Everyone loves Super Bowl ads and this year’s ads were no exception. While some of the ideas were impressive, not all the businesses promoting ads followed through to their full potential. Performics analyzed many of the ads and the ones that really stood out to them took full advantage of the opportunities on the Web. In this video, Eric Papczun of Performics explains what the companies did wrong and what they did right.

The first ad that really grabbed Eric’s attention was the MacGruber Pepsi ads. Pepsi did a really great job of mixing MacGyver in with a Saturday Night Live type of theme. The company has also been consistent with combining current events with its ad campaigns such as adopting a hope and change theme to go along with the Obama campaign.

The main factor that pushed the Pepsuber ads up the scale to great was its online success. The Pepsuber campaign was prepared when people searched online after seeing the ad. They had optimized text ads, optimized video content, and paid search and natural search ad listings.

Pepsi however, didn’t stop there; they created a branded channel page on YouTube and allowed users to have an interactive experience. Not only could users watch the commercial again, but Pepsi also let them to create their own content (video or other) for others to vote and comment about. They also led users to their own homepage, which permitted users to fully engage with the Pepsi brand.

Denny’s also produced a great ad for the Super Bowl, but didn’t integrate it online as well as it could have. The irony within the ad of a mob meeting interrupted by a waitress adding whipped cream to pancakes was just hilarious. Denny’s also added a promotion at the end of their ad telling how it was offering a free Grand Slam breakfast to all Americans.

Eric points out that this act demonstrates the commitment Denny’s has to its customers and to the general public. He also adds that this was a very generous offer in the midst of economic times. Unfortunately, Denny’s great idea turned into a missed opportunity.

As a result of so many people searching for the free breakfasts, Denny’s site actually crashed. They did encourage others to produce additional content, but they needed too as well. Eric says they could have created a deeper engagement with their customers by producing videos giving the reasons behind their free promotion and also videos of all the people waiting in line for free breakfast.

According to Eric, many companies are still struggling with integrating online with offline and digital with traditional into their marketing campaigns. Unfortunately in many cases, this struggle leads to missed opportunities.