Best Super Bowl Ad...Ever!

Super Bowl Ads.  Sadly, there were no direct-response spots during the Super Bowl this year (we'll always be grateful for the 2009 CashForGold.com spot, link here), but it was still a fun night, no matter who won the game.  Here's my non-scientific breakdown of the 2010 Super Bowl commercials: 83% are male-centric.  26% are selling cars.  31% are selling beer.  22% are selling snack food.  91% are funny.  93% of the funny ads do nothing to truly drive the brands they are trying to sell.  This year, Google shook things up.  They launched an ad that cost less than $500 to edit (you could do your own on an iMac) and $2,600,000 to air.

2010 | Super Bowl Ads | SPIKE.com

It was captivating.  Interesting.  Probably not funny, but it still managed to grab your attention.  Google understands that everyone recognizes their brand.  If someone is using Yahoo! or one of the other "has been" brands to search the Internet, there is likely a specific reason for the shunning of Google, and at this point, Google is not going to overcome the objections of this 1% of the Internet audience.  Google's path to growth is not to be gained through gaining market share, but rather by growing the market.  To grow, people need to search more.  This ad, "How to Impress a French Woman," gets you thinking..."I can solve any problem on the Internet."  "I can DO ANYTHING!!!!...with the help of the Internet....and Google."  Brilliant!  This is a far cry from the year 2000 dot com commercials that were hilarious but did nothing to drive sales. 

Snickers somehow figured out how to be funny and stay on message with their advertising with the "Betty White" commercial.  You have to love the line, "...that's not what your girlfriend says..." coming from Betty White!  Yet the message is clear, "Snickers satisfies your hunger and restores your energy to keep you going."  I got it.  We all got it.  Genius!

2010 | Super Bowl Ads | SPIKE.com

Now I'm not a total bore.  Like many of you, I laughed out loud at a few of the ads.  Here are a couple of my favorites...

2010 | Super Bowl Ads | SPIKE.com

2010 | Super Bowl Ads | SPIKE.com

I just don't see you buying more Doritos or finding a job on careerbuilder.com because of these ads.

What were your favorite spots?