Overall, VW took the night. By many accounts "Darth Vader" won the audience and it was excellent that they got a head start on everyone by releasing the ad online on Wednesday (an a-typical move), which became a trending topic on Thursday. Then the Beetle ad used the medium in a perfect way: use the mass stage to announce something new that many would find relevant... the launch of a new Beetle. (Personally, I also like that both of these were done by my friends and former colleagues at Deutsch, LA.)
Chrysler did a nice job, too. Even though USA Today's Ad Meter didn't rank it very high the company and W+K made nice use of the medium, again, by launching something new (the Chrysler 200) and trying to gain further share.
And while it's not common to say, some of the best uses of the Super Bowl media are actually the movie studios. (They usually aren't even included in the recap articles.) But for big Spring/Summer tent pole movies such as Pirates, Rango, Rio and Transformers, the big game is a smart buy. Large-budget G, PG and PG-13 rated movies are a great fit for the 106 million+ Super Bowl audience... which is the point. Isn't it?