And now it's time for the annual reviewing of the Super Bowl ads. Thankfully, the game held its own, because the ads were spotty at best. Let's get right to the top of the list:
For strategic excellence, Google won going away. When you're the market leader, you remind your followers why they love you, and do it in the context of a compelling story. No gimmicks required. People simply say, "of course." It makes Bing and, frankly, all of the Microsoft advertising, look futile, trying too hard to impress people who are just not that impressed with you.
The creative side is strictly an opinion. From my view, I liked the Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda. At least the humor was in good taste and everyone kept their pants on.
Other sources of commentary? The New York Times, Ad Age's Bob Garfield column (full of snark), and Tech Crunch. Here's the YouTube channel where you can watch it all. And there's probably a million more reviews out there, if you care.
Of course, for the definitive answers on anything regarding Super Bowl ads, you must tune in to the TV show, 207 tonight on Channel 6 in Portland, where Larry Vine will tell you what is and is not.
I think the best commercial on this year's Super Bowl was easily the one that never ran-- the one for ManCrunch-- the gay dating service. Look at it this way: They produced a mediocre commercial for very little money. (I saw it on a few sites.)It was rejected by CBS and then got millions of dollars worth of free publicity. It was written up in literally thousands of publications. Plus they saved nearly 3 million by not having to pay for the media. In my book that's pretty smart marketing. It may start a trend.
Posted by: Larry Vine | February 09, 2010 at 09:27 AM