I didn’t see  much of note during the Super Bowl this year. I certainly wasn’t surprised to see the job site advertisements considering the financial crisis. I thought the Career Builder and  Monster spots were the most entertaining, for what that’s worth.  I do enjoy a dose of slapstick as much as the next guy though I was quite disappointed by the Facebook Suicide ad, especially considering the way they shut down the Whopper Sacrifice.

That said, I did think ad is less formulaic.

Obviously the conceit of the ad is that they don’t tell you what it’s for. By this, they turn the ad itself into a game of sorts (“G” stands for game?). I found the piece engaging because of the direction, but also because they intentionally presented a wide variety of celebrities. The natural reaction is to try and figure out what they have in common. In this case, they are all athletes.

Beyond that, I think this ad is particularly relevant to the Super Bowl because it is offers a multi-generational viewing experience. By including athletes from several generations, it is possible to start a conversation between generations. There are not many brands doing this successfully. Also, connecting the dots requires that you expand traditional interpretations of sports to include things like dance. Of course, this broadens the audience as well.

“What’s G?” It’s the game, it’s gifted, genius, genuine, gutsy, golden, glorious, a lower case god ….. it’s Gatorade. Normally, it’s a problem if people get to the end of an ad and can’t tell you who it was for. In this case, they’re betting that making people figure it out will actually make it more memorable. I’m curious to see what else they’ll do with the campaign.