The Egotist asked indie agencies across the US to work during the Super Bowl and pick the best Super Bowl ads by category. Here’s the first in the series of what agencies from Austin to Boston and St. Louis to San Francisco had to say about the CPG ads that worked in this year’s Super Bowl.

“Persil had an entertaining ad that used the Super Bowl stage to create awareness for their brand that is still very new to the US audience. And then there was Tide, who used the Super Bowl moment brilliantly – on many levels. Their Strategy “that every ad could be a Tide ad” not only lampooned the entire marketing rodeo of the Super Bowl, but did so in a way that wasn’t too much of an inside joke for just the ad industry – the rest of America seemed to enjoy it, too.

Beyond that, Tide’s co-opting of other Procter & Gamble brands was incredibly smart, and Tide’s move to buy short format ads and own every quarter of the game is a strategy that I’m sure has other marketers asking “Why didn’t we do that?””

Will Bright, Group Creative Director, O’Keefe, Reinhard and Paul also thought the media strategy was an important aspect of the “It’s a Tide Ad” being a favorite in the game, “As a creative, when I think of the Super Bowl, I think of work like this. A smart insight married with killer execution and production and paid off over the course of the game and online. It’s a dream come true. I’m sure there was a lot of pain getting it to this place, but from the outside it looks effortless. They ran spots in every quarter and continually hammered home the idea: If it’s clean, its Tide. They were self-aware and silly and fun and borrowed interest from other worlds in just the right way. I loved the line, “Does this make every Super Bowl ad a Tide ad?” It’s so simple and easy to follow—for me there’s nothing not to like.”

Ed Cotton, Chief Strategy Officer for Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and Chair of the 4A’s Strategy Council felt that at a time when CPG brands are reported to be under some pressure, some brand leaders created some of the best spots in the game.”

“That was the case for Dorito’s who threw Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage right into the world of hip-hop culture with a rap challenge. It wasn’t just super-compelling for the sake of it, they made sure the fiery attributes of the product came across.

The other brand to play around with culture was Tide, who took the culture of advertising, inserting itself into familiar Super bowl ad tropes and as a brilliant piece of parody; into its own Old Spice ad. Maybe this was advertising for advertising lovers and those in the industry and lacked the cultural punch of Dorito’s to make it the "best CPG in show."

Deb Maltzman and Angela Denise, Creative Directors, Terri & Sandy described the feeling of watching the Super Bowl as advertising creatives, feel bad bringing down the room during a Super Bowl party by giving their real opinion of the work.

“And now we’re an even tougher audience. Because we watch the spots 1,000 times before the game, genuine laughter during the game is even harder (poor us). So now, when you LOL while watching an ad during the actual game, it’s definitely worth mentioning. This was the case with the celebrity-filled spot for Doritos/Mountain Dew. Was it Morgan Freeman’s and Peter Dinklage’s amazing lip synching? Was it the Easter eggs? Busta Rhymes on a wall? Or just the impeccable execution of it all?

All of the above. But the best part about it was the fact that it happened to escape our feeds pre-game, and we got to see it for the first time on the television—just like we used to. “

Alyssa Toro, Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Connelly Partners, Boston and home of the New England Patriots managed to get through the stressful game and admit that what Monday Morning quarterbacks don’t always realize: humor is hard. It’s really hard. And on a stage like the Super Bowl, it’s about as risky as going to a live comedian. If the joke misses the mark even a little, it gets cringe-y really fast.

“The one spot that stood out for me (if you were to take out the brilliantly executed Alexa spot) was Febreze #bleepdontstink. I have to hand it to the agency writer, especially, for creating a dialogue which was so simple and real that it took an expression of #bleepdontstink and made it current and unique. Perfect cast. Flawless delivery in a storytelling style. And an impressive seamless tie to a social campaign throughout. This was an enviable idea that made creating a funny mockumentary look easy. Which we all know is definitely not.”