Sure, the audiences have fragmented considerably and the frequency required to deliver the reach has skyrocketed – but it doesn’t change the basic math, that television is where the eyeballs are and that’s where the dollars flow. 

The online/on-television gap will continue to narrow but it is not really a zero sum game.  Television looks more weblike today than it did five years ago and the web looks more television like than it did just two years ago.  One medium will not “overtake” the other – they will, over time, merge.

Even in a merged world – advertising will be the fuel of great content experiences.  Television is “brought to you by” advertisers.  That’s not likely to change either with respects paid to Netflix, HBO and Hulu. 

The opportunity in front of the media ecosystem is to do a better job at putting the right ad in the right place at the right time.  Advertising shouldn’t detract from the content, it should complement it.  This realization is in full swing in the digital world where “publisher as agency” shops are popping up left and right (Jim Bankoff’s just announced Vox Media’s in house agency. See their pitch here).

To be successful putting the right ad in the right place at the right time – you have to understand your creative as well as you understand your target.  The title of the talk that we did at Videonomics was called “Moving Past the Who to the With What” but could have just as easily been called “Know Thy Creative” because that’s the key point.  Knowing your creative deeply (your creative, your competitor’s creative – the entire landscape) leads to more informed media planning – and that leads to better business outcomes – which is why brands advertise in the first place.

Ace Metrix scores are based on how everyone would respond to the ad – providing actionable data to marketers contemplating placing their online ads more broadly, digitally or placing them in front of a television audience.  To be both among the top viewed ads online and achieve a top quintile Ace Score or high Emotional Sentiment index is the remarkable confluence of great viral appeal and broad demographic appeal. 

Ads with lower Ace Scores indicate that while the ad certainly resonates with a market – thus the repeat and accumulated views – the ad lacks broad appeal of multiple demographics. 

For more details behind the data, contact your Ace Metrix representative.

The Evian babies continue to deliver – years after our first installment of the roller skating debut (68 million views and counting).  Towering Likeability and an Attention score over 800 speak to the ads strength, while Information weighed down the Ace Score somewhat.  From a gender age perspective,  everybody loved the ad although there is a clear skew female. 

We have already written pretty extensively on the cross-over capabilities of this Dove ad but the 37 million views speak volumes for this three minute installment.  It too has a female skew, but cruses the skin norm with males, delivering high 500s and low to mid 600s depending on the age break.  Towering Likeability, Information, Attention and Relevance mark the success of the ad, while a strong Emotion score adds an additional layer. 

While “Ship My Pants” is slated to make the jump to television, we still remember and love it as a quirky but bold web solo.  The ad posts towering scores in retail, a category that does not usually see ads in the high 500s that don’t have a philanthropic bent to them.  Broad popularity is the benchmark of success here – even grumpy 50+ males get into the act…

Beyonce’s is another topic we have covered in the blog recently (see post here) – and the ad was a bit of a mixed bag for Pepsi – despite its upper quintile score for the soda category.  High on Attention and Likeability, the ads was soft on Information, Change and Relevance and struggled with quite a few demos.  Like Kate Upton, there is an audience of Males 36-49 who are fanboys, but also Females 21-35. 

Old Spice enters the chart with a clever :18 spot that delivers younger and with Males 16-20.  Attention was the driver but Information suffers – not uncommon at this length. 

The latest installment of Activision’s “Replacements” is here and boy does it deliver.  With boys, young men and young ladies only coming up short with the untarget of Females 36-49.  The ad delivered across the board but led with Attention and Likeability.  We may add Zombies to our forthcoming paper on “Babies, Bacon and Steak – or how to succeed in advertising.” 

Old Spice gets another top ten showing with “Shower” and delivers with its intended audience young males.  Attention and Change are the pillars of success. 

Sauza Tequila scores well with the mature female population, which is apparent in the YouTube stats as well. Attention is its best component but the ad struggles to be particularly persuasive from every direction

Though this Lunchables ad scored below the norm for its category, it almost reached the Attention score norm and connected most with Males 21-35.

Nestle’s Spanish language is incredibly engaging for the over 50 population –  more than 100 points above norm for females – but failed to hit the mark for Persuasion and Watchability.

Facebook “The Things That Connect Us”

Air Date: 10/3/12

Ace Score: 538

The first of the four posted by AdWeek aired in October of last year. The ad boasts high Attention and Relevance scores and of all the Facebook ads we’ve scored, has the highest Emotional Sentiment score at 43.  When asked what the single best thing about the ad was, “the brand and everything it stands for” was the most common response. Every gender/age break scored the ad above the category norm for websites but Females 16-20 scored it more than 50 points higher than the second highest scoring group (Females 21-35).

Google “Parisian Love”

Air Date: 2/7/10

Ace Score: 596

This ad originally aired in December of 2009, and then a slightly modified cut made an appearance during 2010 Super Bowl. It’s no surprise that this tear-jerking ad had a high Emotional Sentiment score of 60, well over the Overall norm of 47. The ad elicited an incredible 317 optional verbatim (qualitative comments) responses from consumers that tested it and had through-the-roof component scores in the areas of Likeability, Attention, Change, Relevance and Desire. Younger viewers were most impressed–both Males and Females 21-35 gave the highest scores. As an added bonus, the word “google” was used by 40 percent of the verbatim respondents, an exceedingly high brand identification percentage. 

But Google has had many, many high scoring and emotive ads since then – both online and on television. So, in terms of which brand “turns people off” as posed by AdWeek – are we only judging based on these examples?

Facebook Home “Launch Day”

Air Date: 4/21/13

Ace Score: 518

Facebook aired four new ads last month, “Launch Day” being the highest scoring spot among the general population. This ad connected best with Males 16-20, who scored the ad 30 percent higher than the norm and almost 80 points higher than the next gender/age group, Females 21-35. The ad had particularly high Attention and Change scores, and while Information score was also well above norm, the verbatim responses identified some confusion among consumers about what the new product does. 

Google Glass “How It Feels”

Air Date: 2/21/13

Ace Score: 608

Of the four ads represented in the Adweek article, this ad certainly has the broadest demographic appeal. Both the longest ad at two minutes 15 seconds and the highest-scoring ad of the group, “How It Feels” received high Information, Attention and Change scores and scored 13 percent above the Computer Hardware norm. The ad skewed young – Males 16-20 and Females 21-35 both gave the ad the same score of 644 (almost 100 points above norm). 

Again, an interesting question posed by Adweek between these two behemoth brands – each an innovator in its own right – but I think the question that could be posed is this: Which brand has successfully transcended a strong online presence to capture our attention on the main screen – but that is for another day. 

 Click here to view the full Adweek article.

The component scores Desire and Relevance both came in well above norm and 6% of the 244 respondents used the word “want” to describe the ad. Eighteen percent of viewers spontaneously mentioned the brand “applebees” and 12% used the word “fresh.” Some of those respondents wrote:

This Ad of the Week winner humorously used a “bait and switch” approach to get the audience’s attention, and it worked. Is it dinner time yet?

Just three points shy of Applebee’s was Samsung’s “Graduation Day” ad for the new Galaxy S4. Given the premise of the ad, it’s not unexpected that Males and Females 16-20 scored the ad higher than every other gender/age group. Not only is it the second highest scoring ad this week, but it also beat Microsoft’s “Coming Together” ad for the Windows Phone by a substantial 40 points. 

To watch the ad and see the entire Ad of the Week 2013 video list, click here.

Blondes may or may not have more fun, but at least in the case of Beyonce, blonde
makes for a more popular ad.

Last week H&M rolled out two ads [below] featuring the pop star. In one, her hair is
blond and she’s wearing a swimsuit, in the other it’s brunette and she’s wearing a
revealing dress. Both ads feature the same song and similar dance routines.
The ad featuring Beyonce as a blonde scored significantly better with consumers, and
16% of consumers mentioned the singer by name, according to research from
AceMetrix.

In contrast, in the ad featuring Beyonce as a brunette, attention scores were lower and only 7% of consumers referenced the singer by name. Of course, it could be that the Beyonce in a bikini outperforms Beyonce in a wet, clinging dress. Beyonce also appeared as a blonde in an ad for Pepsi recently. But whereas the H&M ads appealed to both women and men, the Pepsi ad generally scored better with women, according to AceMetrix, leaving men unimpressed. 

Read the original article on AdAge.

Find more interesting insights here.

Not so much… unless you’re of a certain age.  The truth is, the ads starring these stars are highly polarizing—and maybe that’s just what the soda makers are going for.  Beyoncé’s “Mirrors” ad for Pepsi scored just at norm with an Ace Score of 510, but killed it with women aged 16-20.  But aside from men 36-49, men were not terribly impressed. 

Said one male 21-25, “I love Pepsi, but I hate Beyoncé… No need to pay someone big bucks to star in an ad; just make advertising that is DIFFERENT.”  This gentleman was not the only person to voice this sentiment.

Taylor’s ad, which seemed to want to appeal to all demographics—from the African American man driving a car, to a young girl with a guitar, to the guy flipping burgers—was even more off-key than Beyoncé, posting an Ace Score of 477, the lowest scoring Diet Coke ad to date. Interestingly, Taylor edged a little older than Beyoncé, performing best with the female 21-35 set, but did poorly with men across the board. 

One male 36-49 year old said, “The product did not relate to the content…  The correlation between Taylor Swift and writing a song did not draw me to Coke.” 

 A female aged 21-35 said, “Yikes, didn’t you hear that Taylor Swift is overexposed?  She is everywhere and the backlash has started :/ ‘Good luck with that Diet Coke.”

NOT ALL SODA AMBASSADORS ARE CREATED EQUAL

What was the number one soda ad over the last 12 months?  Coke’s Ekocycle ad featuring will.i.am.

Its Ace Score of 658 is in the top 1% of advertising over the last year.  Like the ads from Beyoncé and Taylor, “will” did perform better with women.  One female aged 21-35 said “I will check out ekocycle.com… it looks interesting.  I love to recycle even though resources are limited here.”

That said, an Ace Score of 658 (compared to an industry norm of 510) speaks for itself—and is evidence of why will.i.am probably does deserve the CLIO he will earn in May.

By the same token, while not as successful as the will.i.am spot, Pepsi’s use of Jeff Gordon to promote Pepsi MAX proved more effective than Beyoncé—and was universally appealing regardless of gender or age.  A YouTube sensation that eventually ran on TV as a 30-second spot, the ad earned an Ace Score of 575.   

“This ad is hilarious! It grabbed my attention when it showed Jeff Gordon putting on a disguise, then kept my attention throughout,” said a male 21-35.

BUT WHY?

So, why did these ads perform so much better than those starring Taylor and Beyoncé?

- Overexposed celebrities fuel the polarization fire.

Beyoncé and Taylor while popular in certain demographics have certainly been saturating the market with their day jobs and these side gigs. Jeff Gordon and will.i.am, while well known in their own right are not nearly as overexposed as the ladies.

- Consumers respond when treated with respect – or at least when entertained creatively.

Singers enjoying their cold soda of choice while ‘working’ smells like an all too familiar ploy, implying that the celebrity hocking a product will make you want to buy it.  Alternatively, ads like “Ecocycle” and “Jeff Prank” are fundamentally creative ads that both inform and entertain without suggesting that consumers relate to the celebrity they feature.

The word clouds visually depict the answer to the question posed at the top of this page. Of the hundreds of unprompted open-ended responses gathered for each of these ads, the overexposed celebrities were called out by name 24% and 29% respectively. Red words indicate negative responses / scores, while green indicate positive.

Likewise, the word cloud from the ads featuring Jeff Gordon and will.I.am demonstrate a less polarizing, perhaps less recognizable celebrity – giving way to the intent of the ad, to inform, to entertain, to leave the consumer with an impression of the brand and in both cases – that impression is positive.

Not to sound like a broken record, but your advertising hits everyone. While the celebrities chosen to push products like beverages may be favorites of one demographic or another, don’t forget that the person holding the household purchasing power is watching the same ad and likely has his and her own opinion of the star. Care should be taken in how the celebrity is incorporated into the creative to avoid delighting the few while irritating the many.

With this in mind, we looked at advertising effectiveness across female and male demographics.  Table 1 shows the top 10 categories that skewed female, i.e., those categories that had the highest differences between the average Ace Scores among females and the average Ace Scores among males.  Table 2 shows the top 10 categories that skewed male.  These 20 categories are drawn from the 76 Ace categories that aired at least 25 unique ads between January 1, 2011 and April 30, 2013.

We did not find many surprises in Table 1 – Cosmetics, Skin, Hair and Baby, among others, populate that list.  Traditional household gender roles are also apparent, with categories associated with cooking and cleaning rounding out the list.  The average Ace Score was 70 points higher among female panelists compared to male panelists across the 1,200+ ads in these 10 categories.

Along the same lines, Table 2 shows the categories that skewed male.  We were surprised to see that Mortgage and Investment both landed on the list.  The component scores showed particularly wide skews in Desire and Relevance for these two categories.  The other categories that skewed male included Beer, Video Games, Liquor and TV – in short, all of the accoutrements of a well appointed man cave.  The average Ace Score was 43 points higher among male panelists compared to female panelists across the 2,000+ ads in these 10 categories.

Marketers are certainly wise to the challenges of using TV as a medium for highly targeted campaigns.  In fact, ad volume trends may already reflect a shift away from television — and towards online media — among categories that benefit from gender targeting.  As shown in Table 3, total ads aired in 2012 declined by 11% year-over-year within the 20 gender-skewed categories.  But the other 56 categories more than picked up the slack, increasing their ad volume by 10%.  This resulted in total unique ad growth of 5% in 2012.

In future blog posts, we’ll look at other dimensions of demographic targeting, including ethnicity, household income, and geographic region.  As always, the data promise to shed light on key trends affecting the advertising landscape in 2013 and beyond.

Interestingly there are many distinctly different approaches from the dominant players –each jockeying for top position and earning it on any given day.

Window Watching

With a relatively small portfolio of ads in market, Windows still employs three different approaches each tried by other mobile phone players at different times and each earning top quintile scores and

1.    A head to head competition of the Galaxy S3 vs Nokia Lumia 920 picture quality, convincing a current Samsung owner to switch to a Windows phone
2.    A continuation of their celebrity featured testimonies (most recently Grant Hill, previously Jessica Alba and Gwen Stefani.
3.    The parody of brand loyalists attacking each other with insults at a wedding 

Samsung Means Business

Leading the race in terms of volume  – airing more than twice the ads as its closest competitors, Samsung has been focusing more on the business environment – demonstrating its differentiating features such as network security and multitasking through a continued story of the Unicorn Apocalypse– a shift from their 2012 photo and video feature focused ads.

Samsung has also infused its share of celebrities into their ads – most recently with Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan and Tim Burton which did best with the 21 – 35 demo and was a huge online success topping the YouTube’s Ad Leaderboard for February. Earlier celeb studded ad “Looking Smart” featuring Jermaine Paul and Blake Shelton remains the highest scoring mobile phone ad in the last 6 months. (Ace Score 635)

Apple Appeal

Apple iPhone has also used its share of celebrities – this year with just the one “Dream” ad featuring the Williams sisters. But recently the brand has remained focused entirely on their photo features, speaking of which…

What feature do you value most in your mobile device? Not the coolest or the thing you do most often throughout the day – but what do you need your phone to do better than any other phone out there? Among our inner office poll the most common complaint among variety of device users is call quality… oddly not one person said the quality of their photos was unsatisfactory. But only one ad in the last 6 months focuses on a feature related at all to sound quality and most advertisers in the space are keenly focused on differentiating their photo features.

For a change of pace, this latest Windows ad takes a humorous slant at all of the well known mud slinging between brand loyalists, earning high attention and likability scores, and while lower on the information than the other two ads in market, it certainly makes a strong statement about where Windows sees itself playing – squarely inside of the battle of the phones.  

 To watch the video, click here.