EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Google television ad that told the story of a long-distance relationship earned the top grade in the Michigan State University Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing’s list of the best commercials of Super Bowl XLIV.
While football fans watched the New Orleans Saints defeat the Indianapolis Colts in Sunday night’s game, MSU advertising faculty members rated the commercials for the 13th straight year.
The advertising experts judged about 60 commercials that aired during the Super Bowl. The Google commercial of a Parisian/American love story took first place among the group.
“Google took the top spot among the experts this year for many reasons,” said MSU advertising instructor Robert Kolt. “Namely, fantastic story, low production costs and the surprise factor. It sells what they do in a simple way.”
Other commercials earning high marks from the advertising faculty were Budweiser, Doritos, E-trade and Volkswagen.
Using a 10-point grading scale, the 15 faculty members in attendance rated each commercial based on creativity, production and overall quality. The faculty considered whether each commercial’s strategy was unique and relevant to the appropriate consumers and also determined whether the ad’s execution was memorable and bolstered the reputation of the product.
Among this year’s worst commercials were ads for Universal Studios (Wizarding World of Harry Potter), Skechers (starring Joe Montana), Walt Disney (Prince of Persia) and GoDaddy.com (newscaster interview).
This year’s top 10 Super Bowl commercials were (in order):
- Google (Paris love story online)
- Budweiser (human bridge helps beer truck)
- Doritos (kid meets boyfriend)
- E-trade (talking baby with jealous girlfriend)
- Volkswagen (folks playing “punch dub”)
- Bud Light (astronauts as asteroid nears)
- Doritos (man on park bench with dog)
- Audi (diesel with green police)
- Snickers (Betty White in football game)
- Bud Light (man building house out of beer cans)
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