Examiner
Tony Bridges, Examiner
Media analysis firm Ace Metrix released a sneak peak at its rankings of 2013 Oscar commercial effectiveness in an interview with Examiner.com Feb. 27.
Among the top 2013 Oscar commercial performers were spots by McDonald’s, JCP and Coke, Ace reported.
According to Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll, this year’s field of Oscar commercials did not perform as well as those from last year’s Academy Awards. They received average scores that were about 10 percent lower than 2012.
One problem with the 2013 Oscar commercials: They were recycled. Ace reported that only 23 of 40 commercials were new, and several had already been used last year.
( Kantar Media previously reported that the average price of a 2013 Oscar commercial was $1.7 million.)
“Unlike the Super Bowl, most of these ads weren’t new,” Daboll said. “It’s surprising that they would pay the big media price tag for old ads.”
Ace measures the effectiveness of commercials with a diverse group of 500 carefully selected viewers representing a cross-section of America. They rank commercials based on several factors, including likability, desire for the product, information content and relevance.
Daboll said the company tries to score every ad that breaks in the U.S. Releasing a list of Oscar commercial rankings has become an annual tradition for the company.
Early Ace results show that McDonald’s scored the most effective new 2013 Oscar commercial with “Lucky Penny,” a spot that debuted early in the Academy Awards broadcast. In the commercial, a boy finds a penny, experiences a bad day, then finally gets lucky when the family min-van breaks down in front of a McDonad’s.
Daboll said the thing that put the Oscar commercial over the top for McDonald’s was that it ended with an act of giving. Leaving the restaurant, the boy turns and goes back to drop his lucky penny into the McDonald’s charity box.
“Any time there’s that kind of tie-in, I think consumers really respond well to it,” he said.
McDonald’s representatives could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Following closely behind McDonald’s for the second most effective new ad was a 90-second JCP Oscar commercial called “Yours Truly,” Ace reported.
The commercial played out as a letter from JCP to various types of American people, reminding them that JCP had been working to help them look and live better for 100 years and would continue to do so for another 100 years.
It was one of six new JCP Oscar commercials that debuted during the broadcast. While “Yours Truly” scored reasonably well, the rest did not. And, overall, the ads did not perform nearly as well as JCP’s 2012 Oscar commercials that starred Ellen DeGeneres, Daboll said.
He said even “Yours Truly” drew mixed reactions from viewers, including some who questioned whether a clothing company really defined America as much as the brand seemed to think. Another common complaint about the 90-second Oscar commercial was that it was too long. And, while the commercial scored high on likability, particularly with women, it left many vague on exactly what was being advertised.
JCP spokesperson Kate Coultas didn’t directly address the ACE results, but wrote in a statement that, “People’s shopping habits have evolved — so jcp is changing too. The campaign is our way of telling our customers about the new spirit at jcp. We want them to know that we understand who they are, and what it is that they’re looking for — their favorite brands for fashion and home at low prices every day.”
She said the new style of ads will be part of a continuing TV campaign over the next few weeks and will include digital, print, social media and mobile components.
Hyundai, Sprint and Coke all did well with ads that had previously aired, Daboll said. Apple, on the other hand, did not get much traction with its Oscar commercials.
Meanwhile, Samsung also flopped with its line-up of six new Oscar commercials, according to Ace Metrix.
While Samsung commercials in general had the highest technology brand scores of 2012, this year’s Oscar commercials failed to score anywhere near what they did last year. Daboll said the story line, about a small tech company creating a video game called “Unicorn Apocalypse” just did not connect with viewers, who found the spots too long and boring.
“If you’re paying $100,000 a second for media, you dont want to hear ‘too long’ from the consumer,” he said.
Ace Metrix plans to release the full rankings of 2013 Oscar commercials soon.
So, that’s what the experts thought of the 2013 Oscar commercial line-up. How about you?
