In defense of Google, traditional advertiser

Today there was a post on AdAge.com's "Digital Next" section criticizing Google's Super Bowl ad, "Parisian Love".

The criticisms were: they didn't communicate their diversity of products, they didn't feature their display capability, they didn't show the user clicking on a nearby search ad -- they only showed someone searching for information.

I have a different view from my vantage point at a large but non-traditional agency.

Google's Super Bowl commercial was actually a 60-second demo of the search experience. Maybe there was a secondary objective to make them seem more cuddly and less dominating. In any case the focus on their core product was strategically perfect. The opposite case from last Sunday was Emerald Nuts/Pop Secret. Although Emerald's TV commercial was strategically unsound on its own, the overall integrated program was smart.

Google's commercial was much more focused -- and integrated. Seeing the Super Bowl commercial would lead the consumer to one place only -- and I doubt they'd need a URL to direct them.

It was an excellent use of traditional advertising by a new media juggernaut.