[cosus]

As you've all read by now, the founder of Google once famously made the remark that they'd never spend money on a Superbowl ads. Google remains profitable to an incredible extent, remains cash rich and has no sign of any weakening position, ESPECIALLY in search.

I was going to write something about bing! being the issue, and I think, bing is the issue. With Windows 7 and IE8, bing! must be the default engine to some extent. Considering the "adult" theme of the ad, I think the aim was to get older people to switch back to Google and this reaches the widest audience. I can't think of any other reason.

But in any case, considering it is a sign of desperation, what is your opinion of its purpose?

[Brad]

Context? Was there a Superbowl ad for Google? I guess so, but this is the first I've heard of it, only after searching the news for it.

In any case, here's what Schmidt had to say about it:

"We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search," said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer said on a blog post yesterday. "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."

[Iago]

Assuming the advert is the one I saw (the searcher moving to Paris), I think it's to educate and inform people that Google does so much more than just search now. My mother had no idea about Google Maps, for example, until I showed her a few days ago. Now she's addicted to Street View.

[Curiousuburb]

BBC retransmission didn't run any commercials, as expected... but I presume this is the ad in question.

[pscates2.0]

The iPad for analysts, Toyota's quality and now Google is desperate. Cosus, you're on one hell of a roll for a Monday!



I eagerly await your next thread..."Pringles...truly fresher and more stackable?"

[cosus]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 The iPad for analysts, Toyota's quality and now Google is desperate. Cosus, you're on one hell of a roll for a Monday! I eagerly await your next thread..."Pringles...truly fresher and more stackable?"

I just hate Mondays.

[pscates2.0]

You and me both, brother.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by cosus I just hate Mondays.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by Brad Context? Was there a Superbowl ad for Google? I guess so, but this is the first I've heard of it, only after searching the news for it. In any case, here's what Schmidt had to say about it:

Given the unholy cost of Superbowl ad time, blithely talking about "wanting to share" seems a tad disingenuous.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by Iago Assuming the advert is the one I saw (the searcher moving to Paris), I think it's to educate and inform people that Google does so much more than just search now. My mother had no idea about Google Maps, for example, until I showed her a few days ago. Now she's addicted to Street View.

Unless I missed something, the ad seems to be entirely comprised of regular Google searches.

Very nicely done though. It reminded me of Coke commercials (albeit less irritating) in that the central message is "We're part of what it means to be alive now, just accept it."

[joveblue]

Originally Posted by addabox Given the unholy cost of Superbowl ad time, blithely talking about "wanting to share" seems a tad disingenuous.

The only reason the cost is so high is because of the amount of attention the ads get. So if you want to share something with an immensely large audience, and for it to be remembered and paid a lot of attention, it's not a bad way to go.

Originally Posted by addabox Unless I missed something, the ad seems to be entirely comprised of regular Google searches.

I think he meant the advanced features within Google Search. It shows off Maps, Web Definitions and Flight Tracking. It also highlights some of Google's recent efforts to put the most relevant information to your query on the search results page itself.

[Iago]

Originally Posted by addabox Unless I missed something, the ad seems to be entirely comprised of regular Google searches.

Originally Posted by joveblue I think he meant the advanced features within Google Search. It shows off Maps, Web Definitions and Flight Tracking. It also highlights some of Google's recent efforts to put the most relevant information to your query on the search results page itself.

Yes, and weather too. If you query the name of an English Premier League team it returns their last result, and who they play next and at what time. Cute.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by joveblue I think he meant the advanced features within Google Search. It shows off Maps, Web Definitions and Flight Tracking. It also highlights some of Google's recent efforts to put the most relevant information to your query on the search results page itself.

Originally Posted by Iago Yes, and weather too. If you query the name of an English Premier League team it returns their last result, and who they play next and at what time. Cute.

Ah, I see that you're right. I'm guilty of just taking those things for granted; probable why Google wanted to run the ad.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by joveblue The only reason the cost is so high is because of the amount of attention the ads get. So if you want to share something with an immensely large audience, and for it to be remembered and paid a lot of attention, it's not a bad way to go.

Right, I guess I'm just noticing the mismatch between the calculation and expense of a Superbowl ad buy and the aw shucks tone of "oh hey, we had this little thing we made and we looked at it and thought it was pretty good so we figured why not show it around." Like they were entering a cake in the county fair bake contest.

[Wrao]

I've been experimenting with Bing as my default search, and it's really not that bad. Though, I still feel like Google gives me better results, which is kind of surprising since you'd figure they'd be about identical.

[joveblue]

Originally Posted by addabox Right, I guess I'm just noticing the mismatch between the calculation and expense of a Superbowl ad buy and the aw shucks tone of "oh hey, we had this little thing we made and we looked at it and thought it was pretty good so we figured why not show it around." Like they were entering a cake in the county fair bake contest.

When you're a company with $24.5 billion in cash and short term assets, Superbowl is your county fair bake contest

[addabox]

Originally Posted by joveblue When you're a company with $24.5 billion in cash and short term assets, Superbowl is your county fair bake contest

Yeah, I reckon so.

[addabox]

Originally Posted by Wrao I've been experimenting with Bing as my default search, and it's really not that bad. Though, I still feel like Google gives me better results, which is kind of surprising since you'd figure they'd be about identical.

Have you messed with MS's version of street view on their maps much? They've just lately added some, I think, Photosynth stuff, in a few cities, where you can skin the view with appropriate Flickr shots.

SF is one of the cities they've got up and running, and I played around with it for a while, but it seemed sort a clunky and pointless. And just in general, the MS street view equivalent doesn't seem nearly as easily navigable as Google's.