The Best Super Bowl Ads

Feb 8, 2010— -- Were the months of preparation, organization, sweat and tears worth it? Even though they never took the field, Super Bowl Sunday was one of the biggest days of their careers. No, not the fans or the coaches, the team owners or even the hotdog salesmen. On the biggest night of football, it was the advertisers who were biting their nails the hardest.

Would there be there enough viewers to make the millions of dollars they paid for a 30-second commercial worthwhile? Would their ads be talked about for days to come at the watercooler, like the Budweiser frogs or Coca-Cola's famous 1980 Mean Joe Greene ad? We look at a few gambles that paid off.

Humor is usually a big winner on Super Ad Sunday, and this past weekend seems to have been no exception. The most popular ad of the Super Bowl was the Snickers ad featuring Betty White of The Golden Girls TV fame. In the spot, White is viciously tackled into the mud while playing pick-up football with a group of young guys. It is then revealed that White is in fact a hungry young man who simply needs the nutty candy bar to get back on his game. The spot seems to have worked for Snickers as it is the talk of the blogosphere. And, if Facebook can serve as a barometer of pop culture, the group "Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!" jumped from 8,500 fans morning to 80,000 and growing.

Arguably the most surprising ad of yesterday's Super Bowl was the commercial for The Late Show with David Letterman featuring Letterman, Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey. Just a few weeks after his controversial feud with Conan O'Brien on The Tonight Show, Jay Leno advertised his competitor's show while also starring with his rival host. Good thing Oprah Winfrey was there to keep the peace! It took Cold War-era tactics to make the spot without any word leaking out. Leno and Oprah both took secretly-planned trips to New York for the 30 minute shoot. Leno even donned a fake mustache to shake any tails he may have had.