Google’s Super Bowl Commercial Targeted the 7 Percent of People Who Understand These Codes

If you watched the Super Bowl yesterday (or, as we like to call it “the Most Boring Super Bowl Ever”), chances are you weren’t even able to keep your eyes open for the best part–the commercials.

Yep, the game was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl of all time, which made it quite difficult to get through. But, after we awoke from our bored stupor, we started thinking; is it possible that our readers didn’t catch one of the BEST Super Bowl commercials in recent memory?

Heck, even if you DID catch the commercial, there’s still a good chance that you didn’t understand what was going on in it (much like the activity that was happening on the field!).

The commercial that we’re speaking of was produced by Google, and it features a flurry of mysterious-looking codes alongside official portraits of service members.

Well, perhaps the codes aren’t that mysterious-looking if you are, in fact, a service member yourself…

“To most of you, these codes don’t mean anything; you’ve probably never seen them or heard them,” the narrator of the commercial says. “But 7 percent of you have. The 7 percent that have spent weeks or months away from family. The 7 percent that sleep in the cold. Sleep in the rain and sometimes, don’t sleep at all. The 7 percent that keep us safe.”

Confused? The sharp minds at AdAge broke down both the codes, as well as Google’s intention for shining a light on them. The site writes:

An 11-Bravo is an infantryman, more commonly known as a “grunt;” 21-Echo is a heavy construction equipment operator, for example. With Google’s new feature, someone who served as a 12-Bravo (combat engineer), can search for civilian jobs related to their filed by entering “jobs for 12B,” for instance.

While we admit that we’re not usually fans of the “mass consumerism” sentiment that’s attached to the game, we do have to admit that Google positively hit this one out of the park. It used its platform to market its job search tool AND benefit veterans and active military members? That certainly was the biggest ‘win’ yesterday!

To watch our favorite Super Bowl commercial in recent memory, be sure to watch the video below.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on Google’s Super Bowl commercial! Did you understand the codes right away? If so, are you a member of the military? Do you plan on using this Google feature?