USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter: A Pop-Culture Conversation in Itself

It seems that the results register quotlikeabilityquot I agree that it39s hard to grab attention deliver a message and have an impact if your spot is not liked Likeability is the key reason we saw so many I mean so so many celebrities this year Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan Scarlet Johansson Colin Jost and Anna Kendrick and her cast of toys and cute kidsFor the second year in a row Rocket Mortgage took home the prize as the favorite Super Bowl commercial Was it a Barbie Ad Was it a Tide ad No it is a Rocket Mortgage ad pictured at top From a messaging standpoint the ad clearly communicated the value proposition of the Rocket Homes app solving common problems faced by buyers in a sellers39 marketBut I can39t help myself I look at ads through the standard of being memorable meaningful and measurable An entertaining ad leads to it being memorable Meaningful logically links the content of the spot to the brand and directing the viewer to a desired outcome And of course each brand has its own way to measure effectivenessAlthough last place in the Ad Meter ie least likeable the most easily measurable commercial was the Coinbase bouncing QR code QR scans website engagement going deeper into the website and ultimately opening an account on Coinbase are all able to be tracked and an ROI easily calculatedIn my class on Monday this was the first ad that both my undergrads and MBAs mentioned I was not surprised considering this comment came from a group of sports marketing students who have grown up with QR codesLike anyone else I have my biases I39m of Italian descent grew up in New Jersey and am old enough to remember Sunday nights on HBO before Game of Thrones So my top ad goes to the remake of The Sopranos intro now featuring Tony39s kids Meadow and AJ Jamie Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler quotWoke up this morningquot immediately got my attention The journey through the tunnel onto the turnpike pulls you in and resonates with the target audience before the clear message quotThe first ever all electric Chevy Silverado a whole new truck for a whole new generationquotIn my group for second place are three ads that did not rank in the Ad Meter39s Top 10 quotSally39s Seashellsquot featuring Zendaya was light and fun and offered a clear message Use Squarespace and you39ll sell more have more opportunities and become rich and famousSpeaking of what a product can do for you amp8230 If Nissan can turn the quirky but funny and not very hip Eugene Levy into a badass action hero imagine what the car can do for youThe Super Bowl has long been a resource for introducing new brands so you might ask quotWhat is FTXquot As the ad concludes Larry David39s guest states quotIt39s a safe easy way to get into cryptoquot Crypto is the future but don39t trust Larry David He39s funny but painful annoying but hard to ignore and has been consistent on his analysis as he missed on the wheel the fork indoor toilets and more The ad used a similar approach Use a celebrity to grab your attention deliver a simple story and conclude with a clear messageThe Ad Meter has been around for 34 years not because public likeability is all that matters but because it advances a conversation about the commercials I am not a fan of runnerup Amazon39s quotIt39s probably better Alexa can39t read your mindquot Is this tech so cool and so advanced that it may be able to read your mind There are certainly concerns out there that Alexa is somehow capturing private conversations so the commercial may remind you of said concerns rather than assuage them Funny situations in the spot but riskyNo 5 on the Ad Meter was Toyota and quotBrothersquot The McKeever Brother story is undoubtedly inspiring and new to most of us But what does the concluding message quotStart Your Impossiblequot communicate about the brand or the product Can you just slap a brand on any meaningful story and transfer the emotions from it No 6 was Lay39s quotGolden Memoriesquot with Rudd and Rogan It was a spoof but Seth and Paul39s golden memories were awfully dark Whenever you are threatened or scared don39t worry amp8230 Lay39s makes it betterOf course when I first read the results on Monday I wanted to see who won But before I compared the general public39s view with my own analysis what struck me were the scores Rocket Mortgage and Barbie39s Dream House received a 682 edging out the Amazon spot with a 677 In my rankings I gave the SilveradoSopranos ad a 10 had three with a score of nine and twelve with a score of eight My students should take note that I usually don39t give away high grades that freelyClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter: A Pop-Culture Conversation in Itself

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Robert DiGisi

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USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter: A Pop-Culture Conversation in Itself

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Robert DiGisi

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