ads are already playing off in the Brand Bowl

Update: Ad Age just posted a playlist of spots, including agency, airtime and content here.

If, like me, you watch the SuperBowl for the commercials, you’ll love BrandBowl, a website that broadcasts real-time scores of how spots are doing according to viewers.

It works by aggregating comments about commercials and analyzing them via the magic of metrics. Doritos and Google came out on top last year, when the site was first launched by Mullen (Zappos ad agency) with social measurement leader Radian 6.

Any twitter post hashtagged #brandbowl is included. But you don’t have to have a twitter account to play. Just go to Brandbowl on your computer or mobile and join the cheering or hissing crowds. Players are already facing off, thanks to pre-releases on youtube. Volkswagen's in the lead with its pint-size Darth Vader. It’s like sharing a sofa with thousands of ad fans you don’t have to feed.

mad ave vs. main street

Another reason I'm enthusiastic about BrandBowl, I suppose, is that its robo-pollsters confirm (at least as of this writing) my choice of Google for Superbowl 2010 winner. No half-naked men (or women), no pyrotechnics, no appeal to base instincts. Just the most powerful form of salesmanship there is: a simple story well told to dramatize product benefit. Nice play, Google. But, to demonstrate dispiriting chasm between Mad Ave and Main St, the spot ranks a measly #43 on USA Today's ad meter.



Brandbowl and I part ways on E-trade, however. Call me a sucker, but I love E-trade's talking babies and admire that Grey New York, hard as it must have been to rail against change artists, stuck with a concept that's charmed people for years into handing over their lucre. It's #15 on Brandbowl, but #7 on USA Today. Which I prefer to think means I'm not totally out of touch with mainstream consumers.

mullen's nifty new brand-o-meter

The game play yesterday most exciting to me was Mullen's kickoff of BrandBowl, a microsite that combines tweeting, ad reviews and a host of metrics to let viewers generate and view real time ratings of brands, not just spots. A sweet link to Hulu replayed commercials almost as soon as they aired. Scoreboard continually shifted, and is still shifting this morning, reflecting real-time assessments via twitter hashtag #brandbowl which Mullen promoted earlier in the week. Partnering with Radian 6, they've tallied results assessing content from thousands of players generating almost 100,000 tweets. Next year, I assume brands will be vying for ad space. Brilliant, Ed Boches.