Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Google Scores on Super Bowl Sunday

Google broke with its longstanding tradition of not advertising its search engine on national television when it ran this attention-grabbing and yet understated 60-second spot during the Super Bowl on Sunday Feb 7th. The Super Bowl is the most-watched TV event of the year (stats for this year put the number at 106.5 million viewers) with 30-second commercials selling for upwards of $3 million. This was Google's first-ever Super Bowl ad buy. Called "Parisian Love," the commercial was based on a series of YouTube videos called Search Stories that Google has posted over the past three months. "We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search," Google chief executive Eric Schmidt told CNN. "We liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience." Predictably, the ad has inspired all sort of parodies including one with a pro-life message called Parisian Oops and another making fun of Tiger Woods. To see the ad, click the arrow above. And if you're older than 12 and need to watch it more than once to catch it completely, don't worry--you're not alone.

6 comments:

  1. I could do one about my latest job search. It is amazing what you can find out and how much more prepared you can be when you meet someone for a job interview.

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  2. Such a sweet ad, and well within budget I'm sure =)

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  3. So sweet - my kind of advertisement.
    Have a wonderful Valentine's week-end!

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  4. It was a lovely spot but I agree a little too understated...many just tuned out when they saw that "all to familiar" screen and GUI...but not me...I followed that life all the way through to the wedding in Paris!

    Have a great Valentines, Julie!

    Kit

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  5. Thanks Julie. As usual, a wealth of great info. The summer "visitors" are starting to make their reservations chez moi and I'm looking for places to take them... places I've never been. This is now on the list.

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  6. Nothing like a lesson in semantics to sell search. Nice post, Julie. I had not seen this.

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