Thursday, July 17, 2025

No PSAs among nominees for Outstanding Commercial plus winners for Outstanding Promotional Announcement at the Emmy Awards

It's time for me to begin my coverage of the Emmy Awards with the nominations for Outstanding Commercial.
"Batman vs. Bateman" – Hungry Man and Highdive (State Farm)
"The Boy & The Octopus" – Hungry Man and adam&eveDDB (Disney)
"Brian Cox Goes to College" – O Positive and Special US (Uber One for Students)
"Flock" – Smuggler and TBWA\ Media Arts Lab (Apple Privacy)
"Heartstrings" – Smuggler and TBWA\ Media Arts Lab (Apple AirPods Pro)
"So Win." – Somesuch and Wieden+Kennedy (Nike)
Unlike previous years, there doesn't seem to be a single public service announcement (PSA) in the field. Those are what attracted me to the category in the first place eight years ago, so I miss them. Let's see if still do by the time I finish watching all the nominees. Follow over the jump.

I begin with a commercial I've enjoyed watching in segments on Twitch and YouTube, Batman vs. Bateman (Extended Cut) | State Farm® Commercial.* Now I get to see the entire series in one sitting.

Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like getting Bateman when you need the protection of Batman.
As a Batman fan and a State Farm customer, I thought that was well-done fun. By the way, notice which member of the Caped Crusader's Rogues Gallery is missing? Penguin. Don't worry, The Penguin is enjoying an excellent Emmy Awards, earning 24 total nominations, 17 at the Creative Arts Emmys and seven at the main ceremony. The character is not suffering from being excluded.

Next, a nominee in the vein of last year's winner, "Fuzzy Feelings," A Disney Holiday Short: The Boy & The Octopus.

Every journey starts with a dream. Disney invites you to share holiday magic with your loved ones through this heartfelt story of wonder and friendship.

The Boy & The Octopus is a heartwarming journey that builds on the enduring connection generations of adults and families all over the world have with Disney. It’s a timeless story of friendship that inspires joy and wonder during the most magical time of year.
That was a long commercial, but if it gets people to watch more Disney+ and visit the theme parks, it will be worth it, even if it doesn't win an Emmy (and it might).

Now for a nominee that stars an Emmy winner, Brian Cox Goes to College - Full Length | Uber One.

Uber One for Students saves you on Uber and Uber Eats. Now everyone wants to be a student… but just to be clear, he’s only here for the discounts.
That went really fast for a two-minute video, so it was even more entertaining than I expected — no I haven't seen it before. Will it win? Probably not. Will it make young people order more food and rides? Probably. If so, then it's a success.

Now for the long version of Privacy on iPhone | Flock | Apple, short versions of which I've seen on YouTube and Twitch.

Your browsing is being watched. Safari helps stop it. Using industry-leading privacy protection technology, including Intelligent Tracking Prevention — Safari protects your privacy.
As I wrote in Meyers' and Colbert's guests on strikes and labor issues, "Big Data is watching you (and me, too)!"

While there are no nominated PSAs, Apple's nominees are doing their best imitation of selling their products' features as services. This is true of Heartstrings | Apple Holiday | Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2, which returns to the holiday theme.

For so many of us, sound and how we hear help shape the way we connect to the world around us. Yet, people with hearing loss wait an average of 10 years before getting their hearing tested and fitted for hearing aids. Leaving millions unaware they’re living with hearing loss and without the assistance they need.

Now with the world’s first end-to-end hearing health experience, you have access to a Hearing Test that provides scientifically validated results within minutes and the ability to activate a clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature on your AirPods Pro 2 — right from home.
That made me tear up. If it does that to enough voters, it will probably win. It may have already reached enough voters, as this video has 51,273,816 views, more than twice the next most watched, "The Boy & The Octopus" with 13,488,511 views, so it's my pick to win unless the voters want better production values. In that case, "The Boy & The Octopus" has a good chance.

I conclude the commercial nominees with So Win. | Nike.

There’s one guarantee in sport. You’ll be told you can’t do it. So do it anyway.

You can’t win. So Win.
I was wondering when a Super Bowl commercial would appear among the nominees. As I wrote at the end of LegalEagle says Don't call it the 'Super Bowl!' "[E]njoy the game, commercials, and halftime show! You will almost certainly see some Emmy nominees and maybe a couple of Emmy winners!" The first part of the prediction came true; in addition to this commercial, The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show earned four Creative Arts Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live). I'll get to that category later this month or next.

Since I'm on the subject of commercials, I'm using this opportunity to recognize the winners of Outstanding Promotional Announcement at the News & Doc Emmy Awards, beginning with Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story. Here's the press release, Billy and Molly wins TWO Emmy Awards!
We’re delighted to announce that Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story has been honoured with two Emmy® Awards at the 46th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, presented by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences last night (26 June 2025).

The film received accolades in the following categories: ‘Outstanding Writing’ recognising the brilliant Charlie Hamilton James who brought this truly incredible story to the world and ‘Outstanding Promotional Announcement’ for the heartfelt trailer which captured the spirit of our film.
Congratulations! Billy & Molly was my original choice to win Outstanding Promotional Announcement until I watched Blink's trailer. I was in good company; Blink won Best Documentary (Feature Film) Subject at the Golden Trailer Awards. The people who make trailers thought it was the best. Again, electorates matter.

Now for the winner of the news version of this award. Again, congratulations!

Stay tuned for more Emmy coverage.

*State Farm has an entire ad campaign geared to gamers featuring Jake playing video games while hanging out with gamers that I've only seen on Twitch. Everyone needs insurance.

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