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1. David Beckham in his underpants

Kudos to H&M, which made the most of its 30 seconds. Less was certainly more in this commercial, featuring one of advertising’s hottest commodities turning around slowly in naught but his tighty whities. Shameless, but effective.

Why does it work? It’s David Beckham. Oh, and H&M chose a hashtag (#beckhamforhm) that’s less prone to Twitter bleedover from other conversations (unlike Best Buy’s #betterway, which could easily be used for unrelated discussions). The tag is still seeing healthy use, with many of the conversations centering around the commercial’s tasteful use of monochrome, contrasting wonderfully against the stark red H&M logo. And David Beckham’s underpants.

I want that! While you may not have the budget for David Beckham, you can still think “less is more”. Here, a stylish, simple concept was enough to create a Twitter buzz.

2. Marvel – The Avengers

A thrill for any fans of Marvel comic book adaptations (and Scarlett Johannson in a cat suit), this trailer features all our superhero favorites of recent years – from Iron Man to Thor.

Why does it work? The trailer directs viewers to a Facebook landing page, rather than a main website, making a social network its preferred brand vehicle. Once there, outbound viewers are transformed into Inbound visitors, and encouraged to “Like” the page in order to view an extended version of the trailer. Why is it a winner? Because visitors have already expressed an interest in the short trailer, and so will almost certainly click the “Like” button. It’s a double-whammy, as visitors are already “qualified” (i.e. have a relevant interest) before they even get to the first level of the Inbound Marketing funnel (follow the link for an explanation and some pretty graphics).

I want that! And why not. Incentivizing ‘likes’ is a great tactic for building up a fan base and an active community, something we did for Unique Hotels. Check out Filling Rooms with Facebook Fans – Inbound Marketing Case Study to find out how we took their fan base from 400 to 12,000 in 4 weeks.

3. Best Buy

Best Buy really went all out to court the Internet savvy with this effort, by giving airtime, however brief, to (among others) the founders of Shazam, Instagram and also Philippe Kahn, widely credited as the creator of the first camera phone back in 1997.

Why does it work? It has Internet credibility, and a prominent hashtag at the end – #betterway. The problem with hashtags, however, is that they can easily be hijacked, though Best Buy seems to have escaped the fate of McDonalds’ #McDStories.

I want that! Like the Beckham commercial, you may not be able to get the same personalities to promote your products or services. However, the commercial works well because of its sincerity and openness, and the way it embraces the Internet age young and old. The commercial speaks directly to an intelligent, Internet savvy generation.

4. Doritos – Man’s Best Friend & Sling Baby

The Man’s Best Friend and Sling Baby commercials, apart from being brilliantly quirky, were part of the “Crash the Super Bowl” competition run by Doritos in the weeks preceding the event itself. Advertising hopefuls were asked to create Super Bowl-worthy commercials, which would could be voted on either at the Crash the Super Bowl website or via a Facebook fan page. The two that received the most votes would be shown at the Super Bowl, one of the biggest “outbound” events on the planet. Simple.

Why does it work? While the ads themselves feature no references to Social Networks of any kind, the fact that the Crash the Super Bowl campaign got 500,000 votes via its website and on Facebook makes these a worthy addition to our list. Efforts were boosted by the $10,000 giveaway for every 100,000 votes. Excellent Inbound Marketing effort work from Doritos.

I want that! This is an example of an all-out Inbound Marketing campaign that included brilliant viral videos, user-generated content, Facebook voting and a highly-specialized website. Talk to Versio2 about how you can do something similar.

5. Time Warner Cable

It was a tough choice for our fifth and final spot. Adriana Lima, for example, featured in not one but two Super Bowl commercials, Kia Optima and Teleflora, both of which were rich in artistic merit in their own right and would have performed equally well had Susan Boyle been the main star, honestly. Alas, Adriana my sweet, tonight is not your night. That honor goes to Ricky Gervais, for the simple reason that Time Warner Cable based its concept around a friend request denial.

Why does it work? Facebook features heavily in this ad, taking the first place in Time Warner Cable’s list of things it allows you to enjoy better, though it doesn’t exactly say why other than you might have the dubious honor of being “friend denied” by Ricky Gervais.

And the booby prize goes to… Coca Cola’s sugar-lovin’ polar bears

Three 30 second slots and not a single mention of Facebook, Twitter or even a website! For that Internet rebuff, we’re not even going to embed a clip of Coca Cola’s soft drink addicted polar bears. Instead, here’s Adriana Lima. Yay!

Read Internet Marketing, the $3.5 million Super Bowl Commercial Way to find out how advertisers are turning to Social Media to get extra value out of premium airtime.