We know the New England Patriots are human. But their domination of the L.A. Rams in Super Bowl LIII was accomplished with such a high level of precision, it leads us to wonder if maybe Tom Brady secretly has been replaced by a robot?
During the breaks, ads about robots replacing us at work, and even home, filled the valuable — $5.24 million for 30 seconds to be exact — air time. Most of the ads played up robots for laughs, but some of them put into words and images the fears about the future of work that many people are feeling.
“We have a real anxiety about AI and our future overlords, and a lot of advertisers are trying to address it,” Mark DiMassimo, head of ad agency DiMassimo Goldstein told the Associated Press. And address it they did. Robot ads appeared in just about every break during the big game.
TurboTax introduced us to the somewhat creepy “Robochild.”
Michelob Ultra gave us a laugh over a super athletic robot who longed for a beer.
SimpliSafe’s ad is pretty direct in addressing the fear that robots will take all of our jobs in five years.
And Pringles and Amazon made fun of smart assistants – Pringles shut down a buzzkill, and Amazon made us laugh as Harrison Ford’s Alexa took commands from his dog.
Google’s pair of ads focused on its good deeds. The first Google ad showed the human side of their translation service, and second of Google’s two ads showcased Google’s ability to now help veterans search for jobs.
In the ‘Veterans: Enter Your MOS Code to Find Your Next Job‘ ad Google acknowledges that one of the hardest parts about transitioning out of the U.S. military for the 250,000 service members who do so every year is finding a job that utilizes their skills.
The search engine now allows veterans to look for jobs by using the keyphrase “jobs for veterans” and then entering their MOS codes. Doing turns up search results for for job openings that correspond with one’s military role.
Here’s a complete list of all of the Super Bowl ads in alphabetical order.
Watch our video Slope of the Curve below for WorkingNation’s position in conversation over the ever-changing jobs market.
Clearly we have hit a fevered pitch in recent years as advancements in technology redefine the role of the American worker.
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Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.
