39 celebrity ads averaged 2.6 Stars
Of the 72 ads aired at Super Bowl 58, Michelob ULTRA’s Superior Beach ad starring Lionel Messi is the top one in System1’s ranking, a creative effectiveness platform that has evaluated the Big Game advertising for five years.
“What I love about this ad is that who doesn’t like to drink beer on the beach and play soccer? The irony, of course, is that we have a soccer player at a football game, so I thought it was pretty funny,” said Jon Evans, Chief Customer Officer of System1, at a web presentation announcing the best-performing spots of the Big Game; he was joined by Dawn Hudson, former CMO of the NFL, former global CMO of Fritolay, former president, CMO and CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America and currently Consultant and Board Director at NVIDIA.
The ranking results from System1 methodology that involves registering consumers’ emotional responses second-by-second throughout an ad, System1’s Test Your Ad scores long-term brand building (1.0 – 5.9 Stars) and short-term sales potential (Spike Rating based on emotional intensity and strength of branding).
Evans added that Superior Beach of Michelob ULTRA, developed by Wieden + Kennedy. It obtained 4.8 stars and generated amounts of happiness among the audience, the brand identity was present from the beginning and highlighted that the soundtrack – Quando, Quando, Quando by The Drifters – lifts the feeling of the piece. “It’s hard to watch this and not feel good about the brand.”
The Top ads for brand effectiveness included 11, honoring that there are eleven players on each team. The other spots that ranked highest in descending order are Reese’s, Yes! (4.7 stars) by the Erich & Kallman agency, Hellmann’s, Mayo Cat (4.5) by VML, T-Mobile, That T-Mobile Home Internet Feeling (4.5) by Panay Films, Lindt, Life is a Ball (4.4 ) by Gray Toronto, NFL, Inspiring Young Athletes Everywhere (4.3), Budweiser, Old School Delivery (4.2) by FCB NY, OREO, It All Starts with a Twist (4.1) with support from Interpublic Group’s Martin Agency, Skechers, Mr. T in Skechers (3.9) by agency SKX Studios, M&M’s, The M&M’S Almost Champions Ring of Comfort (3.9) by BBDO New York and Team Omnicom, and Pfizer, Here’s to Science (3.8) by Publicis and Le Truc.
The first surprise about the overall performance of the ads is that the level is not as good as you might think, considering the money spent. “It may be surprising to know that Super Bowl advertising is a little, but not much, better than the US average of 2.3 stars,” Evans said. However, he acknowledged that although there were no ads above 5 stars, effective advertising in the Big Game has improved over time.
Another aspect he highlighted was that this is probably the funniest Super Bowl he has seen in the five years he has been commenting on the Super Bowl. “We are seeing evidence that humor is a tactic in advertising having a bit of a Renaissance. So it’s good to see a lot of laughs going on, and also the kind of slapstick, everyday humor, not being too clever but just going for straightforward laughs. Reeses is a good example of doing that.”
Celebrities vs. brand character
Evans said many commercials (about 60%) used celebrities this year, even more than one in the same ad. But he warned that the key is to use celebrities for what they are famous for. For example, Messi playing soccer on the beach in the Michelob ULTRA spot or Mr. T in the Skechers spot. “Celebrities may be great, but they are no guarantee of success. “If you are thinking about using a celebrity in your ad, you need to do a little more than that for it to work.”
Brand characters outscored celebrities. Ads with familiar characters like M&M’s spokescandies and the E-Trade baby averaged 3.1 Stars, while 39 celebrity ads averaged 2.6 Stars.
“When we see all the ads that used celebrities versus those that used brand characters (fluent devices), there is almost a star difference. So using it is definitely one of the big hacks of Super Bowl if you can get it right,” he said. He added that another good thing is that they are cheap. “They don’t cost as much as celebrities. Oreo did incredibly well using the cookie itself.”
Two other tips to make a great Super Bowl ad are to tell a good story and keep the idea simple. Strong narratives are a big effectiveness driver, and ads from Hellmann’s, the NFL and Budweiser used their time to tell funny, inspiring, or dramatic tales. While many ads tried to cram multiple mini-scenes and rapid edits into their 30 seconds of fame, winning ads like Michelob, T-Mobile and Skechers focused on one idea executed brilliantly.
Keep it short
Regarding how long an ad in the Super Bowl should last – 30 or 60 seconds – to tell a story, given how expensive it is (approximately US$7 million for 30 seconds), Hudson said that although there is a belief and some justification that longer is better to stand out, her experience at Pepsi-Cola tells her the opposite.
“Making [the ad] longer makes you sloppier and makes you put more stuff in there that actually kind of distract from the message you are trying to deliver about your brand or product,” she explained. Hudson added that we live in a digital society where we look at our phones for a few seconds and that there could be very good messages and very good breakthroughs in 30 seconds.
“If you look at your scores, most of the surprise happens at the beginning of the commercial. Sometimes you have a payoff at the end, and then it’s downtime in the middle. So if I were contemplating announcing [at the Super Bowl] next year, I’ll say I will rather go for two 30-second messages than a 60-second one,” Hudson noted.
