Those who called for Paterno’s ouster – following his handling of an alleged 2002 pedophilia incident by former assistant Jerry Sandusky – believed he failed that victim and all subsequent victims when he did not use his power to force those in the athletic department and university administration to contact the authorities, instead of allegedly opting to deal with the problem internally.

The reported actions of those top decision makers at Penn State, which began in the days following the 2002 locker room incident and continued until this week, all shared the same misguided goal: Protecting the institution at all costs.

Those involved in the scandal likely thought they were being successful crisis managers the past nine years because the story never reached the media. That all changed on Sunday with news of Sandusky’s indictment and the filing of perjury charges against University Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley for lying to the same grand jury that indicted Sandusky.

Even in the face of such unprecedented scrutiny, University President Graham Spanier stuck with the broken game plan of protecting the institution at all costs by placing unconditional support behind the two men charged with perjury when a statement calling for an internal investigation would have better served the university.

According to many reports, when the media arrived on campus earlier this week and demanded answers, Spanier did not allow Paterno the opportunity to host his weekly news conference, which could have served as a forum to express even the simplest words of concern for the victims. Instead, silence prevailed once again.

Yes, the leaders at Penn State did manage to protect the institution’s name for nine years by keeping this information away from the public, but for what? This short-sighted and frankly dangerous attempt at crisis management made the situation so much worse and has potentially ruined the legacy they were all working so hard to protect.

Effective crisis management is so much more than keeping negative information out of the news. As this week’s events have shown, word will eventually get out. Acting as if it will not is a flawed crisis management strategy.

Being ready to accept accountability, acknowledging fault and explaining how things will be repaired are the real key tenets of crisis management that never found their way into Penn State’s strategy – until last night.

While not everyone is pleased with Joe Paterno’s firing – as evidenced by the riots on campus in State College – it was the only option left on the table for the Board of Trustees, the real top decision maker at Penn State and the one that actually understands how public relations works.

Removing Paterno (and Spanier for that matter) sent a clear message that Penn State University understands its responsibility to protect the institution AND the importance of having the support of its fans, alumni, faculty, donors, state and federal education officials and the general public. Being connected with those who were part of the alleged cover up could not continue.

The trustees understand very well that without public support there is no Penn State University. It’s a shame it took this long for this storied institution to finally properly manage what is likely the worst scandal in college sports history.

This confession serves to preface my stance in the Foursquare vs. Facebook Places battle that rages on in the world of marketing blogs and in the screenlit chats of geo-location enthusiasts. I’m here to swear my loyalty to Team Facebook Places, and before any of my Foursquare friends accuse me of hypocrisy, I’ll admit that I use both. But that’s because I quite honestly don’t know how to handle myself when I have to wait more than five seconds for a table or when I’m standing in any formation resembling a line.

Yet if pushed to choose between the two, I’d side with Facebook Places without question. And my reasoning isn’t based on numbers or statistics, but on one thing that we all know yet don’t want to admit (avert your eyes, Mom and Dad, because I know you’re convinced that a Facebook post gone awry will result in me getting burgled or worse).

Here’s the secret about me and most of the people I know: I want people to know where I am and what I’m doing.

If we’re honest, we’ve all got a little bit of the mythological Narcissus in us. The only difference is that the image of ourselves we can’t seem to tear ourselves away from is reflected on a computer screen, not a Grecian pool. We love seeing the way we appear to others, and we love when other people notice us. Admit it – you stand just a little taller when you hear the self-validating “ping” of a new Facebook notification. You collect “Likes” as if they’re the adult equivalent of gold star stickers. New friend requests are proof that you’re putting yourself out there, making friends, having fun.

But it’s not just an obsession with ourselves that we’re cultivating on Facebook; it’s that we are, more than ever, in control of how other people view us. We just want to be “Liked.” It’s human nature, an understanding of which Facebook has capitalized on – and something that smart marketers can take advantage of, too.

Which brings me back to Facebook Places. Ultimately, I check in at a given place to share some insight into my life with my friends, coworkers, family members and even those people who fall into the “maybe I met you but have no idea who you are” friend category.

I want local friends to see that I’m at the corner bar so they can meet up for a drink. I want my sixth grade frenemy to know that I grew out of that awkward hair phase and am now seated at the salon whose waitlist spans the duration of an entire human gestation period. I want my foodie friends to see that I’m dining on kangaroo and pear cactus at that quirky new fusion restaurant in the city. I want my former soccer coach to notice my regular gym check-ins and accept them as a belated apology for the daggers I shot at him with my eyes for making me run sprints after practice.

Sure, I can check in at any of these places on Foursquare and a handful of people will see. If they go to the trouble of looking. Alternately, I can check in using Facebook, where my location pops up on my profile and takes its rightful place on the news feeds of hundreds of my closest friends, even those without smartphones.

I know I said I wouldn’t, but let’s talk numbers. If we take the average number of friends people have on Foursquare and Facebook (5-8 and 229, respectively), there’s a potential for at least 221 more people to see my check-in on Facebook . Which is a lot more. 2762% more. And if I tag my friends in my Facebook check-in? You don’t need an exact percentage to figure out that exposure to hundreds of people is more beneficial for your business than a tiny fraction of that.

For those of you with a hankering for more statistics, Facebook just reached 750 million active users. Foursquare claims a mere 1.3% of that number with 10 million users. More numbers, you say? Thirty million people were Facebook Places users as of last October. Which is, math lovers, three times the total number of people currently on Foursquare.

Okay, okay, I know people can “share” their Foursquare check-ins on their various social networks. But only 20% of people push their check-ins to Facebook and Twitter. Thank God – the only thing more annoying than seeing the big square Foursquare map clogging up my Facebook newsfeed is when someone posts about a catastrophic failure of their internet corn or a bad sale of virtual livestock.

My point is that if I’m going to check in somewhere, I’m going to do it where my online self and my online friends live. Which is why, if you’re a business, you want me to check in to your Place on Facebook. Some people may need a little more coaxing to check in, but creating a Facebook Deal is a simple trade-off for all of those impressions.

If I come to your place, I will be your best word of mouth marketer. You won’t even have to pay me for it. You may never even meet me.  But the chance is pretty high that one of my 900+ friends will find themselves thinking of you after they’ve seen your name alongside “Most delicious sandwich I’ve ever eaten” or “Relaxing at the spa!” or “OMG Best bar in the universe!!!!!!!!!”

Did you make me feel special? Did you offer me insider privileges if I “Like” you on Facebook? Am I on your e-mail list for discounts – especially if we’ve done business before? Even snail-mail and print coupons can work if I have a reason to consider you.

How about TV commercials? Have you built a strong image of your brand so I know what you stand for? Is there a central idea that’s reinforced by all of your spots? Do the production values make you look cheap – or credible? Especially compared to your bigger competitors?

Then there’s radio; that rare chance to hit me with your message while I’m out and about. But since I’m probably driving, make sure your spot cuts through the ambient noise. The writing should be crisp and engaging. It should convey your unique personality. And wherever you can, harness the power of the medium. Paint a vivid picture in my mind, rich in music, sound effects and stereo.

Did you catch my attention with a Web banner? That’s another great place to make an offer, if you’ve done the research, and know the sites I’m likely to visit.

Oh, and print isn’t dead yet, either. Some people – some very affluent and well-educated people – still read. Maybe I’m one of them. Have you talked to me in the right newspapers or magazines?

Is there a PR effort to extend your reach beyond paid media? Have you hired my neighbor, rolled out a new product or supported a worthwhile cause in my community? If so, do I know about it?

Modern marketing demands that you seize every opportunity to make sure that I’ve seen or heard your message as close to now as possible. Because as a consumer, I live in the now: the breaking news, Twitter-feed, what-have-you-done for-me-lately world. And if you haven’t prepared me for this crucial moment – when I decide whether I buy from you or someone else– you’ll lose the sale.

I’m deciding right now. When was the last time you gave me a reason to choose you?

You’ve just graduated and landed a job with a $25,000 salary or maybe you’ve been out of school for a few years, but still feel like a real-world rookie. Or perhaps you’re a baby boomer trying to figure out just what in God’s name your children are thinking when they carelessly swipe their credit card every time they see something shiny or in a tall pint glass.

Maybe you’re a marketer trying to gain insight into the 80 million people in this elusive but key demographic. For us, the so-called millennial generation, wealth is no longer measured by the amount of money tucked away in savings, but by the accumulation of social currency in increments of experiences, memories and status (Facebook status, that is).

And our savings banks overflow with memories of weekend festivals, trips around the world, and dinner dates, not necessarily paychecks. To get an idea of what we’re thinking, here’s how to spend money like a millennial:

Each morning, obsessively alternate between checking your bank account balance and every daily deal site known to man. Impulsively click “Buy” because $100 off a hot air balloon ride is just too good to pass up. Do you know how much those things normally cost?

Check your Groupon cache and realize you have four half-priced massages expiring in the next month. Think that hey, you deserve to be pampered sometimes. Mentally calculate how much the tip will cost.

Spend the next ten minutes adding up how much money you spend on tipping and chastise yourself momentarily for not doing things yourself. You can make your own dinner, right? And how hard is it to paint your own toenails? Look at your toenails in disgust and mentally note that you need to pick up the next deal for a pedi, stat.

Plan a date for Wednesday, your treat, at the nicest restaurant you have a coupon for. Call ahead to make a reservation and mention that you have 50% off and could you just read the coupon number to them now so you don’t have to prematurely reveal to your date that you can only afford rosemary mint rack of lamb on discount?

Try to imagine how you’re going to afford a house someday. Maybe by that point there will be daily deals for homes. Get $300,000 worth of house for just $174,000. Remember that you’ll eventually get involved in that start-up business you’ve been hoping to stumble upon. That’s the only way people make money these days, anyway. Consider starting a Daily Deals on Homes website and then spend a moment despairing that your million-dollar ideas have yet to come to fruition.

Get paid. Think that there’s no way you can possibly spend this much money in two weeks. Remember that your parents always tell you to put a little away each month, so ambitiously transfer a couple hundred dollars to your savings account, establishing a grand total of $262.54. Think, that wasn’t so hard, if you keep up like this you can easily afford that Eurotrip in October.

Celebrate getting paid with your roommates and spend the weekend in a whirlwind of concerts, cab rides and credit card purchases. Check your bank account balance on Monday and feel the first wave of nausea after the weekend.

Think “how could I possibly have spent all that money in one week?” Realize that you could lease a 6-series BMW if you just stayed in for one weekend a month. Decide to stay in one weekend every month.

Go out that night to celebrate your friend’s new job as an investment banker. Somehow convince yourself that you, too, are an investment banker and that money is no object to you. Feel nauseous again when the bill comes around. Initiate panic attack at the idea that someone might suggest a game of credit card roulette. Swiftly log into your online bank account from your iPhone and transfer that $262.54 back into your checking account.

Suggest credit card roulette. Feel like you might actually die if your sad little credit card that’s hovering at its limit is the chosen one. Try to estimate how much you might make for selling a kidney.

Hear your parents’ collective voices in your head saying “You need to learn to live within your means.” When your friend’s card is chosen, slap him on the back and say “it all evens out in the end, buddy. Let me get your cab fare.”

Forego checking your bank account on Monday and tell your colleagues that no, you can’t go out to lunch, you’re going on a diet, knowing that your checking account has less dollars than you have calories in your two-for-one priced Lean Cuisine.

Sink into a depression that you’re still eating frozen meals after college, and wonder why you don’t live like your parents, who claim to have spent most of their twenties saving money and not inundating their credit cards with $12 salads and $6 beers. Remember that you used to want to be an artist and think that this is how artists must feel.

Read reports like this and articles like this about spending habits of your generation and alternate between feeling defensive and proud of the way you view money and your place in the world.

Call your parents, who reluctantly admit that the world is a different place than when they were in their twenties, and tell you that just like them, you are making sacrifices for what you want. Hear them say that they’re impressed with your albeit stubborn insistence on achievement and getting what you want, even if they can’t really wrap their heads around your goal to dominate the world through Facebook.

Be cautiously happy that despite weekly budgeting panic attacks, your generation saves an ever-replenishing collection of cultural experiences, which feels much more valuable to you than a vault of untouchable money.

Spurlock, best known for his fast food exposé “Supersize Me,” turns his attention to the advertising industry in “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” which he pitches as a documentary about advertising and product placement that is entirely financed by big brands, advertising and product placement.

Viewers familiar with Spurlock’s style won’t be surprised by his critical but clever premise – that the industry he is examining will, somewhat ironically, finance their own critique. And most people in advertising won’t be shocked at his revelation that films are financed heavily by brands that pump millions of dollars into just seconds of visibility for their product on the silver screen.

While offering an unobstructed and sometimes unflattering perspective into the process of product placement, Spurlock digs up one of the frustrating challenges of the advertising industry: a frequently contentious and distrustful relationship between advertisers and consumers. Both Spurlock and some of his interviewees, including self-proclaimed anti-commercialist Ralph Nader, question the practices of advertisers who take advantage of blissfully unaware consumers through what one reviewer calls “deceptive product placement by profit-seeking corporations.”

Yet Spurlock inadvertently brings up the best defense of the advertising industry, something that stood out as a reminder to me about why I enjoy working in this industry: advertisers and consumers can, and should, work in each others’ best interests.

Without advertisers, big budget movies would be desperately searching for investors to finance their movies. On a smaller scale, local advertisers provide sources of funding for community initiatives and education, like the Florida school district suffering from statewide budget cuts featured in the film. Deceptive messaging by advertisers does little but alienate consumers and contribute to their skepticism, but smart, fun and honest advertising benefits consumers who may have never heard of a great place, product or service otherwise.

As someone who works in social media, the film reinforced what I’ve seen through grassroots marketing on social networks like Facebook and Twitter – people don’t mind being attracted to a product, they mind being “duped” by a brand they perceive as only looking out for its own interests. People are happy to “like” their favorite brands – offering their own sort of product placement on their personal Facebook Pages – and they enjoy communicating with brands they feel connected to.

Nix the tricks and go for intelligent, unique and candid advertising, be it on TV, billboards or social media.

While yes, it’s true, to be in public relations, you have to have a certain kind of personality. You must be well spoken, be able to convince your potential employer that you can sell a story to the toughest reporter in 30-seconds, and learn a series of clients in a myriad of industries in a matter of weeks. So if you tell me you’re a multitasker, I’m listening. But, if you tell me you’re a people person, you’ve lost me.

Just because the word “public” is part of our industry, doesn’t mean that being a people person is the selling point for your potential employer. We are communicators who must disseminate clear messages concisely and to the right “publics” or audiences via the most appropriate mediums to reach them. It’s not just about being personable. Granted, this might help you win over a new client in a business meeting. But it’s not going to get you your first PR job.

So dear communications college graduates, other than leaving “I’m a people person” out of your next interview, here are a few tips:

• Proofread your resume carefully. Your chances of securing a job can end the second a potential employer – in any industry – spots a typo.

• PDF your resume. Sadly, I’ve seen too many resumes with track changes. PDF your resume to ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

• Demonstrate your experience concisely. If you take more than five minutes to talk about an experience, your employer may think that’s how long it takes you to get a pitch out. Make sure you’re able to clearly communicate your internship experience or spit out what PR means to you in a concise and timely manner. We’re listening to more than just your answer; we’re seeing how you communicate.

• Research. Make sure you take the time to research your potential employer. This could serve as a nice ice breaker and demonstrates that you did your homework. And you never know if they’ll ask, “Why do you want to work here?” or “What do you like about us?

• Don’t be above a PR internship post graduation. That’s how I got my first job, and it’s sometimes an easy way to secure a full-time position – assuming you do a stellar job and demonstrate results.

Public relations or communications positions can be hard to come by. Most companies are still rebounding from the disasters of the economy, so make sure you take the above tips to heart as you begin your communications career or journey.

1. Crowds have pride. Communities have purpose.
2. Crowds are looking for benefits. Communities are looking to belong.
3. Crowds are driven by connection. Communities are driven by collaboration.
4. Crowds prefer to get. Communities prefer to give.
5. Crowds are powered by inspiration. Communities are powered by influence.
6. Crowds are sustained by service. Communities are sustained by story.

Assembling a crowd is not necessarily a bad thing; they certainly have their place and can be important to a business. However, they’re only invested as long as you, as a brand, continue to provide them with the lowest prices/best incentives/best customer service. But what happens when someone else eventually comes along? A crowd will go to the new restaurant that opened up in town because their prices are lower, where as a community will continue stick around and pay a little more for at their local neighborhood restaurant just because they feel like they know the owners and want them to succeed.

So, is your businesses building communities or assembling crowds? How many outlets do you have for your customers to to collaborate with you? Sure, you most likely have Facebook Pages, Twitter Acounts, YouTube Channels etc., for consumers to connect with you. But how many of these channels provide your customers with a place to tell their stories, share their ideas about your brand and allow them to have purpose, as opposed to just hearing about yours?

There’s some great conversation about this topic occurring on Twitter. Just search #octribe. You can also follow Thomas Knoll at @thomasknoll.

Appearance

The first element we compared was appearance.  As you’ll see below, the Sponsored “Like Story” ad focuses solely on the connection between the target audience and their friend’s connection to the Page, while the traditional “Like” ad predominantly focuses on a creative message.

Directing Action

After developing the ads, we took a look at our ability to dictate a user’s action once they clicked on the ad. Using the Sponsored “Like Story” ad, our options were limited, as Facebook automatically set the ad to direct to the Page’s Wall, or default tab setting.

Traditional “Like” ads, on the other hand, allowed us to send users to any section of our Page we denoted. This is part of a recent update by Facebook, allowing admins to choose a destination tab for each traditional “Like” ad they create. This means Page administrators can drive users to customized tabs based on their demographics. For instance, a company that serves both the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas could create two different welcome tabs and different ads for each city so that when a user clicks on their respective city ad, they will immediately be directed to a tab customized with more localized and relevant information.

Comparative Results

So how do these two types of ads compare in terms of results? We ran a quick test campaign with the two ads pictured above, spending roughly $15 on each type of ad and targeting the same audience (people who live within 25 miles of Baltimore, MD; are age 25 and older; whose friends are already connected to MGH).

Here are the results of our experiment:

Sponsored Story Ad:

Spent: $14.58

Likes directly to the ad*: 2

Click-thrus from ad to page: 41

Traditional “Like” Ad:

Spent: $14.79

Likes directly to the ad*: 30

Click-thrus from ad to page: 38

*Only includes Likes directly to the ad itself; not Likes collected after a user clicks-through from the ad to the Page.

As you can see, preliminary results show, in this case, the traditional “Like” ad out-performed the new Sponsored Story ad. However, further experimentation will be needed in order to determine the conversion rate of users who “Like” the page after clicking-thru from the ad.

Conclusion

The point of sharing our quick experiment is not to discount the new Sponsored Story advertisements. Every ad campaign is unique and, had we used a different image/copy in our traditional “Like” ad, or had we tested the ads against a different target audience, our results could have significantly varied.

What we do hope you take away is the importance of exploring all of Facebook’s  ad-type options, as well as the necessity to test various target audiences and creative options, in order to find the best fit for your message and brand. Additionally, it is equally as important to constantly monitor your ads’ performance and make adjustments in order to make the most out of your Facebook advertising investment. Because, with the right strategy in place, Facebook advertisements can be one of the most cost-effective ways to recruit new potential customers to your subscription Fan base.

We’ll take “Sponsored Stories” for $500, Alex.

Last week, in addition to rolling out new Page upgrades, Facebook made changes to its Advertising Platform. Among these changes include a new class of Page advertisements called Sponsored Stories, which are created using content that is typically posted in a user’s newsfeed.

There are currently two types of Sponsored Story ads available to Page administrators: “Like Stories” and “Page Post Stories.” These ads are similar in that they’re both displayed on the right-hand column of a Page within Facebook, and display information that could typically get lost in a sea of news feed status updates. However, each of these ad types serves very different purposes for Page admins and advertisers, alike. Let’s break them down…

“Like Story” Ad

This type of ad is created using: Notifications when a user’s friend “Likes” a Page or checks in to a Place.

This type of ad targets: Friends of your current subscribers/fans and friends of those who check-in to your Place.

Use this type of sponsored ad if your goal is to: Attract new subscribers to view your Page.

The idea behind a “Like Story” ad is that users who see their friend “Like” a page or check into a Place, may be more inclined to take a look and “Like” the Page/Place themselves. This, in turn, will help admins increase the size of their Page subscription base, as well as increase awareness of their physical store locations (through Places).

“Page Post Story” Ad

This type of ad is created using: Your Page’s most recent status updates, including any text, links, photos or video included in the update. Additionally, the number of “Likes” and comments can be viewed within the ad.

This type of ad targets: Current subscribers/fans.

Use this type of sponsored ad if your goal is to: Increase engagement with current fans or drive traffic to an external site.

The important thing to note about this particular type of ad is that it can only be targeted to your current subscribers, not friends of connections. Therefore, this type of ad is not meant to directly increase the size of your Page subscription base. Instead, it is designed to increase engagement to your page (which can, in turn, help build your page) and drive traffic to external sites, such as blog entries. This type of ad is also useful if you want to draw attention to an important announcement/photo/video, which could otherwise go unseen in your subscribers’ newsfeeds.

While these new Sponsored Story advertisements will make an interesting addition to the Facebook marketing mix, it’d be unwise to discount Facebook’s traditional “Like” ads, which also received upgrades last week.  MGH recently ran a preliminary test campaign, comparing the new Sponsored ads to the traditional “Like” ads. For results of the test, click here.

We asked a few MGH creatives to select their favorite and least favorite spots. They didn’t hold back.

John Patterson, EVP, Creative Director

Best:  Daimler Chrysler, “Eminem Detroit”

You could argue that the best Super Bowl commercial last night was the one that made you cringe the least. Really, someone should report most of these advertisers to the SPCA for cruelly forcing innocent animals to participate in commercials utterly lacking in ideas or even logic. Dogs serving beer and chimps driving cars were both funny once upon a time. But not one millionth upon a time.

In this context, I choose Chrysler’s spot selling both the luxury Chrysler 200 and the city of Detroit.  To me, it’s the best spot from last night because first, it has a strong idea, and second, it has an idea that doesn’t include a dog.

The copywriting is poetry:  “What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?”  the voiceover asks.  “It’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.”

With Eminem as its spokesman, Chrysler believably gives the finger to pre-conceived notions of what Detroit is, and isn’t, capable of.  And it’s all wrapped up with a brilliant, attitude-laden themeline:  “Imported from Detroit.”

Worst:  Best Buy, “Justin Bieber/Ozzy Osburne”

If aliens were picking up the broadcast transmission from last night’s Super Bowl, they would surely declare the planet Earth to be devoid of intelligent life.

This new batch of spots was noticeably lacking in anything remotely differentiating, and managed to lower the lowest common denominator to new depths.

It’s almost as if the creative teams responsible for this work were charged with making caricatures of Super Bowl spots:  Guys falling down, talking babies, empowered canines, etc. Is this the best we can do?  No wonder China is quietly taking over the world.  We’re too busy making commercials that were already made in 1998.

Yet, my top pick for the worst spot isn’t a concept you’ve seen before. It’s a completely original mess of a commercial. It seems Best Buy paid a fortune to Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne, then pieced together some words I can’t really call a script and rolled camera. There might have been an idea in the fact that Ozzy is old technology and Justin is new, but this commercial just gets in the way of itself.

I never thought I’d write the words, “A waste of Justin Bieber’s talent.” But now I have.

Lauren Hoffman, Copywriter

Best: Volkswagen “The Force”

Like most of Interwebs last week (who had already seen this commercial), I loved Volkwagen’s “The Force” commercial. It was touching and sweet with the Dad helping his son believe the force was with him, funny with the pint-sized Darth Vader trying so hard to manipulate the dog and babydoll, and not overly in your face with car features that most of us are not surprised cars have anymore –like a remote starter. (I could put one in my 2006 Sentra if I wanted to). However brief, it did showcase the new Passat nicely, and it used John Williams’ “The Imperial March,” which like bacon, makes everything better.

Worst: Go Daddy.com “The Contract”

They’re STILL making these commercials? Seriously? The fact that Go Daddy even advertises in the Super Bowl is a mystery to me, because anyone who is buying URLs already uses Go Daddy. Go Daddy has turned into one of those advertisers that wastes advertising money, just to make a “funny” ad that can run during the Super Bowl. Also, not to “go here,” but I am anyway, the ads are kind of demeaning, and pretty Hooters-esque. When you go to Go Daddy’s website and watch the rest of the video, I really doubt this way too “racy” for TV, but really, they probably wanted to spare us more of Jillian’s and Danica’s atrocious “acting.” In addition, Go Daddy is actually running a special if you watch the extended, too-risque-for-TV version ($7.49 instead of $11.99), which the Super Bowl commercial DOESN’T MENTION.

Dave Wassell, SVP, Associate Creative Director

The Super Bowl ad race, once ruled by beverage companies, was completely owned by the automobile this year. Volskwagon, Audi and Chrysler all came to the party with smart, well-crafted work. Even the “auto related” work for CarMax, Bridgestone and Cars.com put a smile on my guacamole-stained face. Back to the previously mentioned beverage companies…what happened? PepsiMAX, Coke, Stella, Bud Light? All were less than memorable. Although, I did kind of dig the Bud Light “Kitchen Make-over” spot.

That being said, my choices for best and worst spots from Super Bowl XLV are:

Best: Groupon “Tibet”

I paid the exorbitant ticket price for the Tibetan Freedom Festival a few years back, so I feel as though I can now, in good faith, make this call. I’m a sucker for a good misdirect, and this was the granddaddy of them all – on the grandest stage of all. It took balls to enter the ad race with this spot. While I won’t be buying a Chrysler 200 anytime soon, I certainly will be checking out Groupon.

Worst: There were definitely a few spots that didn’t live up to their shining moment. However, until I actually have a Super Bowl spot under my belt, I won’t be pointing any fingers. I never did appreciate non-musician music critics ripping on any of my favorite budding indie rock artists.

While I do applaud Doritos for letting consumers provide Super Bowl ad ideas, I think it’s time they put the concepting back into the hands of the pros.

Daron Fisher, Senior Copywriter

Best: Coca-Cola “Border”

This spot is more than just a charming story. It reinforces Coca-Cola’s message that they’ve sustained for generations. The idea of sharing a Coke and a smile is something much bigger than a “unique selling proposition” – it’s part of our psyche. It’s a great example of how we can fall in love with a brand.

Worst: Pepsi Max “Love Hurts”

This spot reminded me of the obnoxious kid in school constantly struggling for attention. It used over-the-top, trite humor to say nothing at all. It made Pepsi look like a shallow brand trying way too hard to be cool. And it made me appreciate Coca-Cola even more.

Dave Spivey, Senior Copywriter

Best: Volkswagon “The Force”

Perfect performances, deftly understated by all three actors. Nicely shot; excellent pacing, blended with actual shots of the product (the idea is to sell Passats, after all). A rare note of warmth and charm in an otherwise bleak night –replayed literally millions of times.

Worst: Anything Pepsi

Did we really need a can-to-the-crotch joke? More sex-obsessed, doofus male stereotypes? Bad slapstick, painfully obvious gags – a major disappointment from a client that usually shines.

Tied for second: Double-entendres. They’re old and intellectually lazy. Who wants to see Doritos licked off of pants? Cooper’s “Cram It” leered as badly as the warmed-over GoDaddy schtick. And Teleflora’s “rack” gag was based on a reference nobody outside of audio production would get.

What’s your pick for best and worst Super Bowl commercial?