Boston University’s latest installment of the Doers Makers Innovators lecture series (#BUDMI) featured Ben Malbon (@malbonnington) of Google’s Creative Lab. I was very fortunate to attend and have an opportunity to meet Ben. He brought along the really awesomeGoogle Glass, but also some of the most influential insight in the marketing and advertising industry.

I thought there were two major takeaways from Ben’s presentation. Although Ben made many interesting and important points, there were two that really stood out to me and could easily be implemented by every company and brand.

1. Bigger is not always better

Ben discussed what he called the “7, 10, 4 principle.” If you’re working in a group of seven people, you’ll accomplish the work of seven people. If you’re working in a group of 10, you’ll accomplish the work of seven people. And if you’re working in a group of four, you’ll accomplish the work of seven people. So why not work in small groups of four all the time?

To quote Ben, “Never have a team that it’d take more than two pizzas to feed.”

If companies work in smaller groups, they will be able to work on more and more projects, and ultimately, generate more ideas and technologies. It just seems more productive to work this way. Why have 20 people work on one project, when you can split them up and have five different projects running simultaneously? There always will be slackers and overachievers, but if the company is properly managed, the work will get done no matter what.

2. Make demos and documentaries, not ads

Ben explained that we are no longer in the business of creating ads. Now, it is all about creating engagement and experiences. Creative Lab truly exemplifies this when marketing the Google products. They don’t simply push messages or tell you what a product does. They create experiences that captivate the consumer. They show exactly how a product works and use real life situations to show the consumer what it would be like if they were using the product at that exact moment.

This marketing style is successful because it speaks to people on an emotional level and gets the consumer engaged. It makes Google’s products more desirable because it paints an interesting picture of the specific technology and people are excited to partake in the experience.

Who can learn from Google?

Honestly, I think each and every brand, company, person, etc. can learn from Google. The success that the company has had in such a short period of time is a testament to their quality of work. And this can be said for the technology and innovation, as well as their marketing because without involving consumers, it is doubtful that the company would have taken off like this.

One brand in particular that I think would definitely benefit from Google’s methods is LG. They have created a series of everyday appliances with Google-like technologies known as the LG Smart. The line includes a smart refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, oven, and robot vacuum. All can perform self-diagnosis of problems and can synch to your smart phone to provide you with important information.

However, these products are poorly advertised. With an emotional campaign that shows consumers exactly how these machines work and how they can simplify life, I think people would really get excited about these products. As society and technology advances these kinds of products are eventually going be commonplace within every household. But until then, I think LG would really benefit from a Google-esque campaign that can generate buzz amongst consumers and make them go out and make purchases.

Today, it is more and more common for brands to be using social media. You can find a page for almost any brand on Twitter and Facebook. The most random products from Maker’s Mark Whiskeyto Oral-B dental care have thousands of followers and friends. And if brands aren’t using these sites, they are far behind.

But in order to make their online presence more valuable to consumers, brands should be social rather than simply use social media. Brands have to invite, include, connect, and engage with their consumers, not just use the sites as another platform for broadcasting.

To better control consumer feedback and give the consumer a say in the brand, Starbucks created “My Starbucks Idea” in 2008. Rather than use existing social media networks for this, Starbucks created their own site as an attempt to separate themselves from other brands.

My Starbucks Idea is designed to find out what consumers like and dislike about Starbucks. Consumers can make suggestions on a variety of categories ranging from the coffee and food to the social responsibility of the company. Other visitors can vote on whether they agree or disagree with an idea and can comment on them as well. Visitors can search for ideas through keywords, view the most popular ideas, view the most recent ideas, or view ideas based on category. Starbucks labels each idea as “Under Review,” “Reviewed,” “In the Works,” and “Launched.” Lastly, there is a blog-like section called “Ideas in Action,” where Starbucks reports on progress it has made in response to community feedback.

My Starbucks Idea seems to be a worthy effort to give consumers a say in the company. Starbucks is able to see first hand what the customers like and dislike, and it gives them an opportunity to offer a personal response to issues or suggestions. Consumers love to know that companies and brands are listening to what they have to say and are not just feeding them advertising messages. My Starbucks Idea ensures that the consumer has a voice and that their voice matters.

The company also has complete control of the site. It isn’t your typical social media network like Facebook and Twitter and this is probably best for the company. In this instance, Starbucks is able to directly respond to all complaints and won’t be driving traffic to a Starbucks version of “Dell Hell.”

The idea has been beneficial to Starbucks. The My Starbucks Idea Twitter page has over 37,000 followers. In five years, over 152,000 ideas have been submitted. Starbucks has implemented 890 of these ideas, some on a long-term basis and some in a trial stage. This number may seem low based on the amount of ideas they are receiving, but it must be understood that a large percentage of ideas are probably not practical or feasible at the current time. However, the fact that they have taken 890 ideas from consumers and actually given them a shot is great for Starbucks’ image and gives consumers a greater connection to the brand.

On a rather disappointing night of Super Bowl advertising, there were a few brands that stole the show. RAM’s “Farmers,” Jeep’s “Whole Again,” and Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” certainly appealed to the emotion-driven consumers. Others like Taco Bell’s “Viva Young” and Mercedes-Benz’s “Soul” were targeted at the younger consumers. At the end of a night filled with some interesting ads, some very disappointing ads, a football blowout turned close, and a surprising stadium blackout, I think one ad stood out amongst the rest.

For me, Tide’s “Miracle Stain” was the best ad of this year’s Super Bowl.

First off, it was one of the few ads to include something about the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. Obviously, millions of people are watching the game just for the game. Millions are watching just for the ads. And in my case, an avid sports fan who is studying advertising, millions are watching for both the game and the ads. By incorporating the participating teams into the ad, it ensured that even those without a vested interested in the ads could pay attention and resonate with it.

Secondly, like most of the other ads, the “Miracle Stain” was not released prior to the Super Bowl. I think this made the ad more effective because it was something new and fresh for me to watch on a night where I had previously seen many of the spots. During spots I had already seen, I found myself checking social media sites to see reactions to the ads rather than actually paying attention to the ad. Tide held my attention for the full 60 seconds of the spot.

Lastly, the ad was hands down the most creative of the night. Something looking like a celebrity is a situation that everyone is familiar with. We all know the stories and hype over a potato chip that looks like Elvis or a grilled cheese that looks like the Virgin Mary. They generally get huge media coverage (like the jersey did) and people either flock to see it (like the 49er fans did) or it gets sold on eBay for tons of money. The ad used a stain of Joe Montana, one of the greatest quarterback of all time, and depicted the fan becoming famous and eventually framing the jersey in his house.

The ending is what brings down the house. The owner of the jersey comes home to find his jersey was missing. The wife/girlfriend claims she washed the jersey because it had a stain on it. As he runs away in utter shock and sadness, the woman turns to the camera to reveal she is a Ravens fan. It was the most awesome twist ever, and I think it was what made the ad so memorable.

From an advertising standpoint this ad taught me a few things:

1. I learned that the pre-releasing of an ad has no bearings on how successful it will be. Only a few of the ads leaked early received over 1 million views, far away from the roughly 110 million who watched the Super Bowl. Also this ad was shown in the fourth quarter.
2. Generally, the ads in the beginning of the game are more popular because more people are watching at that time. Maybe advertisers are realizing that the past few Super Bowls have been close games and more people are focusing their attention on the television towards the ending of the game.
3. Social media is definitely used to generate buzz about the ads. According to data from New York agencyWhispr Group, there were 52,000 tweets about the Tide spot and 86% of the talk was positive.

From a consumer standpoint, this ad taught me that Tide can take care of the most set in stains and that I should always make sure to do my own laundry.

View all of the Super Bowl ads here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/all-52-super-bowl-ads-right-here