Amid promos for Doritos and beer, viewers of the recent Super Bowl XLIV were surprised and largely pleased to see a television spot for something more poignant (and less edible) than such football snacks. This was Google's daringly simple “Parisian Love” commercial, which showed video screenshots of a variety of Google searches, from “study abroad paris france” to “how to assemble a crib” — basically, a snapshot of a young person's life as defined by their evolving online searches.
Experts have compared this ad, part of Google's “Search On” Campaign, to many Apple commercials, as both companies appear to have mastered the sparse, no-frills form of advertising, which allows each product or service to truly speak for itself. Even more remarkable is the fact that Google's ad was created in-house as a part of a project not intended for the Super Bowl.
Of course, in terms of smart internet marketing, ads like this only remind us — and consumers — of our society's growing reliance on search engines. Whereas a decade ago a curious student might have picked up a travel guide or pamphlet from the admission's office, Googling “study abroad paris france” is clearly the more modern research option.
