Denny's free breakfast, Dockers free pants led Super Bowl ad searches, Google says

Among the most-searched-for 2010 Super Bowl ads were spots for Dockers, Denny's, Motorola, and Snickers.

This image shows part of a television ad that aired during the Super Bowl Sunday night.

Dockers / AP

February 9, 2010

We've showed you some of the worst Super Bowl ads, and some of the very best Super Bowl ads. But which Super Bowl ads drummed up the most buzz among viewers? According to Google – which had a pretty good ad of its own – the answer has everything to do with greasy spoon breakfasts and a lack of pants. Not necessarily in that order.

Writing yesterday on the official Google blog, software engineer Jeffrey Oldham tallied up the hot searches from Sunday's Super Bowl in Miami.

Oldham threw the net pretty wide: Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, for instance, was the most-searched-for player, while the New Orleans Saints were the most-searched-for Super Bowl team. But what really caught our eye was the most-searched-for advertisers. We live, after all, in a world where buzz is mostly a matter of clicks. Many successful companies run major Internet campaigns alongside TV spots, and gauge market penetration by watching Google Trends.

By that measure, the two major winners of the Super Bowl ad battle were Dockers, which sent thousands of men in search of a free pair of pants, and the Denny's restaurant chain, which was offering free breakfasts. (Free being the unifying theme among the top Super Bowl ads.) Among the other ads that garnered a ton of clicks was Motorola's racy spot featuring Megan Fox and the Snickers ad featuring Betty White.

Of course, this was the first year that Google aired a Super Bowl TV ad of its own, and according to Google's Oldham, "Parisian Love" was a success. As we noted yesterday, the Google ad was pretty familiar stuff: American guy meets French girl. American guy takes French Girl for some coffee. Fast forward a year, and the American guy returns to Paris to – well, why don't you watch it for yourself.

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Which Super Bowl ads sent you scurrying to the computer? Talk to us in the comments section or on our Twitter feed.