So, what do you do if you're a market leader like Google with a best-known product that has no real marketing problems...and you've never run a major television ad before?
You wait until Super Bowl XLIV, which turns out to be the most-watched show in U.S. History (106.5 million pairs of eyeballs)and you run an all-text spot from your online video Search Stories series called “Parisian Love”...that is markedly different from all of the other dopey ads featuring cars, beer, and scantily-clad women...that tells a love story that begins with an innocent search query all the while showcasing your technology in a way that pretty much everyone can relate to.
Oh...and you have your CEO telegraph your intentions the day before by sending a cryptic tweet . about being sure to watch the ads during the third quarter of the game, while mentioning something about hell freezing over.
Oh, oh...and you top it off by garnering beau coup plaudits from the Kellogg School's Super Bowl Advertising Review as having the best ad of the entire Super Bowl, that also draws the most positive rating, at 98%, by Zeta Buzz, a social media mining tool that instantly taps the sentiment of millions of online blogs, message boards, and communities.
Hear that clapping sound. Don't be alarmed. That's Sergey Brin and Larry Page exchanging a very loud high-five.
All kidding aside, I loved this ad. What a beautiful, simple story...as the best ones are. Some guy decides to study abroad. Meets a French girl who think he's cute, and tries to impress her. Heads back to the States and attempts to stoke the long distance relationship thing. Still head-over-heels and seeks a full-time gig in France. Gets married in Paris. Builds a crib. Happily ever after.
As Google mercilessly pulls at our heart-strings, we see the full array of their search queries and services, e.g. Translate, Google Maps, etc., with a tag line at the end, “Search On”. What a positioning statement! A simple, powerful mantra...that says “We are all about searching for, and finding, the things that matter in life.”
Here's the wonderful thing about searching the “internets” that this ad does it's best to capture. It's not just about the search results, it's about the possibilities and promise of moving forward through life. “Search” leads to the serendipitous answers and trips down the rabbit-hole that Bing has done a masterful job in mocking. “Search On” is different. “Search On” is the results I want on what matters to me.
You know, it's almost like coaching!
There's one other thing that I found completely inspirational, and aspirational about this spot. I felt that Google was showing us how we could use their tools to accentuate whatever degree of creativity that we might have on our own. These days, the word “partnership” is overdone...but I felt that Google was demonstrating how they could partner with us to make our lives happen. In a phrase, Google makes it easy for us to be creative.
This is what makes their value proposition so terrific!
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