A woman sits on the floor of a huge warehouse typing away on her laptop, unaware that camouflaged bad guys are slowly moving toward her from all sides. Just as they’re about to overrun her, they slam into a plywood wall erected just in the nick of time by four unlikely superheroes sausaged into primary-colored unitards.

If it sounds silly, it is. But it’s also a clever ad for the virus and spam protection built into Google Chrome, Google’s new Web browser for Windows. And I saw it and three other engaging, minimalist video ads (Google calls them Chrome Shorts) not on TV, but within a super-slick expandable banner ad.

While I have no doubt that the browser itself is as innovative as Google’s other products, I was more struck by the irony of seeing the company running such a prominent and elaborate display ad.

You may recall that just a couple of years ago Google was still playing catch up in the online display advertising field. Some said that its dominance in search led it to discount the importance of display advertising.

If you run across this ad, you’ll see that they’re clearly not discounting it now. If you don’t feel like waiting until you’re served the banner, you can see the Chrome Shorts on the Google Chrome YouTube channel.

And thanks, Google, for finally validating the work we’ve been doing for the past 10 years.