Life in 12 Easy Searches

Like many Canadians, I had to wait until after the Saints fans finally partied themselves out to see what I really wanted to get out of the Super Bowl: The ads. (Okay, I could have previewed some of them, but where's the fun in that?)

And as usual, I was mostly disappointed. More smut from GoDaddy. Megan Fox duckfacing it up for Motorola. Vizio snatching borrowed interest from Beyonce and a bunch of tired old Internet memes.

And then there was Google, doing its first ever major TV buy after this campaign enjoyed several months of viral success:



Two words:



While others invested in celebrities and special effects, Google relied on the way its brand is woven into everyday life. So we get to see an American studying abroad, falling in love, and succeeding in the ever-challenging LTR.

This is what good advertising is supposed to be: relevant, entertaining, emotive and authentic. It is everything I strive for. Great work.

Another ad I enjoyed watching was the Cars.com "Timothy Richmond" biography. Although the idea, tone, and even music are lifted pretty neatly from the opening sequence of The Royal Tenenbaums.



You can watch the rest of the 2010 lineup at Mashable or AdAge.

Payola... Pay-oh-el-ay-ol-la...

Just caught news on CBC that American bloggers are now expected to be transparent about who is paying them off:

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday announced new rules that require bloggers in the United States to disclose "material connections" — or "connections that consumers would not expect" — with the subjects they write about. The connections can take the form of outright payments, advertisements or free products given to the blogger by the subject.

Not complying could cost bloggers up to $11,000 U.S. per post. Meanwhile, Canadian authorities aren't in a hurry to enact similar rules, because they can't figure out who's territory blogs are.

The U.S. rule seems kind of dumb to me, since blogs are supposed to be subjective and suspect by their very nature. I prefer to take care of this on the consumer level, by educating them not to believe everything they read, and to always assume ulterior motives.

Anyway, just in case Canada happens to enact similar rules, I'd like to state for the record that I am a [bleep]ing adman, and therefore in the pocket of every client we have. There can be no "payola" scam here, because I am proactively disclosing that I will use this blog to promote paying clients whenever possible.

Take public transit. Become a foster parent. Go back to school. Stop elder abuse. Protect yourself against H1N1, Etc.

But if you still want something Payola-related, here you go: