Press Release

Microsoft, M&M’s, Pantene, Android and Samsung Mobile Hit High Marks with Ads that Both Grab Attention and are Well-Liked

LOS ANGELES, CA.— April 4, 2016 —Ace Metrix, the leader in measuring the impact of video advertising, today released a list of the top ten Breakthrough ads from the first quarter of 2016. The Ace Score components of Likeability and Attention combine to form the breakthrough dimension of an ad, which simply put, measures an ad’s ability to break through the clutter and get noticed. Microsoft’s “Women Made,” was the highest Breakthrough ad of the quarter by promoting a strong, informative message celebrating women inventors of the world and empowering girls. Ads from M&M’s, Pantene, Android and Samsung Mobile round out the list of five biggest breakthrough ads of Q1.

“The breakthrough ads from this quarter grabbed attention and put smiles on viewers’ faces. Ads from Microsoft and Android touted empowering messages while M&M’s, Samsung Mobile and Apple Mobile used celebrities in a relevant way that worked with the story line. Pantene did both,” said Peter Daboll, Ace Metrix CEO. “Of note, eight of the top ten ads this quarter were 60 seconds or longer, showing that often times a longer ad is needed to tell the full story arc and connect with viewers. The Microsoft ad was also unique in delivering a high Information score—informing viewers of women inventors while keep the storyline interesting and engaging.”

Two of the highest scoring breakthrough ads debuted during the Super Bowl, including Audi’s “Commander” ad featuring space exploration and the music of David Bowie and Dorito’s “No Dogs Allowed” which was the overall most liked ad of Super Bowl 50. Four of the top ten ads are from technology brands, and only two ads were thirty seconds in length.

Below are the ads ranked by Breakthrough, which combines the Attention and Likeability component scores.

Top Breakthrough Ads of Q1, 2016

Other Notable Q1 Ads

In addition to the top ten Breakthrough ads, Ace Metrix has also identified a number of ads that stand out within their respective categories.

• Cheerios “Bring Back the Bees” was our highest scoring digital ad of the quarter, touting a powerful message of helping support bee health by planting wildflowers. Viewers said the visual scenes and message were the single best thing about the 100 second ad, which earned high Likeabilty and Attentions scores, while also showing strength in Information and Relevance.
• Within the QSR and Casual Dining category, Olive Garden earned three of the top five spots with extremely high Breakthrough scores. The highest scoring ad “CYO Tour of Italy” is a 15 second spot that features the food and the deal, also scoring very high in Desire.
• Another Super Bowl ad that earned high marks was Heinz’s “Wiener Stampede,” the highest scoring ad in the CPG category, which combined cute visuals and an iconic song to grab attention and remain memorable.
• In addition to Audi’s “Commander” earning high marks in the luxury category, Honda’s Super Bowl ad, “A New Truck to Love” was the highest scoring Breakthrough ad in the non-luxury category, touting sheep singing a classic Queen song.

Ace Metrix measures ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to video ads, providing the advertising industry an unbiased resource to measure creative impact. Ace Metrix scores every national television ad, and an expanding proportion of digital ads, across 96 categories creating a complete comparative database—Ace Metrix LIVE®. A unique panel of at least 500 consumers, demographically balanced to the U.S. census, scores each ad in the exact same manner. The results are presented on a scale of 1–950, which represents scoring on creative attributes such as Persuasion, Likeability, Information, Attention, Change, Relevance, Desire and Watchability. Ace Metrix applies a natural language processing algorithm to the hundreds of qualitative verbatim responses collected for each ad, deriving additional metrics related to emotional engagement. Ace Metrix collected more than 1,750 ads in the first quarter, January 1 through March 31, 2016.

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: Dori Busell   917-689-3415   |   dori@kerlancomm.com
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