Students met last night in O’Donnell Auditorium for a late Super Bowl party, but the focus was on the advertisements.

A panel featuring advertising agents from Dallas and SMU advertising professors analyzed 10 ads from this year’s game.

After viewing the commercials, the panelists were asked which ads ranked as the best.

“I really enjoyed the Career Builder.com ads featuring an office with monkeys for employees and one frustrated guy. It really broke through the clutter,” said Augustine Jalomo, an independent advertising agent.

Joel Guillian, a member of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, thought that none of the ads were exceptional this year.

“The only thing that really caught my attention was Bud Light’s campaign — they’re always reliable.”

Rye Clifton, an associate of The Richards Group, thought that the FedEx Kinko’s commercial featuring the 10 things a good Super Bowl ad must have stood out.

“It was the most clever ad of the night, I liked how it was making fun of the genre.”

Professor James Goodnight also thought the Career Builder.com campaign was the night’s best, not only because it was clever and funny, but it also had a strong message about the services offered.

Professor Peter Noble agreed.

“Call me old school, but the message of the Career Builder.com ads were good.”

Clifton was the only member of the panel who disliked the Career Builder.com campaign, saying that it reminded him too much of the E-Trade campaign from three years ago.

Goodnight said that there are often two challenges to Super Bowl commercials. First, that the ads often have so much entertainment that the message is obscured and second, they are “too cute and have nods to advertising insiders.” He specifically mentioned the FedEx Kinko’s ad as an example.

Jalomo thought that most companies waste a chance to get the most out of their money. He said that the Super Bowl is a time when a strong ad campaign could be debuted, and “if a company has a solid, creative platform it’s a great opportunity.”

All of the panelists agreed that this year’s commercials were considerably tamer than last year.

“Last year the ad industry took a hit for dumbing down everything, but they tried to make obvious changes,” Jalomo said.

Goodnight said that there was more substance and less flash overall compared to other years.

“There’s a real cultural swing going on in America that has affected everything, especially the media. It’s not a surprise that it trickled down to the Super Bowl.”