Product commercials are known to be sappy on occasion.  It seems the pulling of our heartstrings is a proven selling technique right up there with sex and humor.  Effective branding ads frequently play with our emotions, creating clever brand associations that, when they work, can be deep and lasting.  Google has a winner with it’s current ad for Chrome, as a Dad’s love and pride for his daughter is brilliantly expressed through the thoughtful and personal digital history he creates for her, leveraging Gmail and other Google products from within his Chrome  browser.

Scrap the Scrapbook!

Granted, this is a commercial, but the email diary Sophie’s Dad creates for her is a brilliant idea any Dad (or Mom) can use as a way to memorialize all those special moments as our kids grow from infancy to insanity.  For a geek Dad this seems far better than a scrapbook.  Just set up an email account for your kid, and start sending them emails, with pictures and videos as attachments.  Then, one day, when they are old enough, and least expect it… hand over their username and password, and let them read through their life through your eyes!  Easy. Fun. Touching. Brilliant!   I wish I could have done this when my (now young adult) kids were kids.  What do you think?

Here is the ad, “Dear Sophie.” (Hat tip to MG Siegler at TechCrunch, which is where I first saw the ad…)

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 22, Ethan, 20 and Olivia, 19).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads podcast.