SALT LAKE CITY — The Force was strong with Volkswagen on Super Bowl Sunday.
The German automaker's 30-second commercial featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader attempting to use the Force on household objects was named Most Valuable Ad of this year's big game by Richter7.
On Monday, the Salt Lake City advertising and public relations agency held its review of TV spots from Super Bowl XLV, with employees using numbered cards to rank each commercial.
"It's a lot of fun," Richter7 partner Tal Harry said of the Ad Bowl, now in its 16th year. "Sixteen years ago, we never would have imagined this would have taken off like it has."
The Volkswagen ad was the hit of the afternoon party, drawing cheers from two-dozen-or-so Richter7 employees as soon as it began. When it came time to pick a winner, employees began humming "The Imperial March," Darth Vader's theme from the "Star Wars" movies.
The commercial shows a child dressed in a Darth Vader costume marching through the house, trying to make things move through the power of the Force. The boy extends his hands at a washer and dryer, a lounging family dog and a doll — each time without success.
When the child's father arrives home from work, the youngster runs outside, breezes by Dad and tries using the Force on dad's Volkswagen Passat. Inside the house, Dad uses his remote starter to fire up the engine — and surprise little Vader.
Harry said the Volkswagen ad was one of his favorites of this year's commercial crop. Overall, though, the ads weren't as strong as in recent years, he said.
"I didn't think there were any really terrible ads, but they just didn't jump off the charts like in years' past," Harry said.
Two Doritos ads by local filmmakers also were among the favorites at Ad Bowl XVI. "The Best Part," by Tyler Dixon of Lehi, received a 5.5 on Richter7's 7-point scale. The ad shows a man finishing off the "best part" to Doritios — the cheesy powder left on fingers and wiped on pants of his co-workers.
"The finger-sucking one, that was a little creepy but still pretty funny," Harry said.
"Best Part" was selected by Richter7 as the best low budget ad. The ad cost all of $82 to produce, Dixon said.
"Pug Attack," by Salt Lake City native JR Burningham and fiancee Tess Ortbals, got an even 5 from Richter7.
The ad fared even better on USA Today's Ad Meter, tying with a Budweiser commercial that also featured dogs as the best ad of the day. The ranking earned Burningham and Ortbals a cool $1 million.
The Volkswagen ad was No. 3 on USA Today's rankings. A 60-second version of the Passat commercial can be viewed online.
The Doritos ads were part of the "Crash the Super Bowl" contest that allowed filmmakers of all skill levels create, film and submit commercials promoting Doritos or Pepsi Max. The top three ads for each product were aired during the Super Bowl.
"It was an amazing feeling," Dixon said of watching his commercial during the Super Bowl.
As a contest finalist, Dixon received $25,000.
The biggest losers on Sunday, according to Richter7, were Go Daddy, whose two ads were lumped together for the Should Have Punted Award, and BestBuy, which got the Celebrity Sack Award for worst use of celebrities — Ozzy Osbourne and Justin Bieber.
Other Richter7 awards included:
• Championship Chuckle — Bridgestone's "Reply All."
• Illegal Use of $$$ (waste of money) — Coca Cola's "Siege."
• Creative Fumble (started strong but then didn't deliver) — Bud Light's "Dog Sitter."
E-mail: jpage@desnews.com