Posted by Lending Club :: February 7, 2011 @ 11:31 am

Well, not really. In fact, they were mostly absent in a sea of food, car, and movie commercials. Financial innovation was not to be seen anywhere during super bowl commercial breaks, while websites and other "techie" products barely made a stand.

Let's face it, banking and financial products are not the sexy, fun, hot stuff that is typically shown during those mega expensive ad slots. Will they ever be? I can dream, right? In the mean time the latest and fastest cars, the latest stories for the silver screen and crappy cheap food and drinks that generate millions dominate the super bowl advertising landscape.

But even when Doritos, Budweiser, BMW, Pepsi, Chevrolet, Audi and even Mini USA dominated the airwaves this time around, some websites, "techie" stuff, and even an investing product were conspicuously present.

Check them out:

E*Trade Investing Toddler
To tell you the truth, the e*Trade baby ads are old by now.  The joke is over but that did not stop them from trying a follow up.  You have to give them credit for being the only financial related product on during the commercial breaks.

CareerBuilder.com Chimp Ad
Probably one the more memorable ones, CareerBuilder attempts to get herds to their website was funny and to the point.  I'm just worried that now PETA will launch an anti-careerbuilder campaign for unjust stereotyping of chimps.

GroupOn's Tibet Ad Post Google Offer Ad
As excited as I was to see a local start up on the main advertising stage, I was also appalled by the cheap shot taken at Tibet and its citizens.  I guess they had to desperately swing big and get some attention after passing a clear multibillion dollar opportunity with Google.

Homeaway.com's Conspiracy Theory
I did not care much for the story, but was happy to see an alternative travel website take the spotlight away from the big travel websites like Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity.

Carmax.com
One of the most clean fun and simple of all the ads.  Carmax also promoted its twitter and facebook pages on its commercial.

GoDaddy.co's Girls
I did not find them (I mean the ad) appealing at all. I guess I'm not in their target market.  We will see in the numbers whether paying top dollars for celebrity endorsement will get them the traffic they bet for.

Bridgestone
Ok, I know this one has no technology or website to promote, but come on! Something like this has happened to you, when you realize that you just replied to all.

Cars.com's Don't Go First Advice
This commercial from the car-buying website strikes a chord with the Lending Club team when they point out the various reasons why it's best not to be the first to try something.  Isn't it always better to do it right?

Motorola's Tablet
The new Xoom looks slick.  But the fun part of this ad is how Motorola takes aim at Apple and their drones carrying iPads.

So there you have them: the "techie" and financial super bowl commercials.  Which one was your favorite?

@RobGarciaSJ