“Puppy-Monkey-Baby, Puppy-Monkey-Baby…Puppy. Monkey. Baby.” 

Soda, cars, taxes, beer (and post-Super Bowl intimacy) were a few of the diverse industries that spent millions of dollars on commercials and brand messaging during Super Bowl 50. Most of the ads were pretty standard for marketing’s biggest night of year. Actually, as yesterday’s Happy Monday! blog post highlighted, the best ad wasn’t technically an ad at all.

Peyton Manning: Super Ad Champion.

Surprisingly, the one company that would have benefited from an informative (and reassuring) prime-time Super Bowl commercial didn’t say a word on Sunday night.

In other words, Chipotle’s kitchen was closed again.

With a months-long problem of patrons getting sick from E.coli in multiple locations nationwide, the logical next-step for the favorite food franchise seemed to be one commercial away. Imagine if Chipotle founder Steve Ells faced the camera and directly addressed the painful concerns customers have (literally and figuratively) and explained what he and his restaurants have done, are doing and will do to comply with and resolve their health issues to recover the damage done to its reputation?

An ad without spin would’ve been refreshing. In many ways, a refresh is what Chipotle needs right about now.

Simplicity and candor seemed to work brilliantly for Peyton Manning and Budwesier.