Several candidates across the country tried to parlay a Super Bowl ad into chatter, and therefore momentum and money, including Alabama’s own Attorney General Candidate Luther Strange. While Luther’s ad was an admirable example of out-of-the-box thinking, highlighting his good-guy and Bama Bred Bonafides, this post is concerning Michigan Republican candidate for Governor Rick Snyder.

You can watch the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ro5iGShcV4

Several things jump out to me. First, this is a one minute ad. Many consultants eschew the one minute ad, as it takes more money to get the number of points behind it you need for penetration, and in our increasingly-attention-deficit world, some believe that even a minute is too much for voters to handle.

Counterintuitive to this line of thought, I think the one minute can be an effective game changer. The length lets the ad “breathe” so it does not appear to be crammed with information, and you don’t need The Micro Machine Man announcer running through a list of your life’s accomplishments to “get it all in.”

This ad also exemplifies a classic political play – it hangs a lantern on this guy’s problem. He is a new face, and let’s face it, the guy is a nerd. Who would admit to reading Fortune when they were eight? How many people finish college, a masters and law school in their lifetimes, let alone by the time they are 23? He is a classic over achiever, and that is the type of go-getter voters might want in these desperate economic times.

The ad sets up the reveal of him being “One Tough Nerd” very well with scenes of economic blight, and lays the blame at the type of people he is running against to win his party’s primaries: disgraced and discredited career politicians — and as polling across the country is showing, incumbents everywhere need to beware the wrath of dissatisfied voters on all ends of the spectrum.

The other big deal in this ad is the candidate highlights his bonafides at job creation. As I have said a million times recently to candidates and consultants alike: “If you are not talking about jobs, why are you talking?” This is especially true in a state like Michigan, which is fast becoming the number one example of our country’s job loss and infrastructure problems.

One quibble I have with this ad is his 10 point plan and the fact that “No politician can understand it.” He may be over-exerting his smart guy persona and coming off as a know it all — something voters decidedly do not want. He tempers that by not reeling off each of the ten points, and instead is driving traffic to his website by asking voters to read it for themselves. It will be interesting to see his follow up to these ads and if he enumerates all or some of his plan in a series of ads that have a cohesive narrative.

Last, he sets up voters for the inevitable let down should he become Governor by proclaiming “we just can’t fix it.” This is obviously going to be a tough job, and to portray it as anything less would be intellectually dishonest, and would not serve him well should he win. I think it is an interesting gambit that most would overlook.

I have seen no numbers, or focus group dial testing from this ad, so we don’t know how it worked in terms of creating space for him in the primary. I also have no affiliation with this campaign, or any campaign, in the state of Michigan. Just thought it would be interesting, and look for us to make some of our friends and a lot of people we don’t know angry by critiquing great, good, OK and terrible ads throughout the country while the parties in all 50 states decide whom their standard bearers will be in the November 2010 midterms.

David Mowery