In the Super Bowl ad race, it was clearly the year of the car. Volkswagen, Audi, Chrysler and Chevrolet cranked out what were arguably the best spots of the night, with clever work also coming from Bridgestone and CarMax. Where were the other usual suspects? Soft drinks and beer both fell short, possibly thanks to PepsiMAX being the stinky rotting albatross around the neck of high-dollar beverage marketing. And despite all the anticipation, digital integration was practically a non-factor across the board. But all told, it wasn't a bad year for entertaining ads, and everyone in the auto-advertising field deserves credit for raising the bar.
  See all the 2011 commercials here.
  Read our minute-by-minute report from last night here.