By Aditi Datta
For the lovers of film amongst us, we’re all too familiar with Super Bowl Monday. {We're not referring to Super Bowl Sunday, which is the day the most-watched game in all of American sport is played.} Because sometimes, the marketing folk sitting behind the big desks of companies that can afford the most expensive air-time do, in fact, churn out some good old magic. We actually get pretty excited about the day after, when we can park ourselves in front of the screen, and mentally thank the kind soul at some content aggregator site who has generously compiled all the Super Bowl ads, so we get a good solid hour of pure film goodness.
So we decided it was time we did our part. We peeled ourselves away from the football matches and football chatter long enough to find some of the best World Cup 2014 inspired videos out there. These films will toss your emotions around like a helpless ball on a field being thrashed about by twenty-two pairs of feet, as you go through exact amounts of joy, anticipation, elation, worship and prayer. Here’s our round up:
1. Hyundai: Avoidance
Starting out light – this spot speaks to every person who hates a spoiler. The poor office worker tries so very hard {including the universal language of la-la-la-la-la-la-la} to stay away from the score of an ongoing game, but then… Oops. We almost pulled a spoiler!
Watch it here:
2. Hyundai: Baby Boom
Who amongst us hasn’t felt a mad wave of kinship with an absolute stranger at the euphoric moment when your team {or your team of the day} jubilantly lifts the trophy towards the heavens? We had to smile at this cheeky ad, which draws on the strange-but-awesome phenomenon that has reportedly resolved cross-border animosities and which acts as a fair warning to keep your feelings in check!
Watch it here:
3. McDonald’s: GOL!
No football season is complete without a super cool montage of people across geographies and generations pulling off gravity-defying keepy-uppies.
This has been doing the rounds as the 'best football film you’ll see this season.' We've got to say, with its share of toothless old men, ladies in high heels, and mind-blowing precision, we’re lovin’ it.
Watch it here:
4. Gatorade: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo
What’s a Disney soundtrack doing in a video about grown men kicking a ball around? Well, it happens to be the song that the fairy godmother sings while Cinderella takes a break from hours and hours of hard work and gets ready to rule the ball. Aaah, we get it!
Watch it here:
5. The Sun: Do Us Proud
At long last, the Sun finally wins over large crowds of British citizens with this human karaoke send-off, synchronized with a series of headers, wishing their boys the very best of luck. While they ask their team to do them proud, they do admit that no matter what, they’ll ‘never find another you.’ Aww.
Watch it here:
6. Nike: Risk Everything
This video reminds us that no amount of strategic analysis or armchair criticism can ever fully help understand what actually happens on the field, when shoes touch ball. A gamified world of clones designed to avoid human error replaces the football greats, making them redundant {and even sends Rooney off labouring in the docks!} Ah, but what would sport be without man’s constant strive to reconcile reach and grasp?
Watch it here:
7. Budweiser: Rise As One
Budweiser takes us through the highs and lows of football frenzy – at first glance, it feels like we’ve sort of seen it before, but we figured it felt like watching Armageddon; people in living rooms feverishly pray while crowds await with bated breath for the moment of truth, only to cheer as one united world when the clever people at the White House avert the meteor… Um, sorry, we meant when the player shoots a goal.
Watch it here:
8. Beats: The Game Before The Game
As you wrestle in the pub trying to balance a round of beers five minutes before the game, there is a player in a locker room halfway across the world getting ready for battle. This video combines a pep talk that would put Al Pacino to shame, weird little rituals and superstitions that are oddly empowering, war paint, battle cries, prayers and dreams, torn loyalties and that chilling stillness of mind, T minus one second before it all begins. Wow.
Watch it here:
9. Coca-Cola: Not Seeing is Believing
And we get to the trophy. The revered ball of gold stands for much, much more than its weight in gold. For this five-aside team with visual challenges, keeping an eye on the prize wasn’t an option. Coca-Cola breaks all the rules about the untouchable sanctity of the trophy, to get these players to “see” the cup that makes the world go round.
Watch it here:
10. Coca-Cola: Soul’s Embrace
Love knows no boundaries. Back in 1978, one moment captured perfectly on film came to represent unbridled happiness and overpowering love as one Argentinian fan brought the sentiments of the nation to his winning team on the field. We firmly believe that true love should never go unrequited; so we were only too happy to know that thirty-six years later, Coca-Cola still remembers to return the hug.
Watch it here: