The Requisite Super Bowl Ad Review

I believe it is a requirement of every marketing/advertising blog to write something about the Super Bowl ads, usually first thing on Monday morning, following the big game.  Well, as Bruce told you yesterday, he was hanging out with his mom and didn’t watch the game, so I figured I should ensure he keeps his “Marketing/Advertising Blogger” street cred by supplying my own quick take on the best spot of Super Bowl XLIV.

My vote for best ad:  Google “Parisian Love :60”

Like every year, there were plenty of ads that made me laugh(Betty White and Abe Vigoda playing football!), plenty that left me scratching my head(the ‘86 Bears doing a remake of the Super Bowl Shuffle), and plenty that were just plain bad(everything ever done by Go Daddy…regardless of how hot Danica Partick is).  The Google ad was the only one that, after watching it, I said “wow, that was a great friggin ad.”  So many other spots were so focused on entertaining the audience or becoming the “watercooler conversation” the next day, that I hardly remember what it was they were supposed to be selling.  I know Doritios and Bud Light ran a ton of spots, and to me they were interchangeable; lots of frat boy humor and not a lot of substance.

If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.

-David Ogilvy

I think there are three things that make Google’s ad great: simplicity, focus on product benefit, and effective use of emotion.   It’s just the Google homepage(the definition of simplicity, by the way), and a demonstration of some of the many ways that its search capabilities can be used to make life easier/better.  No one is getting kicked in the groin, there are no talking babies, and Danica Patrick is no where to be found. Now, if all the ad did was show someone making a bunch of searches on Google, this would have been a supremely boring spot, but the use of the music and the clever theme to the searches (going to Paris, falling in love, starting a family) gives it the emotional boost that makes it resonate with the viewer.

You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You’ve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut.

-Bill Bernbach

I really don’t remember any other ads that were as successful in doing that.  So that’s my favorite spot from Super Bowl XLIV(I just love using Roman numerals), what did you think of that spot?  What was your favorite ad?  Any votes for the worst ad of the night?

Written by Bruce