Mastercard has scored Ad of the Week honors with “Saying Thank You” which touts their fundraising efforts with Stand Up to Cancer.  The spot scored an impressive 598, 19.9% higher than the twelve month credit card norm.  It was also third overall on an absolute basis, a tough task when your main competitors are a restaurant and new technology. This is only the second time at the top of the Ad of the Week charts for the brand, with the first being back in 2011.

The relationship between Stand Up to Cancer and Mastercard has been several years long, and this spot is one of five since 2011.  All of the spots are highly effective creative, on both relative and absolute levels, and have an average Ace Score of a whopping 605.  The ads feature celebrities well liked among the general population, and tend to buck the trend of celebrity ads underperforming.

“Saying Thank You” is a great blend of upbeat humor and Information, a difficult combination to master.  The spot had an Information score of 697, more than 140 points above the Credit Cards norm.  Desire is the hardest component for advertisers in the Credit Cards category to perform well on- it’s just not a product where consumers instantly think “I want that.”  Mastercard managed to exceed the Desire norm by over 80 points, indicating that the card’s affiliation with charity is a positive and may make them consider Mastercard in the future.

Part of the ads success was its broad appeal across age and gender demographics.  Even Men 50+, a group that is tough to impress, scored the spot more than 40 points above norm.  The ad appealed more to women, who scored it 48 points higher than men. 

Consumers easily recognized Mastercard, naming them 11% of the time in the over 205 verbatim responses, but it also did a great job of co-branding with the Stand Up to Cancer org.  Respondents mentioned that organization 9% of the time.  Overall, consumers found the relationship to be a positive one, with only a few people mentioning the philanthropic relationship negatively.

We also want to give kudos to Bacardi for being this week’s runner up.  Their spot, “No More Oppression”, had an Ace Score of 536, 14.8% above the category norm – a tremendous mark for an alcohol spot among the general population.

To watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Category Overachievers, click here.

To watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Ace Score, click here.