For the advertising bowl that took place inside the most-watched Super Bowl ever, a lot of companies seemed to be trying to return to their pasts, and that connection worked for local and national ad professionals.

Though Salt Lake City ad execs used phrases such as "not great" and "fairly flat" to describe their overall opinion of Super Sunday commercials, they agreed on one thing with a panel of national viewers assembled by USA Today. The Snickers' ad featuring octogenarians Betty White and Abe Vigoda in a casual football game was highly effective.

"Snickers went back to what they are, 'We're what satisfies you,'" said Tracy Crowell, president of the full-service agency Crowell Advertising. "Some of their more recent campaigns" have not been so good. "They reached back, and it worked."

Jeff Bagley, creative director for the full-service Riester agency, thought the ad resonated because "Snickers connected humor to the benefit of the product. It worked on many levels, and people will remember it."

Also drawing praise from ad professionals, though not as much from the viewer panel, was the first Super Bowl ad from Google -- which rarely advertises on TV. It told an affecting story of a budding relationship through a series of Google searches, beginning with "study abroad" and "how to impress a French woman" and ending with "churches in Paris" and "how to assemble a crib."

"It was elegant, simple and told a wonderful story, through the power of Google," Bagley said. Added Scott Rockwood, CEO and a partner at full-service Richter7 in Salt Lake City, "It was effective and produced for a low cost. Some of the other ads cost millions to make and didn't deliver."

Nostalgia in pursuit of big laughs was a critical component of the pitches from sponsors on Super Bowl Sunday. After all, the best way to appeal to a mass audience of 100 million or so Americans is usually to fill spots with paeans to other eras -- along with catchy music, stars, special effects, talking babies and endearing animals (but why all the rodents?).

Even so, the salutes to bygone days reached a peak not seen in recent Super Bowls. The reason is, perhaps, the state of the economy and the belief along Madison Avenue that tough times call for familiarity rather than risks.

"I think Super Bowl ads have been down for years," Crowell said. "There are so many audiences with the Super Bowl. There's no common denominator. How do you understand 100 million people? Sometimes the big concepts get lost, and the simple ones work, such as the CBS Letterman ad with Leno. That's one most people remember the next day."

He also thought the brief Gold's gym ad, which showed a pizza followed by the phrase "See you tomorrow," was effective because "it was very to the point. I mean we're all overeating during the Super Bowl."

How retro were the ads for Super Bowl XLIV?

» In addition to White and Vigoda, there were celebrities of a certain age, on screen or as announcers, such as Don Rickles for Teleflora and Stevie Wonder for Volkswagen.

» Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, who first appeared together in 1983 as the hapless Griswolds in the movie "National Lampoon's Vacation," recreated their roles for a spot for HomeAway, a service for renting vacation homes.

» There were enough vintage athletes to fill a locker room -- or a trainer's room. They included Charles Barkley for Taco Bell (prominent on most "worst" lists); Brett Favre for Hyundai; and members of the Chicago Bears "Shuffling Crew," who won the 1986 Super Bowl, for Boost Mobile.

» Among the old-school rock acts heard beyond The Who at halftime were Cheap Trick for Audi; the Electric Light Orchestra for Select 55 beer (also on the "worst" list); Kiss for Dr Pepper Cherry; and Kool and the Gang for the Honda Accord Crosstour.

» Executives at Anheuser-Busch InBev changed their minds about leaving the venerable Budweiser Clydesdales out of the game and scheduled a schmaltzy spot about a horse and its pasture mate, a bull (it drew split reviews).

Other sponsors revived several other overused Super Bowl ad tactics aimed at younger viewers. Doritos, KGB and Motorola, among others, tried slapstick violence. And women were objectified by the likes of Bridgestone, Bud Light, GoDaddy, Motorola and Vizio.

The sight gags included men without pants, for Dockers --"We didn't need to see that," Crowell said -- and people behaving like dolphins, for Diamond Foods. It could take an economic recovery, even a boom, for Super Bowl advertisers to start taking chances again.

"Clients get a little skittish about taking risks and try to be safe, and those two things don't always go together in advertising," said Crowell.

Added Rockwood, "There were some good ads but none that made you say, 'Wow, I've never seen that before!'"

Bagley had this advice for sponsors. "One of the keys is to make people laugh. There's an adage -- make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, you win their wallets, or in the case of the Super Bowl, you win their approval."

Miss any of the ads? Click here to watch them.