Super Bowl commercials 2013: Kate Upton, Usher featured in Mercedes ad

Mercedes is known for being a glamorous company, so should you really be surprised at all that the car maker had one of the most high-quality ads during all of Super Bowl XLVII? It is definitely a commercial that will have people talking, but we also wonder whether or not the message is clear enough that people will catch it upon viewing it once.

The ad – Mercedes, “Soul”

The premise – A man inside of a restaurant is offered a brand-new Mercedes CLA and a whole heap of wonderful things in return for his soul.

What works – Mercedes took a major risk in making this commercial so episodic, but most people watching over the course of the game will still have an opportunity to figure it out. It’s a beautiful, vibrant ad, and it features some particularly eye-catching celebrities as singer Usher and Sports Illustrated cover model Kate Upton as some of what could await our leading man if he picks up the car.

What doesn’t – To us, the message of the commercial is that you don’t need to sell your soul to the devil in order to buy this car, mostly because the price point is lower than for every other Mercedes that is out on the market. Ultimately, we wish that this message came across just a little bit clearer so there was no so much in the way of confusion.

The verdict – This is a very good ad, but also one that from our standpoint left out one key message: that there is something that makes this upcoming model different than the rest of the company’s cars. We understand putting up approximate prices may still have scared away lower-income families, but couldn’t you have made it a little clearer just what made this product so different, and worth not selling your soul for?

What’s your take on this ad? Be sure to watch it again below, and you can check out some more of our Super Bowl commercial coverage over at the link here.

Photo: CBS / NFL