Ad Analysis: Which Super Bowl commercials won and lost last night? [w/video]

Seyth Miersma — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:15:00 EST

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Videos

From kickoff through the blackout and on to the Baltimore Ravens walking away victorious at Super Bowl XLVII, advertising analysts were tracking the impact of all those very expensive commercials. Automakers and their agencies were no exception here, which means there's been plenty of data logged in terms of which car spots actually succeeded or flopped.

Of course, as next-day results can't exactly be measured by counting up how many folks ran out and bought a new car, judging audience reaction can be a tricky business. As evidence, we've read through (and watched) some early analysis pieces from various sources, and none of them can agree on which commercial was the most powerful of the night. Not even close, in fact.

We've read through the early analysis from various sources, and none of them can agree on which commercial was the most powerful of the night. Not even close.

"Lift" is a common marketing term and basis for measuring the success of a particular piece of advertising; the term refers roughly to the improvement in audience response to a product after viewing the advertisement. Using data from Edmunds about the lift generated by auto commercials during the big game, The Truth About Cars reported that Mercedes-Benz was the night's big winner. TTAC maintained that the CLA Soul advertisement generated a whopping 3,067% of lift when it aired in the fourth quarter. The report also indicated that Volkswagen's Get Happy ad and Lincoln's Phoenix spot for the new MKZ were among the poorest performers on the night.

In an entirely separate study, car-number crunchers Autometrics had some dramatically different results (see the press release, below). In its report, Autometrics found the Lincoln MKZ spot to be the most successful of the evening, with an event-leading 42% "Share of Lift" and a massive 5,800% increase in "prospects."

Moving into anecdotal review of the commercials, we see some evidence that the tenderhearted ads from Ram and Jeep were winners on the evening. USA Today interviewed former General Motors and Hyundai marketing chief Joel Ewanick, who personally found Ram's Farmer commercial to be the most compelling. Ewanick reportedly considered Jeep's Whole Again tribute to American servicemen and servicewomen to be the "second-best" spot. Of course, if you ask media expert Frank Luntz of CBS to talk about his reaction data, he'll tell you that Farmer was one of the least successful ads of the game, while Kia's Space Babies commercial was the toast of the Super Bowl as far as car makers go. Oh, and Luntz also claims that the CLA spot that the Edmunds data loved was "not distinguishable." Go figure. Scroll down to watch the CBS breakdown video, below.

Who's ready for that test drive now?

Continue reading Ad Analysis: Which Super Bowl commercials won and lost last night? [w/video]

Ad Analysis: Which Super Bowl commercials won and lost last night? [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments