For those of us who know nothing about football, the Super Bowl is more about what the huge brands who buy ads chose to do with their millions of dollars worth of prime eyeball time, paying to play with a captive audience in the hundreds of millions. And the technology industry always steps up to the plate; Apple aired its famous 1984 ad during the Super Bowl and so did Web 1.0 symbol Pets.com. Last year Google debuted its “Parisian Love” ad. We had quite a few tech firsts this year, including the first ever Twitter hashtag within an ad.
The Doritos pant-sniffing guy won the minds and heards of Twitter, but nonetheless it seems like the tech sector had a strong showing. Between the daily deals site commercial wars and GoDaddy’s superbowl ad suicide and all the non-tech commercials that seemed to incorporate tech elements like a hashtag in the case of Audi #ProgressIs and The Chevy Cruise ad that inadvertently encouraged Facebook stalking, the message is clear: The Internet is here to stay.
And while the tech sector made multiple appearances tonight, the biggest play was made by Rupert Murdoch’s ‘The Daily.’ Murdoch’s ad buy offered nothing distinctive branding-wise but cost $3 million dollars, which means that he could have offered a year subscription at $40 to 75K people instead of buying the ad. Something tells me that might have been a better strategy.
In the meantime, here’s a roundup of this year’s tech related ads in order of appearance (I’m including online-only properties like Cars.com), with some honorary mentions at the end. You can find my snarky commentary about each on Twitter, as always.
By the way, I have no idea which team actually won.
Groupon: Save The Money, Whales
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IOvxz8zHr9s
LivingSocial: Changed My Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHx9U5OimE&feature=player_embedded
AT&T: Don’t Be Left Behind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6JCkqk5o3A
Go Daddy : Joan Rivers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J83EQ7LubwE&feature=player_embedded
Teleflora.com: Faith Hill, Rack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c8VBQioFH44
Motorola Xoom Tablet: Empower The People
Careerbuilder: Parking Lot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8B-Vu94Sd4M#
Carmax.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DH_IqDD58Qg
Chatter: Will.i.am #1
Chatter: Will.i.am # 2
The Daily: America Meet The Daily
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyPqW6WsMPs&feature=youtu.be
Cars.com: #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xF47Kkk16VQ
E*Trade: #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V8pdDI2O_Y4
Best Buy: How Many Bloody Gs Are There Any ways?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yTe3Zp7Z_Z8
Homeaway.com: #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k24N5DQ_XaY
Groupon: Save The Money, Tibet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ycwmYbK0gIQ
Carmax: #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O-qEqXzQ1SA
Go Daddy # 2: The Contract
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ap5XwwEGR7k#
Cellular South: Samsung Galaxy S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RoN-Vr04niE
Verizon: Rule The Air
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2H-3Gf_fL8
E*trade: #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpgWPcXyBws&feature=channel
Honorary tech ads:
Chevy: Best First Date Ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eUHDFafqykI
AT&T: #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIzPTC_9Ftc
Bridgestone: Reply All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X9xGw-SWej8
Audi: Release The Hounds #ProgressIs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3snyXTNmFm8#
Rio: Sans Angry Birds