The Best Superbowl Ad Was for the iPhone

More than fifty commercials aired during the Super Bowl this past Sunday, including one from Samsung that again poked fun at Apple's customers.

Apple didn't run any ads during the Super Bowl, at least not officially -- a fact that puzzled some commentators. But, as investment guru Jim Cramer points out, Apple did have an advertisement of sorts air during the Super Bowl.

After the game was over, Colts hall of famer Raymond Berry carrier the Vince Lombardi Trophy along a long line of New York Giants players. Players took turns touching or kissing the trophy, all the while taking photos and videos of the event. By far the most common device used to record the moment was the iPhone -- an event seen by millions.

Jim Cramer:

And I said to myself, there it is, not some pet dangling a bag of chips or some headlights killing vampires or King Elton getting trapdoored. Nope, there was an ad worthy of Steve Jobs and the company he built.

Of course, it wasn't an ad. It was just a collection of the most cool, most idolized competitors in the world whipping out their favorite device, which they had on the field, ready for action.

[...]

In the end, it didn't matter. To me, the endorsement of Apple by real athletes who were not paid, especially when contrasted with the gift of the GM Corvette that Eli Manning didn't even seem to care about -- "Eli, the keys, the keys, don't forget the keys!" -- said it all.

A 30-second spot during the game cost advertisers $3.5 million. For 1 minute and 20 seconds, Giants players used their iPhones to capture a once-in-a-lifetime moment that tens of millions watched on television. Cramer believes that this, more than any anything else, was the best advertisement of the Super Bowl.

via Daring Fireball