Actually, it’s not the novel, it’s Word. I’m still hoping for a Valentine’s Day release–at least on some platforms. Sadly, my hope that I’d get it uploaded in time for pre-orders and for the majority of platforms to be live on “release day” will not come to fruition. I’m not going to beat myself up. It is what it is and I want to put out the best product I can. At the moment, RETRIBUTION is over 120K words. In other news…

Super Bowl Commercials! I watched some. I did NOT write down every one because…there was a bunch! Seriously, I think there was more time spent on commercials than there was on the actual game. Also, I shall refrain from commenting on the half-time show. It gave me an opportunity to visit the little writer’s room and do some dishes. Now, to the ads that rang my bell. In no particular order. Okay, in the order they aired because that’s how I wrote them down. 🤣

Little Cesaer’s Pizza: Eugene Levy’s eyebrows. I laughed. Hard. So did LG.

Ultra-lite Beer: William Dafoe and Katherine O’Hara (Kevin’s mother – “Home Alone”) playing pickleball. All kinds of awesome.

Squarepage: The Irish dude delivering…stuff. It was something of a head-scratcher but hey, Irish landscapes and accents!

Mountain Dew: Seal as a seal. Love the song and it was kinda funny.

Instacart: All The Brands! We had a ball picking out the iconic brand representations.

Coors Light: Sloth Monday. Who doesn’t love sloths?

Uber Eats: Football Team names. And Matthew McConaughey. Da Bears! Hey, for all I know, that’s how the various teams GOT their names. 😉

Weathertech: The old ladies road trip! Yes! There’s a book in that idea. Just sayin’…

Rocket Mortgage: Take me Home Country Roads. Sang along, sniffling all the while!

Hellman’s Mayonaise: When Harry Met Sally reprise. That’s still one of my favorite movie scenes and yes, I laughed.

Budweiser Clydesdales: Yes! Sadly though, it was the short version but still CLYDESDALES! Welcome back, ponies!

Tubi Streaming: The cowboy vs. the wizards. It was a little warped but I still laughed.

Bud Light: Big Man on the Cul de Sac. Leaf blowers launching beers! A smoker that mows grass! Yeah, totally laughed.

The Nike commercial just seemed like virtue signaling. I did like the Dove ad because, yeah, a lot of girls drop out of sports because of what’s said about their bodies. While I’m glad the NFL is pushing varisty flag football for females, their commercial was a little too smug for my tastes. The Pfizer ad made me sniffle but I’m not sure I believe them. And finally, the Harrison Ford Jeep commercial. The punch line was sorta clever but again, him touting all the patriotic stuff? I didn’t buy it given his statements during the presidential election. That said, if someone else had been the spokesman, I would have loved the commecial because the images were all kinds of awesome. But, as someone else noted on social media, I’m still not buying a Jeep.

I’m sure there were others that I either missed or they just didn’t make enough of an impression that I made note or remembered them. It was fun to see that, for the most part, the ads were NOt politically correct. Make for an entertaining change.

Anyway, that’s my take on the world of brand marketing. Lord knows I mostly flounder when it comes to marketing my own so glass houses and all that. Whatever. What about y’all? What commercials stood out for you? Do you have a fave?