The real Super Bowl game….

It has been 2 weeks since the Super Bowl. We’ve had some time to not just have the game sink in (congrats to the Saints), but also think about the ads that were shown. And once again, if you look at the USAToday Ad Meter the most “likeable” spots featured animals, kids, and crazy hijinks. In fact if you want to see the rankings of each of the ads, here they are: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2010admeter.htm

The “winner” according to the admeter was the Snickers “Betty White” commercial.
Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rauK4fBjkI

Funny? Yes. Persuasive? Hmmm….In all honesty, the ad did better than previous past “winners” because Snickers was nicely integrated into the ad and we actually saw a direct benefit (if not a bit silly) from using the product. However, too often, we find that the most likeable ads are NOT the most persuasive. In other words, they do a great job of making us laugh and entertaining us, but give us little reason to actually purchase the product. Too often, Super Bowl ads depict an entertaining story, but merely mention the brand as an afterthought. And if you are spending almost 3 million for a 30 second spot, you’d like consumers to associate your brand with the ad. As brand builders, we want the ads to be persuasive – we want people not just to recall who the brand was that was advertised, but also give them a persuasive reason to purchase/use the brand. Study after study has shown that the most persuasive ads are generally not the best liked. Why? Well, it’s hard to be entertaining AND get a strong brand building message across in 30 seconds. What was the most persuasive ad in my opinion? Go all the way down to #43 and you will see Google.

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU&feature=pyv&ad=3910815173&kw=google%20super%20bowl%20commercial

This ad works on so many levels. It’s entertaining. It integrates the product nicely. It provides both a functional (what the brand actually does) and an emotional (how it makes you feel) connection. It essence, it shows how much Google is an integral part of your life. Yet, it only ranked #43 in overall liking. For me (as for most brand people), I’ll take an average ranking in likeability to get a persuasive message across any day of the week.