Last year I covered nearly every domain name that was used in the 2009 Super Bowl Commercials and the commercials that didn’t use domains as well. For the 2010 Super Bowl commercials I didn’t write every domain name down that was used but I did write down domains that I felt were "different" then the rest used.
For the majority of the commercials, companies used Exact Match domain names to its company name or its product. When these companies did that, there were almost always .com domain names as well! The right and smart thing to do that is!
So who steered off coarse IMO, what commercials jumped out at me and why?
Sketchers
Sketchers has a shoe called Shape Ups and they ran at least 2 commercials. They did include a domain name with each ad but settled for a 2nd tier domain IMO, with including "MY" at the start. MyShapeUps.com . This "MY" can often be forgotten and is the main reason why I didn’t like it. Secondly, it doesn’t seem as professional steering away from using an exact match domain like ShapeUps.com . The domain ShapeUps.com is parked with Sedo.com and likely could be purchased. Keep in mind they spend a cool $5 Million on the two ads.. so some of that budget should of been spent on the exact match domain as well. ShapeUps.com IS getting traffic and it is likely because of the shoe!
CBS
CBS used Mark Sanchez, the Jets QB and "his heart beat" to bring awareness of heart disease in women. The domain name used in the ad was CBSCares.tv . Although the .tv TLD is pretty popular and used in TV ads, it’s still not a .com . Since it has become second nature for people to add .com, some traffic will be lost due to the .tv being used but CBS does own the .com and forwards that domain as well to it’s main site. CBSCares.tv simply forwards to CBS.com/cbs_cares as does CBSCares.com . The CBSCares.tv was likely used for tracking purposes to see how many people used that domain in the ad.
Dockers
Dockers stuck out because of a couple things. CareerBuilder.com ran its ad and everybody was in there underwear. The Dockers ad ran next and was a little confusing at first since this ad also had people in there underwear. It almost seemed like an extension of the first ad for CareerBuilder.com, but it wasn’t. The second thing that made the Dockers domain stick out, was because they used a category with there domain: Dockers.com/FreePants .
Vizio
The commercial itself had me lost! The only reason I am writing about it was because they were like Dockers and used a category with its domain in there ad as well. Vizio.com/via . The VIA was pretty hard to read IMO and I wasn’t sure if it was W I A or what it read at first. Since the ad was about Apps, one would think they would of at least used Vizio.com/apps but that wasn’t the case. The commercial was for the Vizio Internet Apps and the domain used with it’s category was just plain confusing. Last year Vizio ran a GREAT ad, pointing to the logo on your TV.. but this year IMO they did not do nearly as good with it’s ad.
Flo TV
This was a new product to me and it looks pretty cool. I have not heard of Flo TV before they ran its ad, so I think it was a smart move to run it with the amount of eyes on the game. Although they were like CBS and used a .tv TLD, this one seemed a lot more fitting! FLO.tv had a nice ring to it and makes sense with the product. Since internet searchers will be searching Flo TV, the domain name and TLD will help them! It would be nice if they owned Flo.com, as the domain is parked at Sedo and likely is for sale. Depending on how well it’s Super Bowl commercials work for them, maybe they will pick up the .com as down the road.
I was pretty shocked to see Google run an ad but I was glad they did! Google did not use a domain name in its ad, but I’m not so sure they need to! Who doesn’t know how to get to Google! It was a pretty cool ad that I think was well done, but for webmasters I think Google pointed something out…. do not show to much data in your Meta Description or you will be losing out on some traffic!
Intel
Intel ran several of it’s ads without a domain name in it, but stuck in CoreMoment.com in one ad. The site is asking users to share a pivotal core moment in your life. Since Intel is a "tech" company, you would think they would use a Favicon, but they do not. It looks pretty unprofessional for a company that size not to use one.. but they did just register the domain on 1-15-2010.
Honda
Honda went were no other company did during the Super Bowl commercials! They went to the left and used a Sub-Domain in there ad. The ad featured there new Accord Crosstour and Honda used the domain name Crosstour.Honda.com . Since Sub-Domains are rarely used in TV ads, this likely confused people more than anything. HondaCrosstour.com or AccordCrosstour.com would of been my two choices to use, as they simply forward the sub-domain they used anyway! It appears that a Honda dealership (College Hills Honda) owns the HondaCrosstour.com domain and an individual owns AccordCrosstour.com .
Most Eye Catching Domain Used?
Chunky.com !
Campbell’s Soup used the most eye catching generic domain name for it’s Chunky Soup line. Chunky is just a catchy domain name that grabs attention. In a slight way, the domain could be "bad" because anytime you have a food related product and have a term that can come across as "FAT", it’s not a great idea. Clearly Campbell’s doesn’t use this domain name as "FAT", it refers to it’s large pieces of meat and veggies… but clearly there are the people that make jokes using the name. Overall, I thought it was the most catchy domain used!
Best Driving Traffic to the Web?
Godaddy.com !
The reason for including a domain name in an ad, is because it easily allows you to continue your message online! The company runs an ad to sell products and services and using the web to do this makes things a lot easier! Since Godaddy is an online only service, there focus is driving people to it’s site. I wasn’t a big fan of either two ads run by Godaddy but once again there main focus was driving traffic TO there site. Both ads has the feeling of "cutting short" and you could see the rest of the ad after the girl rips off her top shirt at Godaddy.com . Both ads used Danica Patricks voice over with these powerful words: See What Happens Next @ GoDaddy.com
Overall
I thought the vast majority of companies did a good job of including domain names in there ads. Most were the correct domains to use as they matched there company name, product or service. As for the ads themselves… I thought most were not funny at all. At least this year the game itself was pretty good and it made up for the lack of funny commercials. If I had to pick a couple best commercials, they would have to go to Doritos. The slap in the face one was the one I liked the best.
Based on the current Google Trends during writing this, there are only 2 main searches that internet users are searching for related to the Super Bowl ads. Dockers Free Pants and Vizio Internet Apps. It appears others were confused like I was with the Vizio commercial and the other company to use a category… Dockers.
