“Creative anxiety is the single biggest factor in keeping people from advertising in the Super Bowl,” says Dan Lovinger, EVP of advertising sales, NBC Sports Group.
NBC analyzed the ads in the last four Super Bowls (2014-2017) based on 575 variables like creative messaging and structural elements. It then looked at the effectiveness of each ad based on five performance metrics: creative appeal, ad cut through, creative engagement, brand social and brand search. NBC will use these results to help guide advertisers on their Super Bowl creative, Lovinger says.
NBC’s study found that just because an advertiser scored high on creative appeal (which is indicative of the USA Today Ad Meter), doesn’t mean they also received top marks on other metrics like search and social.
60-second spots, for example, significantly out-performed in most key metrics and a brand with multiple spots in the game saw a lift in all key metrics. (NBC worked with a third-party firm CognitiveScale on the study).
But there were some other revealing stats: celebrities have a slight negative or no material impact on ad performance, other than driving social conversation; visually dark scenes work better for auto and electronics advertisers, while lighter scenes yield better results for food and beverage and entertainment brands; animated characters are more effective in ads that are sales focused rather than brand focused; spots with kids and music outperformed those with just one or the other; and first-time Super Bowl advertisers have been just as successful airing pre-existing creative in the game as they have been airing new ads.
Jeanine Poggi. NBC to Super Bowl Advertisers: Use Kids or Puppies, But Not Both. AdAge.
To read the complete article visit AdAge.