Ad of the Week: Category Overachiever
It is now T-minus ten weeks to the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Amid the holiday cram and scramble, it is likely slipping many consumers’ minds. However, advertisers are ready and anxious for this global advertising event. Dick’s Sporting Goods comes out of the Olympic gates at full speed with an Ace Score of 607, which is 24.2% above the Other Stores – Retail Category average.
This minute-long ride features ski champion Lindsey Vonn and reality TV personality William Robertson from Duck Dynasty along with several other athletes each performing in Under Armour apparel. Beginning with energy-rousing music and scenes of athletes competing, this spot ends with a twist of what Under Armour is really all about—kids, the athletes of the future. All of these elements combined elevated this spot’s Emotional Sentiment score to 60, 40% above Dick’s Sporting Goods average of 43.
Although all consumers, on average, enjoyed this commercial regardless of gender or age, men and women ages 36–50+ appreciated the athletes and the brand the most.
Also, interestingly, of the 330 free-response verbatims this ad received, only 6 individuals mentioned the upcoming Olympics. This may not be that surprising since there were no Olympic rings featured in the ad, just athletes and scenery. However, it was the athletes and the scenery that caught people’s attention the most.
The word “athletes” was mentioned in 7% of the verbatims, while many other verbatims mentioned “Willie” and “Duck Dynasty”.
Several other Olympic-themed ads have already made their way through our systems, and when the holidays begin to dwindle, we’re bound to see floods of Olympic spots with the coming new year. We’ve shot our starting gun; it will be fun to see which brands lead the pack this Olympic season.
Watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Category Overachievers.
Ad of the Week: Top Ace Score
On the thirty-seventh day before Christmas, the United States Postal Service aired one catchy spot, which earned it the highest Ace Score of any ad to debut last week. With a score of 653, it burned the chances for another high-scoring Pillsbury ad to take the spotlight. USPS is known for their all-out-Christmas-tastical ads each holiday season. This spot currently sits at # 3 on our pre-Thanksgiving Top 10 Holiday Ads list. However, last year, USPS earned the title of second highest scoring holiday ad of 2012.
Will the USPS be able to hold on to their #3 Top Holiday Ad spot through rain, sleet, snow and a whole lot more holiday ads already on their way? We hope so. But only time will tell.
