Google’s Loretta ad for the Superbowl is an incredibly moving, tear-jerker of an ad about an elderly man trying to remember his wife. According to Google’s chief marketing officer, it’s based on a true story:
Ten years ago Google aired its first-ever commercial, during the 2010 Super Bowl. We’ve run several more Super Bowl ads in the years since. And on Sunday, viewers of this year’s game will see “Loretta,” which tells the story of a man who uses the Google Assistant to keep the memory of his love alive.
The ad reflects our goal to build products that help people in their daily lives, in both big and small ways. Sometimes that’s finding a location, sometimes it’s playing a favorite movie, and sometimes it’s using the Google Assistant to remember meaningful details.
“Loretta” has a few other things in common with our “Parisian Love” commercial from 10 years ago. Both are simple love stories told through the lens of our products. Both were inspired by real people—in fact, the voice you hear throughout “Loretta” is the grandfather of a Googler, whose story we drew from to create the ad. At 85, to an audience of millions, he’ll be making his film debut. We couldn’t be happier for him.