Google runs rare TV ad during the Super Bowl

Wednesday 10 February 2010 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter

Tags: Advertising, Google, Media, Search

The commercial breaks for America's coveted Super Bowl on Sunday featured a brand that rarely makes a foray into TV advertising: Google.

Nicely complementing Google's AdBlitz channel on YouTube – where users can vote for their favourite Super Bowl TV commercial – Google ran its 'Parisian Love' ad during the third quarter of the match. One of seven SearchStory videos, this cute tale of Internet search pulled on the heartstrings of viewers more used to seeing macho ads in this commercial slot.

Google's Super Bowl TV commercial

'Parisian Love' shows a series of search queries that progress from 'study abroad paris france' through 'impress a french girl' and 'long distance relationship advice' to 'churches in paris' and ultimately 'how to assemble a crib'. All very fitting for the Valentine season, you might think, but the video was first uploaded to the SearchStories channel in November last year. Before its Super Bowl début, it had clocked up some 1 million views; now it has over 2.7 million.

Rumours of a TV ad from Mountain View had started spreading when Google CEO Eric Schmidt implied in a Twitter post that one would appear. Speculation was rife that the ad would feature its new Nexus One smartphone but that was proved wrong.

In a post on the Official Google Blog on Sunday, Schmidt explained the rationale for airing the ad on national TV, saying: "We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But 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."

'Parisian Love' may be a tad too cute for some but it does represent the essence of Google – namely, search. And perhaps Google was making a point by airing something that had been successful on line first. If 'Parisian Love' leaves you reaching for the sick bag, then check out Slate.com's parody – 'Is Tiger Feeling Lucky Today?' – that uses the same formula to mock Tiger Woods' recent antics. It's enough to make Larry and Sergey wince.

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