MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—November 5, 2012— In the final hours of the election Ace Metrix has delivered the data for those ads earning the highest and the lowest scores across the entire landscape of presidential campaign commercials. The most effective ad in the 2012 campaign came from Obama-leaning super PAC PrioritiesUSA.
The Ace Metrix POLITICS™ database houses every political television advertisement to have aired since March of 2012– a total of 550 presidential and issues and advocacy ads for this 2012 election cycle. Each ad was presented to a unique sample of more than 500 viewers, balanced across self-identified republican, democratic, independent and unregistered voters and weighted for age, gender and income to the US Census. Respondents were asked the same set of questions in each survey to capture reactions in terms of agreement, attention, learning, credibility, relevance, and interest in seeking additional information. Respondents rated the ads on a scale of 1 to 950, with the overall average for presidential political ads standing at 402, compared to average non-political ad score of 535. Surveys also gathered an average of 275 unbiased, free-form verbatim comments, capturing qualitative perspectives on the ad message that complement the quantitative data.
“In this political environment knowing whether or not your ad is having the intended effect on voters is crucial. Voters are being won and lost on a daily basis so having data about which ad to run and which to pull can have a material impact on the success of the campaign.” said Jonathan Symonds, Ace Metrix EVP of marketing.
“The ads, like the candidates, painted a starkly different picture of their vision for America with President Obama holding the edge in effectiveness over the entire balance of the campaign. The President’s top campaign ads used a mix of candidate appeal and direct attack whereas Governor Romney’s top ads had a laser-like focus on the economy and the President’s stewardship on economic issues.”
While the ads from both candidate camps focused on painting two very different versions of America, the third party supporters of either candidate’s most successful, and sometimes controversial, ads relied mostly on personal stories of regular Americans impacted either by Mitt Romney’s policies at Bain Capital or Barack Obama’s policies as president or on specific issues like gas prices or the deficit. On average, the top 3rd party advertisers outperformed the candidates themselves on effectiveness – both on an overall basis as well as with independents.
Most Effective Presidential Campaign Ads
| Rank | Group | Ad Title | Air Date | Ace Score |
| 1 | PrioritiesUSA | Stage | 6/28/12 | 562 |
| 2 | Public Notice | Working Hard | 3/11/12 | 537 |
| 3 | Obama for America | Mosaic | 6/20/12 | 528 |
| 4 | Public Notice | Washington is Still Digging | 7/26/12 | 526 |
| 5 | Let Freedom Ring | European Prices | 4/21/12 | 516 |
| *Definition: Ace Score is the measure of ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV ads. Respondents are randomly selected and representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience. The results are presented on a scale of 1-950, which represents scoring on creative attributes such as Relevance, Persuasion, Watchability, Information, Attention, etc. This list is comprised of the highest scoring new political television advertisements to have aired nationally. | ||||
Least Effective Presidential Campaign Ads
| Rank | Group | Ad Title | Air Date | Ace Score |
| 1 | Obama for America | The President Has Our Back | 6/8/12 | 278 |
| 2 | Restore Our Future | Happy Mother’s Day | 5/9/12 | 305 |
| 3 | Obama for America | Friend of Coral | 9/21/12 | 314 |
| 4 | Obama for America | Firms | 7/13/12 | 329 |
| 5 | Obama for America | Anna Wintour: Don’t Be Late | 6/3/12 | 336 |
| *Definition: Ace Score is the measure of ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV ads. Respondents are randomly selected and representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience. The results are presented on a scale of 1-950, which represents scoring on creative attributes such as Relevance, Persuasion, Watchability, Information, Attention, etc. This list is comprised of the lowest scoring new political television advertisements to have aired nationally from April 10, 2012 forward. This date is CMAG’s unofficial start date for the Presidential campaign. | ||||
To see the list and watch the top ads for each group, click below.
Top Ads from Obama for America
Top 3rd Party Ads Since March 1, 2012
About Ace Metrix POLITICS
Ace Metrix POLITICS™ delivers real-time measurement of the effectiveness of campaign, issue, and advocacy advertising. Ace Metrix POLITICS is the industry’s first platform to provide deep, actionable analytics on breaking ads within hours of their initial air-date. This groundbreaking responsiveness, coupled with large samples of over 500 potential voters, creates an unprecedented view of the political landscape to clients by delivering insight into the performance of their own campaigns, as well as their competitors. This data allows clients to determine what ads to invest in, what competitor messages to respond to, and what messages are resonating with voters. The result is the timeliest and most comprehensive set of advertising performance measures available to campaign managers, media strategies, associations and pollsters. Ace Metrix is not affiliated with any political entity or organization.
About Ace Metrix
Ace Metrix® is the new standard in television and video analytics, dedicated to delivering better, faster, and more cost-effective solutions for evaluating video advertising within competitive context. Through the Ace Metrix LIVE™ platform, companies can now access timely, actionable data wherever, whenever they need to, enabling real-time advertising campaign optimization. Combining leading edge technology and patent pending methodology, Ace Metrix is revolutionizing the way marketers measure themselves and their competitive landscape. The Company is privately held and is backed by leading venture capital firms and industry leaders including Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Palomar Ventures, Leapfrog Ventures, and WPP.
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PR Contact: Michael Meehan | 202.262.9081 | michael@vennsq.com
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