently implemented Super Grow XLV program (a partnership between the Texas Trees Foundation and the Texas Forest Service) planted over 6,500 trees in 12 north Texas communities, marking the biggest tree-planting effort in Super Bowl history. Cowboy Stadium (the site of this year’s game) also has targets to cut solid waste by 25%, water consumption by 1 million gallons, and energy use by 20% each year. Not a bad start.