Lists for Best Storytelling, Most Heartfelt, Funniest, and Most Unusual are Based on a New Product that Quantifies Emotional Connection
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Ace Metrix, the leader in measuring the impact of video advertising, released its lists of 2018’s top ads that connected with U.S. consumers emotionally. Ace Metrix shared the ads that achieved the strongest impact for four of the fifty-seven emotions they measure, including: Narrative, Heartfelt, Funny and Left Field.
“Emotional connection continues to play a key role in building relationships with consumers, influencing long-term memory, and driving purchase intent” said Peter Daboll, CEO, Ace Metrix. “With more and more brands realizing this, it’s critical for marketers to understand the strength of their emotional impact relative to every other ad out there that’s trying to make the same connection.”
The methodology is based on deep Natural Language Processing and machine learning analysis of hundreds of viewer reactions to every ad – in their own words. With over 8,300 video ads analyzed in 2018, and over 3 million viewer comments, these ads distinguished themselves by achieving the highest quantifiable level of emotional impact with viewers.
2018’s Best Storytelling Ads
Among the 12.49% of ads that fire off signal for the Narrative Emo, 2018’s best ranked in the upper-echelon (the 99th percentile).
| Rank | Brand | Ad Title | Length | Percentile |
| 1 | Freshpet | The Story of Princess | 0:30 | 99.5 |
| 2 | Gillette | Proud Dad :60 | 1:00 | 99.5 |
| 3 | Petco | Saving Up :30 | 0:30 | 99.5 |
| 4 | FedEx | Tortoise & The Hare | 1:00 | 99.5 |
| 5 | Zillow | Time Capsule | 0:30 | 99.5 |
| 6 | Teleflora | The Teleflora Table | 1:30 | 99.5 |
Sample words and phrases associated with Narrative include: beautiful story, clever storyline, cute love story, dramatic story, backstory, powerful history, tells a meaningful story, very interesting storyline.
2018’s Most Heartfelt Ads
Whether the matter at hand is joyous, melancholy, or bittersweet, Heartfelt ads tug at our emotions and make us reach for the closest tissue. Unfortunately for Kleenex, this sentiment is present in only 12% of all ads, and like the previous list, this year’s most heartfelt rank in the 99th percentile of those ads.
| Rank | Brand | Ad Title | Length | Percentile |
| 1 | Huggies | Father’s Day Hugs | 2:00 | 99.5 |
| 2 | Hallmark | Her Day | 0:30 | 99.5 |
| 3 | Verizon | Military Appreciation :60 | 1:00 | 99.5 |
| 4 | Macy’s | Always Present | 0:30 | 99.5 |
| 5 | Teleflora | Teleflora Table | 1:30 | 99.5 |
| 6 | Budweiser | Our Heroes | 1:00 | 99.5 |
| 7 | Verizon | Answering the Call | 1:00 | 99.5 |
Sample words and phrases associated with Heartfelt include: makes me wanna cry, am happy, brought tears, caring, compassionate, feel good, gets me emotional, heartstrings, heartwarming!, i cried, saddened, very uplifting, sweet ad!
2018’s Funniest Ads:
These ads stirred up the most hahaha’s and LOL’s among viewers in 2018. None of them reached “Rare Air” status for our Funny emo, but they found the humor sweet spot that appealed to a broad audience. Given that 25% of ads try to be funny in some way, earning a spot in the 97th percentile and up is worth celebrating for the brands below.
| Rank | Brand | Ad Title | Length | Percentile |
| 1 | Farmers Insurance | Hall of Claims: Parking Splat | 0:30 | 98.7 |
| 2 | M&M | Human | 0:30 | 98.7 |
| 3 | Adam & Eve | Sympathy for the Grumps | 1:40 | 98.7 |
| 4 | NFL | Touchdown Celebration | 1:00 | 97.2 |
| 5 | King’s Hawaiian | Dye Pack | 0:30 | 97.2 |
| 6 | Jack Link’s | Glamping :15 | 0:15 | 97.2 |
| 7 | 1-800-Contacts | Toothpaste :15 | 0:15 | 97.2 |
Sample words and phrases associated with Funny include: a riot, chuckled, comedic, comical!, cracked me up!, funny, genuinely laughed out loud, haahaha, hahah!, hilarious, hysterical, kinda makes me laugh, lmaooo, lol!, quite humorous. humorous.
2018’s Most Unusual Ads
Based on our Left Field emo, something (or everything) about these ads seems outside the realm of possibility. While 17.21% of all ads evoke this sentiment from viewers, the ads below take unordinary to a whole new level by ranking in the 98th and 99th percentile.
| Rank | Brand | Ad Title | Length | Percentile |
| 1 | Comcast Xfinity | Popcorn | 0:15 | 99.5 |
| 2 | Skittles | Glowing | 0:15 | 99.5 |
| 3 | Skittles | Taste The Rainbow | 0:15 | 98.7 |
| 4 | Trolli | Wake Up Your Mouth | 0:15 | 98.7 |
| 5 | POM Wonderful | Dolphin | 0:30 | 98.7 |
Sample words and phrases associated with Left Field include: extremely odd ad, left field, kinda an odd commercial, little unusual way to, odd advertisement, odd concept, unusual spot, very unusual ad, very unusual way to.
You can find a detailed analysis on the Ace Metrix website, here.
About Ace Metrix
Ace Metrix® is the standard in television and digital video analytics, dedicated to measuring the impact of video ad creative. We provide data and insight to enable marketers and creative teams to produce more impactful work, test and adjust creative executions in real-time, and understand what creative drivers impact their brand KPI’s. 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: Sammi Scharninghausen 650-468-7603 | sscharninghausen@acemetrix.com
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