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Feb 11 AT 9:18 PM Taylor Wimberly 24 Comments

The ad spot Google should have run in the Super Bowl

The predictions were correct. Google aired their first Super Bowl ad called “Parisian Love“. As Eric Schmidt put it, “Hell has indeed frozen over.” The search giant generally dismissed brand advertising as a waste of money, but change its mind for the most-watched TV program in United States history.

I thought the ad was kind of lame and a wasted opportunity for Google. Everyone knows they represent search, so I don’t get why we didn’t see a new product promoted.

An estimated 106 million viewers tuned in and I doubt most of them even know what Android is.

We think Google should have shown some clips from their excellent Nexus One short films. The 5th and final video was posted this week and it’s one of the best examples of how an Android phone is used throughout the day. The Nexus One is the most awesome phone (and coolest gadget period) I have ever owned, but most of the general public has yet to hear about it.

What do you think? Did Google screw up and pick the wrong ad? Do you prefer “Parisian Love” or “Nexus One: Day One“?

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24 Comments Join the discussion!

RollercoasterRJGuest 02/11/10 9:21 PM

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I strongly agree that Day One should have been the Super Bowl ad. When I watched it, I was shocked that they didn’t use the days before the Super Bowl to release the other episodes, then tell people to stay tuned to the Super Bowl to see the premier of the final episode. That would have been MUCH better.

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coggy9Guest 02/11/10 9:24 PM

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That final Nexus video should of been the ad. Sales would soar and I’d stop being asked at school “WHAT IS A NEXUS ONE?!?!?!?!?11??1″

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98 Sean Riley 02/11/10 9:44 PM

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Unless I missed something and Android now means phone in the way that Google means search then I would say yes they should have gone with “Nexus One: Day One.”

But hey, they’re new at this.

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Mike BGuest 02/11/10 9:49 PM

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I firmly agree with Coggy9 not only would people stop saying is that the new iphone but android would get a major boost… motorola killed it with the droid commercials the problem that created for us non-droid owners was no one knew what android was… G1, MyTouch, Eris, Behold II, Cliq, Hero, and even us Nexus One owners are constantly asked.. is that like a droid…. but a droid is better right… i dont dislike the droid in any way.. well maybe that it dosent have motoblur but nothing else about it upsets me… but i am a little bugged by the fact that no one knows what android is. i am a day one nexus owner and have had multiple android os phones and have never had a phone that someone did not mistake terribly for the motorola droid … please Google, please HTC, Please Samsung… someone please work on a lil advertising for android… sell the OS and the phones will sell themselves… Moto.. your blur commercials aren’t helping yes people now know blur… but the dont realize its android that lets blur happen… androidandme.. maybe you can get a foot in you have probably seen my other posts on here and they are all long and drawn out im sure… but look at the positive replys to what is say

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- 1 DistortedLoop 02/11/10 10:28 PM
  
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  Motorola isn’t out to sell Android, they’re out to sell Motorola phones, whatever the OS is. By branding their phones with blur, they’re distinguishing their own products from the rest of the Android crowd and maintaining a uniquely Motorola interface that you can only get by buying from Motorola. HTC doing the same with Sense, right?
  
  What Android “geeks” (like we who read this blog) don’t get is that the vast majority of the cell phone owning public doesn’t give a rat’s arse what OS runs their phone, they care about how easy the phone is to use and what cool features it does. That’s part of the iPhones phenomenal success…John Q Public sees a cool device with lots of cool things they can do on it.
  
  Advertising a specific phone with specific features and UI innovations sells phones, not hawking that this phone runs a particular OS. Whens the last time you saw a Crackberry ad that touted the benefits of Symbian…?
  
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DanyGuest 02/11/10 10:04 PM

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Disagree… Google is not a phone company. Google is “search” and so you stick with what you do best. I’m not sure why we want our Android phones to become so popular just to have people stop asking what they are? Sounds like we have iPhone envy.

I think Google knows a little about advertising, so if they aren’t letting the world know about our android world the way we would like them to… so be it. I could care less! I have my android phone… I love it… not worried!

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- JRGuest 02/12/10 5:02 AM
  
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  Google hasn’t been a “search” company for ages. They are an advertisement broker with added value (this “added value” means: We have places to put ads on).
  
  Which makes your second paragraph a little entertaining seeing as I’d say that Google probably doesn’t know a little about advertising. They know a lot.
  
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  - danyGuest 02/12/10 8:43 AM
    
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    There was a bit of sarcasm on that 2nd paragraph BTW!
    
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rick@ricketyGuest 02/11/10 10:18 PM

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I’ve never watched the Superbowl but Google would have been just fine with no ad. Google has just begun, they will gradually gain market share simply because they produce great products.

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DerekGuest 02/11/10 10:23 PM

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Just curious…since the Nexus One Car Dock isn’t out yet do you think the one they showed at the 1:10 mark of this video is going to be the one they release?

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Zacqary Adam GreenGuest 02/11/10 10:24 PM

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Okay, roll with me on this one. I know it’s crazy, but imagine this:

What if Google doesn’t actually want to sell that many Nexus Ones yet?

The Nexus One isn’t only Google’s first hardware product ever. It’s their first product requiring technical support on such a massive scale. They’re just getting their support department set up, and it wasn’t even ready on launch day. Would they rather have:

- 2 million buyers, 1.5 million of whom are unsatisfied because the can’t get tech support, or:
- 80,000 buyers, all of whom are completely satisfied, and will generate positive word of mouth?

And even if it has absolutely nothing to do with tech support, you’d think Google, of all companies, knows the power of viral marketing working over time. That way they can spend less on buying ads from the dying old media, and more on making everything they do better.

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JohnGuest 02/11/10 11:15 PM

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I agree completely that they should have ran this commercial, it makes no sense that they put up an ad for what everyone knows them about. A search engine. What’s new? Why push what people know you about.
When a car company comes out with a new car they advert the new things, not the fact that they make the car, it’s redundant.
Bad miss on Google’s part.

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0 Frosty Goodness 02/11/10 11:37 PM

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I agree. Mostly because until you wrote this, I had kinda forgotten that Google ran a Super Bowl ad. The Nexus One ad makes me want one. I already use Google.

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RJGuest 02/12/10 2:57 AM

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This vid doesn’t seem to play anymore… it just says it’s private. Or is it just me? If it was “privatatized” indeed, I wonder why… some legal issue?

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- 100 Taylor Wimberly 02/12/10 3:59 AM
  
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  Yup it was the official Nexus One account and now the video is private. You can still watch it on the YouTube page though. I wonder why it was made private.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/googlenexusone
  
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Patrick O'LearyGuest 02/12/10 8:38 AM

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So am I the only person who saw the Parisian Love ad as a counterattack on Bing and KGB? The point is that Google doesn’t just give you a “bunch of links,” as these other search services attest.

What I find interesting is that apparently Google feels threatened enough to respond.

I also agree that promoting the N1 could have been a disaster if it led to massive sales, given the technical support issues Google is working through. This is another one of Google’s controlled rollouts, it’s just that invitations can be purchased for $530.

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Peter KirnGuest 02/12/10 10:23 AM

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Wow, everyone missed the point. That Google ad is one of the most effective I’ve seen.

Google is a brand.

Super Bowl advertising is about brand advertising.

They could very easily have gotten distracted what makes their core brand meaningful, but they didn’t. They took the elegance of the Google search engine, and made something that connects to people emotionally, that everyone immediately understands. It’s an ad that did something the best major brand ads do: it reminded watchers of feelings about that brand so fundamental, they likely take them for granted.

I think folks here were blinded by expecting an Android ad. But make no mistake: no matter how much we love the tech, a lot of Android’s momentum is thanks to the power of Google as a brand and a tool in people’s lives. It actually took some guts to do something that purely focused on that and didn’t try to do a new product message.

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1 ravila88x 02/12/10 2:55 PM

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Yes Agree with you Peter..but still they should have ran the N1 video as well!

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aliGuest 02/12/10 5:36 PM

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doesnt make sense to advertise N1 on superbowl, period.

they can barely handle the customer service, and they’re barely getting their feet wet in that market.

with the ad they showed they basically tell peopl to google any question you have. even from your iPhone, or any other smart phone. and that’s what they’re all about at the end of the day.

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chewtoyGuest 02/12/10 7:46 PM

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They already dominate search completely — there was no need for that advertisement.

While I agree they may not be ready for the increase in N1 interest from doing an ad for it, AND I’ll comment that it would likely be a better use of money to just partner with walmart, using the N1 ad for the superbowl would have definitely had a greater impact.

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dotsterGuest 02/12/10 9:09 PM

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Am I the only one who thought that Episode 5 was a yawner? After Episode #3 and #4 (my faves), episode 5 seemed very typical and boring.

As for Parisian Love, I thought that it was cute and loveable. It made me feel fuzzy and warm towards Google (the brand) by telling a story. Search is what makes Google…well, Google and it’s best to build that brand because if you consider IE-users, they kind of just default to what’s pre-installed on their computer… including Bing search.

What compels a non-technical, non-Googler to become a Googler except for branding? (It’s like Kleenex being synonymous with facial tissues but when you go to the drugstore, there’s people who just buy whatever.)

And yes, I think Google should feel threatened by Bing. I haven’t used Bing search since it first launched (bad results at the time) but have you seen the YouTube preview videos of the Bing Maps????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8N6UFpwp7o

I almost wet my pants in excitement and I’m downloading Silverlight at this very moment to try out what’s already online. (Like, wft, I hate Silverlight!!)

Microsoft has been slow to innovate these past years but they have been quick to hire some amazing innovators like Jeff Han (Surface) and Blaise Aguera y Arcas (Photosynth/Bing Maps) and I expect some fierce competition coming up.

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- Zer0-9Guest 02/13/10 1:06 PM
  
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  Wet yourself? Really? It is little more than a rip off of google maps with some special effects thrown in which require a plugin from microsoft. Thanks, but I’ll stick to international standards like HTML5 rather than drinking the MS koolaid
  
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  - dotsterGuest 02/13/10 4:00 PM
    
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    Google Streetview requires Flash, just saying.
    
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0 Manly Man 02/13/10 6:14 PM

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Whats is googles main goal for the nexus one?

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