7 ms·

Google scores most effective TV ad with Dear Sophie

88 points by dendory 15y ago

bphogan 15y ago
As a geek dad, I loved this ad. It was really cool, really well done, and memorable, even though I only saw it once on TV.
vkatluri 15y ago
Except that I cannot create an account for my son who's 6 months old. I have to create an account with a false birthday.
- 1880 15y ago
  Related: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3010687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3010687
- tomkarlo 15y ago
  You can create an account to receive emails (with your own birthday info) and give it to your son when he's 13. Since you're the one creating and accessing the account, it should have your birth info, not his. I'm pretty sure Sophie isn't reading the emails as they come in.
  - rokhayakebe 15y ago
    I'm pretty sure Sophie isn't reading the emails as they come in. Correct, which is why he writes in the end I have been writing you since you were born.....Until then...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
pchew 15y ago
It's all those clicks that do it, even when you can't see or feel it the sound of a buckling-spring keyboard just comforts you.
matdwyer 15y ago
Godaddy has the least effective... who would have thunk it (Oh right, everyone)
eavc 15y ago
Google has had some smart, touching ads of late. I think they're helping to romanticize the web, or maybe just highlight and help legitimize the beauty that's already there.
- Sukotto 15y ago
  Yes. I particularly liked the "Parisian Love" super bowl ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU Brilliantly done.
  - mcn 15y ago
    I found that one to be powerful, but double edged. It's unpleasant to remember that ad when researching a serious situation that is likely to have a negative outcome.
Sukotto 15y ago
The account "dear.sophie.lee" has been deleted for violation of the Google Names policy. The Names Policy requires that you use your actual, legal name. Nicknames, titles, etc. are not permitted. We emailed you following a review of your profile and gave you a 4 day window of time to edit the name of this account. Since you did not, we have deleted it. We understand that our new Google-wide policy may not be for everyone. We'd be sad to see you go. Please consider creating a new account with a real name and starting over fresh. Thanks for using google services
- rryan 15y ago
  A for effort -- but you picked the wrong policy to rail against. The problem with Sophie Lee is that she is too young and if you create a GMail account with her real age it will be immediately locked out due to COPPA regulations. This isn't really Google's fault though -- but did make the Dear Sophie ad a little confusing due to this legal restriction. Presumably you have to sign up using your own age since it is an account managed by you. When your child turns 13 you can transfer the account to them. GMail users are not subject to any Real Name policies. Nice straw-man, though. It probably eluded most.
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    No need to be so snarky. Potential TOS violations, and the very real possibility of a life-long Google account being hijacked or revoked, are thoughts worth considering. Google seems to be presenting itself as a life-long data repository. But they have basically no customer support, no means of data recovery, etc. If they want to advertise themselves as a family scrapbook, I expect them to be as reliable as one.
    - danilocampos 15y ago
      This is the most salient observation one can offer when juxtaposing Google's brilliant Don Draper-esque ad against the mediocre, bureaucratic reality that has beset their products. The only motivation I can see for the people who are downvoting you is that they work for Google and the cognitive dissonance is annoying.
jonnathanson 15y ago
"Go Daddy surprisingly aired the most ads that got poor ratings." Surprisingly? I'm all for watching hot chicks bounce around in skimpy outfits, but that can't be the beginning and ending of a conversation about a brand or a service (unless that brand is in the T&A industry). GoDaddy's ads basically communicate "We're sketchy and lowbrow." And, typically speaking, I want neither of those things in a domain registry service. Conversely, what Google does really well is demonstrate its product -- and the benefits of that product -- in a very simple, human, touching way with big emotional impact. Google is getting you to understand and love its brand at the same time. The ads are really well done.
- luriel 15y ago
  > GoDaddy's ads basically communicate "We're sketchy and lowbrow." And, typically speaking, I want neither of those things in a domain registry service. Exactly! The popularity of such extremely sketchy registrars is disturbing, of course most registrars are more or less sketchy, but there almost seems to be correlation between popularity and sketchiness in this field, and I can't figure out why.
  - ma2rten 15y ago
    I think most people don't really care who registers their domain for them. They just use the first one that comes to their mind.
  - derefr 15y ago
    > there almost seems to be correlation between popularity and sketchiness in this field, and I can't figure out why Domains are a commodity; people want them cheap. Expensive things signal high status—so, conversely, low-status things signal cheapness.
zackb 15y ago
Sorry, but this is just creepy and weird. Not to mention it's a PITA and facebook does it better.
HSO 15y ago
So the biggest spam company on earth buys slots from the ad industry to attract "users" to sell back to the ad industry. Interesting business model. EDIT: Uhh, I'm getting downvotes. I assume it's because I called Google a spam company? Well then, let me clarify: I don't like any company or industry that lives off of advertising. Advertising is intrusive, it's noisy, it finances or subsidizes mostly crap (turn on a TV if you don't believe me), and it promotes profoundly bad ideas and values (keyword: consumerism) in the intellectually and psychologically weakest members of society. There's the rant, now you can downvote all you want. Doesn't change a thing. Until Google makes something that people are actually willing to pay their hard-earned cash for, they are in the same category as spammers.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  Just sort of a karmic side note, a really useful way to rant is to actually blog your rant and then start a conversation about the pros and cons of your rant. (and you can submit it to HN but no guarantees that it will make the first page etc etc)
- Rastafarian 15y ago
  Intresting. Here is Google, probably the most technically advanced company in the world. How do suggest they make money off their excelent search engine?
  - HSO 15y ago
    I may have strong tastes but I'm not stupid enough to presume I'm going to tell Google how to go about their business. I just can't help but notice that after all these years, they are still making the majority of their money on ads -- not on making something that is valuable enough to people that they will pay for it in a straightforward transaction. So, isn't it ironic then that an ad company will pay other ad companies to create ads to draw in users that they can then turn around and basically sell back to the industry?
    - Rastafarian 15y ago
      Well, I believe the Industrial Revolution started in a similar way. Deep coal and iron mines needed steam engines to pump water out, steam engines required iron and coal to make and operate.
luriel 15y ago
I can see how some people think it is cool, but I'm the only one creeped out by this? I'm probably weird and I'm not sure I can explain it rationally, but if my parents had done something like this I'm not sure I'd be too amused. Maybe it is just too cheesy for my taste. (And obviously I don't mean just the act of going and publishing it in an ad, I'm assuming the whole illustration of the idea is fabricated.)
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  if my parents had done something like this I'm not sure I'd be too amused. What if one of your parents passed away while you were young? Wouldn't it be nice to have some concept of interacting with them as an adult? What if a house fire or flood destroyed the home videos and photo albums of your youth?
  - luriel 15y ago
    > What if one of your parents passed away while you were young? Actually one of my parents did pass away while I was relatively young, but my family history is 'unconventional' to say the least, that might be why I'm weird and seem to have a different reaction from other people, or it might be something else completely, I don't know, was just expressing my feeling about it. > Wouldn't it be nice to have some concept of interacting with them as an adult? Maybe, but it is much more complicated than that. > What if a house fire or flood destroyed the home videos and photo albums of your youth? I do not keep any such things, again I guess I'm weird, but I'm at least somewhat happy about thins being this way. And yes, I do realize that keeping such thing just gives me the option to look at it or not, still it feels creepy to me.
    - peterwwillis 15y ago
      No offense, but it's more creepy that you find sharing happy childhood memories to be creepy.
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  How is this different from photo albums and letters written to children stored in a box somewhere? I know my mom has an inordinate amount of childhood paraphernalia stashed away somewhere. I could see it being a touching gift to give to your child later on in life.
golgo13 15y ago
We are having our first child in December. This past weekend, my wife asked, "Are you going to send here eMails like this?" Looks like I'll be signing up for another gMail account in the near future.
golgo13 15y ago
We are having our first child in December. This past weekend, my wife asked, "Are you going to send here eMails like this?" Looks like I'll be signing up for another gMail account in the near future.
suivix 15y ago
Let me get this straight. The father made an account for his daughter, but lied about her birthday and broke the ToS?
joebadmo 15y ago
Slightly tangential, but I recently compared this ad to Facebook's intro video to the Timeline in a blog post: http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/10755504272/intimacy-and-performance-on-facebook http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/10755504272/intimacy-and-perf... What's interesting here is that Google seems to understand what technology means to people a lot better than Facebook does.
mahdireilly 15y ago
Paying attention to well designed ad campaigns can let you gleam a lot of information about a company. When picking stocks I put more weight on their ads than I do the stock quote history. In a sea of shitty advertising where companies recycle bad ideas and rely on special effects or catchy jingles to sell, you end up with an arms race between competitors telling you why to chose them over the alternatives. They completely forget to say why you should want the product at all. It just ends up leaving people suspicious of advertising in general. This ad was really effective because it didn't hype the technology. They thought about what is important to people and found a way to show their products as enriching that experience. It is rare to find ads this good, but they are the kind that will stay in their minds for years to come. I am at the age where I look forward to having children. I want to establish some stability before I do it and so it is still a few years off. Despite this, I find myself thinking on a daily basis what values and skills I want to teach my kids. I am making lists of books, films, projects, etc. that I will introduce to them at the appropriate age. After seeing this ad, I went ahead and registered a few accounts with names that my wife and I talk about every once in a while. I bet many other people at the same stage of life as me are doing the same. Kudos to google.

88 points by dendory 15y ago

As a geek dad, I loved this ad. It was really cool, really well done, and memorable, even though I only saw it once on TV.

vkatluri 15y ago

Except that I cannot create an account for my son who's 6 months old. I have to create an account with a false birthday.

1880 15y ago
Related: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3010687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3010687
tomkarlo 15y ago
You can create an account to receive emails (with your own birthday info) and give it to your son when he's 13. Since you're the one creating and accessing the account, it should have your birth info, not his. I'm pretty sure Sophie isn't reading the emails as they come in.
- rokhayakebe 15y ago
  I'm pretty sure Sophie isn't reading the emails as they come in. Correct, which is why he writes in the end I have been writing you since you were born.....Until then...

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

pchew 15y ago

It's all those clicks that do it, even when you can't see or feel it the sound of a buckling-spring keyboard just comforts you.

matdwyer 15y ago

Godaddy has the least effective... who would have thunk it (Oh right, everyone)

eavc 15y ago

Google has had some smart, touching ads of late. I think they're helping to romanticize the web, or maybe just highlight and help legitimize the beauty that's already there.

Sukotto 15y ago
Yes. I particularly liked the "Parisian Love" super bowl ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU Brilliantly done.
- mcn 15y ago
  I found that one to be powerful, but double edged. It's unpleasant to remember that ad when researching a serious situation that is likely to have a negative outcome.

Sukotto 15y ago

The account "dear.sophie.lee" has been deleted for violation of the Google Names policy. The Names Policy requires that you use your actual, legal name. Nicknames, titles, etc. are not permitted. We emailed you following a review of your profile and gave you a 4 day window of time to edit the name of this account. Since you did not, we have deleted it. We understand that our new Google-wide policy may not be for everyone. We'd be sad to see you go. Please consider creating a new account with a real name and starting over fresh. Thanks for using google services

rryan 15y ago
A for effort -- but you picked the wrong policy to rail against. The problem with Sophie Lee is that she is too young and if you create a GMail account with her real age it will be immediately locked out due to COPPA regulations. This isn't really Google's fault though -- but did make the Dear Sophie ad a little confusing due to this legal restriction. Presumably you have to sign up using your own age since it is an account managed by you. When your child turns 13 you can transfer the account to them. GMail users are not subject to any Real Name policies. Nice straw-man, though. It probably eluded most.
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  No need to be so snarky. Potential TOS violations, and the very real possibility of a life-long Google account being hijacked or revoked, are thoughts worth considering. Google seems to be presenting itself as a life-long data repository. But they have basically no customer support, no means of data recovery, etc. If they want to advertise themselves as a family scrapbook, I expect them to be as reliable as one.
  - danilocampos 15y ago
    This is the most salient observation one can offer when juxtaposing Google's brilliant Don Draper-esque ad against the mediocre, bureaucratic reality that has beset their products. The only motivation I can see for the people who are downvoting you is that they work for Google and the cognitive dissonance is annoying.

jonnathanson 15y ago

"Go Daddy surprisingly aired the most ads that got poor ratings." Surprisingly? I'm all for watching hot chicks bounce around in skimpy outfits, but that can't be the beginning and ending of a conversation about a brand or a service (unless that brand is in the T&A industry). GoDaddy's ads basically communicate "We're sketchy and lowbrow." And, typically speaking, I want neither of those things in a domain registry service. Conversely, what Google does really well is demonstrate its product -- and the benefits of that product -- in a very simple, human, touching way with big emotional impact. Google is getting you to understand and love its brand at the same time. The ads are really well done.

luriel 15y ago
> GoDaddy's ads basically communicate "We're sketchy and lowbrow." And, typically speaking, I want neither of those things in a domain registry service. Exactly! The popularity of such extremely sketchy registrars is disturbing, of course most registrars are more or less sketchy, but there almost seems to be correlation between popularity and sketchiness in this field, and I can't figure out why.
- ma2rten 15y ago
  I think most people don't really care who registers their domain for them. They just use the first one that comes to their mind.
- derefr 15y ago
  > there almost seems to be correlation between popularity and sketchiness in this field, and I can't figure out why Domains are a commodity; people want them cheap. Expensive things signal high status—so, conversely, low-status things signal cheapness.

zackb 15y ago

Sorry, but this is just creepy and weird. Not to mention it's a PITA and facebook does it better.

HSO 15y ago

So the biggest spam company on earth buys slots from the ad industry to attract "users" to sell back to the ad industry. Interesting business model. EDIT: Uhh, I'm getting downvotes. I assume it's because I called Google a spam company? Well then, let me clarify: I don't like any company or industry that lives off of advertising. Advertising is intrusive, it's noisy, it finances or subsidizes mostly crap (turn on a TV if you don't believe me), and it promotes profoundly bad ideas and values (keyword: consumerism) in the intellectually and psychologically weakest members of society. There's the rant, now you can downvote all you want. Doesn't change a thing. Until Google makes something that people are actually willing to pay their hard-earned cash for, they are in the same category as spammers.

ChuckMcM 15y ago
Just sort of a karmic side note, a really useful way to rant is to actually blog your rant and then start a conversation about the pros and cons of your rant. (and you can submit it to HN but no guarantees that it will make the first page etc etc)
Rastafarian 15y ago
Intresting. Here is Google, probably the most technically advanced company in the world. How do suggest they make money off their excelent search engine?
- HSO 15y ago
  I may have strong tastes but I'm not stupid enough to presume I'm going to tell Google how to go about their business. I just can't help but notice that after all these years, they are still making the majority of their money on ads -- not on making something that is valuable enough to people that they will pay for it in a straightforward transaction. So, isn't it ironic then that an ad company will pay other ad companies to create ads to draw in users that they can then turn around and basically sell back to the industry?
  - Rastafarian 15y ago
    Well, I believe the Industrial Revolution started in a similar way. Deep coal and iron mines needed steam engines to pump water out, steam engines required iron and coal to make and operate.

luriel 15y ago

I can see how some people think it is cool, but I'm the only one creeped out by this? I'm probably weird and I'm not sure I can explain it rationally, but if my parents had done something like this I'm not sure I'd be too amused. Maybe it is just too cheesy for my taste. (And obviously I don't mean just the act of going and publishing it in an ad, I'm assuming the whole illustration of the idea is fabricated.)

georgieporgie 15y ago
if my parents had done something like this I'm not sure I'd be too amused. What if one of your parents passed away while you were young? Wouldn't it be nice to have some concept of interacting with them as an adult? What if a house fire or flood destroyed the home videos and photo albums of your youth?
- luriel 15y ago
  > What if one of your parents passed away while you were young? Actually one of my parents did pass away while I was relatively young, but my family history is 'unconventional' to say the least, that might be why I'm weird and seem to have a different reaction from other people, or it might be something else completely, I don't know, was just expressing my feeling about it. > Wouldn't it be nice to have some concept of interacting with them as an adult? Maybe, but it is much more complicated than that. > What if a house fire or flood destroyed the home videos and photo albums of your youth? I do not keep any such things, again I guess I'm weird, but I'm at least somewhat happy about thins being this way. And yes, I do realize that keeping such thing just gives me the option to look at it or not, still it feels creepy to me.
  - peterwwillis 15y ago
    No offense, but it's more creepy that you find sharing happy childhood memories to be creepy.
redthrowaway 15y ago
How is this different from photo albums and letters written to children stored in a box somewhere? I know my mom has an inordinate amount of childhood paraphernalia stashed away somewhere. I could see it being a touching gift to give to your child later on in life.

golgo13 15y ago

We are having our first child in December. This past weekend, my wife asked, "Are you going to send here eMails like this?" Looks like I'll be signing up for another gMail account in the near future.

golgo13 15y ago

We are having our first child in December. This past weekend, my wife asked, "Are you going to send here eMails like this?" Looks like I'll be signing up for another gMail account in the near future.

suivix 15y ago

Let me get this straight. The father made an account for his daughter, but lied about her birthday and broke the ToS?

joebadmo 15y ago

Slightly tangential, but I recently compared this ad to Facebook's intro video to the Timeline in a blog post: http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/10755504272/intimacy-and-performance-on-facebook http://blog.byjoemoon.com/post/10755504272/intimacy-and-perf... What's interesting here is that Google seems to understand what technology means to people a lot better than Facebook does.

mahdireilly 15y ago

Paying attention to well designed ad campaigns can let you gleam a lot of information about a company. When picking stocks I put more weight on their ads than I do the stock quote history. In a sea of shitty advertising where companies recycle bad ideas and rely on special effects or catchy jingles to sell, you end up with an arms race between competitors telling you why to chose them over the alternatives. They completely forget to say why you should want the product at all. It just ends up leaving people suspicious of advertising in general. This ad was really effective because it didn't hype the technology. They thought about what is important to people and found a way to show their products as enriching that experience. It is rare to find ads this good, but they are the kind that will stay in their minds for years to come. I am at the age where I look forward to having children. I want to establish some stability before I do it and so it is still a few years off. Despite this, I find myself thinking on a daily basis what values and skills I want to teach my kids. I am making lists of books, films, projects, etc. that I will introduce to them at the appropriate age. After seeing this ad, I went ahead and registered a few accounts with names that my wife and I talk about every once in a while. I bet many other people at the same stage of life as me are doing the same. Kudos to google.