Google has officially decided to air an old ad for Google Home during this year’s Super Bowl, and it’s Hands-free help from the Google Assistant. The video below should be familiar to anybody who has followed Google Home from its development; the commercial came out back in October of last year, but Google has apparently decided that it’s the best possible first impression for Google Home in front of the absolutely massive audience that Super Bowl 51 is going to have. This probably means that we will not be seeing any other advertisements for Google Home during the Big Game this year, which by extension means that Google will not be bringing their physical Assistant and smart home hub into the fold of crazy, stupendous, and unforgettable Super Bowl ads like some tech companies and wireless carriers have chosen to do.
For those who haven’t already seen one of Google Home’s earliest advertisements, the mood is set by a whistled rendition of “Country Roads”, the state anthem of West Virginia. The video starts with the aforementioned country roads, then gives a somewhat closer view of the action, showing off a number of use cases for Google Home. Controlling lights and music throughout the home, including controlling fixtures in specific rooms by name, is fair game, as is looking up recipes and having them read to you and even getting translations for phrases on the fly.
Google’s approach here mirrors the advertising approach that they have been using for Google Home and the Pixel lineup from the get-go. Rather than presenting something bombastic and attention-grabbing, Google seems to be taking a more subtle turn in their advertising choices, and showing off practical uses for their products in everyday situations that users may encounter. Their old Nexus advertisements, such as an advertisement for the 2013 Nexus 7 centering around a sick dog, run in much the same vein, which means this sort of advertising is classic Google. Google’s physical products are breaking their old stigma of being exclusively or mostly for techies, and the fact that Google is going to show off Google Home in front of millions of people on one of the biggest television viewing days of the year is proof of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQn5wiDyUHo