At Sapha, we work hard to increase your website’s conversion rates. So when it comes to evaluating ad campaigns, our main (but not sole) criteria is how well they get people talking about a product or service, deliver a clear call to actions, and turn eyeballs into customers.

And since the Super Bowl is the time most companies launch expensive advertising campaigns, there’s no better time to see how well their ads were focused on increasing the number of leads or customers in their sales pipeline.

This year’s winners.

Denny’s–The FREE Grand Slam is back-as long as the chickens produce the eggs. If Denny’s is packed on Tuesday their ad and promotion qualify as a smashing success. Let’s just hope all Denny’s franchises agree to uphold their end of the agreement this time. (Watch the ad here.)

Dockers–Can’t say it was fun to watch a group of guys walk around without pants, but they did encourage viewers to go win a free pair of Dockers on their website. Let’s see how many people give up their name and email address to become part of Dockers’ marketing machine for a chance to win free pants. (Watch the ad here.)

Tim Tebow/Focus on the Family–The controversial anti-abortion ad turned out to be nothing of the sort. In the end Tebow’s family and Focus on the Family got weeks of free press and millions in free advertising leading up to the game. And for those who want to know more, there was a clear call to action at the end. (Watch the ad here.)

Honorable Mention

Brett Farve/Hyundai–Using Farve was good as it fit in nicely with the Super Bowl audeince and made fun of something they’d understand. Also a nice way to tie in their 10-year warranty. The problem? No clear call to action where they could learn more. (Watch the ad here.)

Are Super Bowl ads worth the price? After two decades of advertising during the big game, Pepsi no longer things so.

Pepsi, which has spent an estimated $254.2 million in Super Bowl ads over the past 20 years, startled the industry a few weeks ago by announcing the cola for the next generation won’t participate in America’s national football marketing extravaganza. Instead, the soft drink company will pour millions of dollars into an online project meant to build connections over time by reaching consumers through blogging, Facebook and Twitter. It plans to distribute more than $20 million in community grants, voted on by Web users.

Pepsi’s doing the right thing. 

While Super Bowl ads can be a great way to launch a new product, service, or get your company’s name out there, they’re also very risky. Unless you have the commercial that everyone’s talking about after the game and can clearly explain your product combined with a great call to action in 30 seconds or less, there’s no guarantee you’ll see a positive ROI from your ad spend. Conversions, after all, are the name of the game.

Pepsi already has name and product recognition-something Super Bowl ads can help promote. What they need is more people drinking their products and telling their friends and neighbors how good those products are.

By funneling their money into online marketing efforts, not only will Pepsi be able to connect with its customers and better determine the ROI from their ad spend.

It remains to be seen how successful Pepsi finds its online marketing efforts. But given how online adverting is becoming more targeted and companies are finding ways to funnel people into their sales pipeline, Pepsi made the right decision.