The thing that is difficult about ads, not many people like to be told what to buy. And I think it might be the ads themselves that are lacking, not necessarily how they are delivered.
The reason why this one is great, is because it isn't pushy, it has humor, and it uses normal, honest language that we can all relate to. Maybe it's these type of ads that need to be displayed in the social networks.
It's not that _ads_ as a whole don't work, it's that untargeted, random banner ads are very ineffective at driving conversions.
Ads on search, which frequently tell you what to buy, and don't have room to be artsy of humorous generate billions of dollars for Google and probably much more than that for its advertisers. I wouldn't be surprised if Google gets $20-$100 CPM on its pageviews.
Award-winning ads are frequently not the most effective. The most effective ads are often bland, boring ads that tell you what to buy but take into account segmentation, positioning, targeting, behavioral trends, and so on.
Take a look at any trade magazine or other specialty publication. In general the ads you'll find there have very low production values.
Award-winning ads and creative branding are necessary when trying to sell highly undifferentiated, commoditized products (e.g., potato chips). But if you have a product that is obviously differentiated from the competition (a laptop with 100 hour battery life, an electric sports car, etc.), informing consumers of your existence is often enough.
I got the impression that ads in specialty publications and trade magazines only have low production values because the companies advertising have small budgets.
For example, look at this award winning Pringles online ad: http://awardshome.com/cannes2009/pringles/can-hands.html
The reason why this one is great, is because it isn't pushy, it has humor, and it uses normal, honest language that we can all relate to. Maybe it's these type of ads that need to be displayed in the social networks.