Press Release

Mercedes-Benz Performs Admirably Overall and Across Components Including Desire, Attention, Perception Change and Information

LOS ANGELES, CA.—November 19, 2015—Ace Metrix®, the leader in measuring the impact of video advertising, today released the most notable luxury automotive ads of 2015, as well as the most effective brands. Ace Metrix found Mercedes-Benz to be the most effective luxury automotive brand of 2015 (YTD), maintaining its Number One position from 2014 with an average YTD Ace Score of 599. Buick is a close second with an average YTD Ace Score of 593.

“In 2014 many of MBUSA’s ads were powered by the ability to create desire,” said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. “This year, in addition to desire, Mercedes employed several different successful strategies to creating ads that consumers love, including delivery of compelling product information, especially around safety, and messages to change perception of the brand—not to mention its extremely successful Super Bowl ad, ‘Fable.’”

Mercedes’ 60-second “Fable” and Lexus’ 30-second “Let’s Play” Super Bowl ads both experienced success by being extremely attention-grabbing. BMW’s 60-second “Newfangled Idea” Super Bowl ad, promoting the BMW i3, on the other hand, was powerful in delivering information and changing perceptions.

Mercedes- Benz and BMW Employ a Number of Successful Strategies in Creating Ads that Consumers Love in 2015

Most Notable Ads of 2015 from Mercedes-Benz*

*Includes ads aired between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

Like Mercedes, BMW, which has achieved an average YTD Ace Score of 577, relied on a number of different strategies to create its most powerful ads of 2015, including successfully driving desire, changing perceptions, providing powerful product information, and achieving likeability. One Male 36-49 viewer of the ad “Create the Future” commented, “Beautiful car and love the technology.” Of the Super Bowl ad “Newfangled Idea,” a 50+ female consumer commented, “Very clever ad and great looking energy saving vehicle.”

Most Notable Ads of 2015 from BMW*

*Includes ads aired between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

Buick and Audi’s Top Ads Succeed in Changing Perception and Delivering Information

Buick emerged as the second most effective luxury automotive brand in 2015 (YTD) with ads very focused on changing the perception of the Buick brand and delivering powerful product information.
“The company is heading in a new direction,” said one female 21-35 viewer regarding the “Happiness” ad. After viewing “Experience the New Buick Wi-Fi,” one male commented, “I liked the ad very much…very relevant as I am car shopping. The wi-fi technology in Buicks is intriguing.”

Most Notable Ads of 2015 from Buick Luxury*

*Includes ads aired between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

Audi, which aired the third most effective ad of 2015 YTD, “High Class,” proved very successful at producing ads that change consumers’ perceptions of the Audi brand, as seen in the list below. Of the spot “New Arrival”, a female 21-35 commented, “I had no idea Audi was getting into the hybrid market. Great!” It also saw success through experimenting with different ad lengths from :15- :60, a strategy that seemingly aided in achieving likeability and attention. One female 50+ viewer of “The Drones” said, “The visuals and music captured and kept your attention. The characters were easy to relate to, and the message was succinct, yet left you wanting to know more.”

Most Notable Ads of 2015 from Audi*

*Includes ads aired between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

Ads from Acura, Infiniti, Hyundai, Land Rover and Volvo Also Notable in 2015

A common ingredient for breakthrough luxury automotive ads in 2015 was the ability to grab attention. Acura does just this with three of its most notable ads featured in the chart below, including its Top 5 overall ranked “Safety” ad. Infiniti and Lexus’ most notable ads are also powered by Attention, including Lexus’ “Let’s Play” Super Bowl ad. Both brands also appealed to consumers through ads that were likeable, as well as those that created desire. Volvo and Land Rover also each produced ads that successfully drove likeability, and Hyundai’s top ads were successful in delivering information.

Other Notable Luxury Ads of 2015*

*Includes ads aired between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

Most Notable Ads of 2015 from Lexus*

*Includes ads aired between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

About the Ace Score

The Ace Score is the measure of ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV and online video ads, providing the advertising industry an unbiased resource to measure creative impact. Ace Metrix scores every national television and the majority of digital video ads, across 96 categories creating a complete comparative database—Ace Metrix LIVE®. A unique panel of at least 500 consumers, representative of the U.S. TV and Internet viewing audience, 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 a score that indicates positive, negative or neutral emotional impact and represents the ad’s position on an Emotional Sentiment Index ranging from 1–100.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix® provides technology, tools and insights that enable the advertising ecosystem to understand how and why video creative works with viewers. Advertisers, agencies and publishers rely on Ace Metrix to provide qualitative and quantitative measures, normative data and competitive insights that inform each phase of the creative lifecycle, resulting in advertising that consistently delivers results. The Company’s comprehensive suite of tools map to ad objectives, including the creative impact of persuasion, breakthrough, emotional connection, and indicators of shareability. 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.

Follow Ace Metrix on Twitter for sustained insight: @Ace_Metrix.
PR Contact: Michelle Robertson | 646-279-5775 | michelle@kerlancomm.com
Note: Ace Metrix®, the Ace Metrix logo design, Ace Score®, Ace Metrix LIVE® and Creative Lifecycle Management® are registered trademarks of Ace Metrix, Inc. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.