Google search app ads: one home run and a strike

Tech companies often seem to try too hard with their ads for new products. We saw it with Apple’s attempt at using celebrities to market Siri — it didn’t work out so well.

Then we all marveled at Samsung’s cleverness when the Korean tech giant mocked arch-rival Apple in a series of ads demonstrating the apparent superiority of its devices. Let’s face it, those ads were pretty cool.

Microsoft also played the celebrity angle and used some choice Tinsel Town faces to market Windows 8, the success rate on those are still up in the air. Granted Will Arnett is pretty funny in his bid to replace his assistant with Windows 8.

Now Google has brought two ads to showcase the brilliance of it search app. Each ad has 30 seconds to express the speed and ease with which the app delivers relevant information. The first one, which sees Google Now help a mother get a child ready for US President’s Day at school is quite brilliant — in 30 seconds you learn and watch in humour as a mother rearranges her world to make her child happy, thanks to Google.

The second ad not so much. Giving Baseball explanations to an umpire kind of defeats the point of being an umpire if you don’t really know the rules — replacement or not.