Nike and Adidas ads were the world’s  “best and most-shared viral ads and branded videos across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere” this week. Ok. But did they sell?

Unless you’re American, there’s a good chance you don’t know who Derek Jeter is. And even if you do know he’s a Yankees baseball player, there’s a good chance you don’t care that he’s retiring. Wieden + Kennedy’s re2pect ad for Nike is going to make you cry anyway. No question about it, that ad stands on the top rung of tear-jerking content.

But, you have to wonder how many of the people who told a friend, “You gotta watch this,” then said, “I gotta buy Nike.” The question is not about doubting the power of triggering emotions in advertising. It’s about doing the same thing over and over. This is a formula ad.

Sure, it has more individuality than the ad it pipped to the top spot. Adidas’ the final by TBWA\Chiat|Day LA is copy and paste advertising with really good production values.

Let’s assume that a lot of the 5,229,180 who’ve watched re2pect, and the 302,743 who shared it this week are among the 18,600,217 who’ve watched the final and the 181,250 who shared it this week…

…and for that matter also the 16,386,723 who watched Germany is the World Cup winner in Brazil.

They cried, they smiled, they cheered, they gasped, they applauded…and then they probably got back to work, a movie, online shopping or trawling through YouTube for a funny cat video.