LOS ANGELES – The new American Express television commercial featuring late-night comedian Conan O’Brien failed to click with most consumers. The spot resonated most strongly with younger viewers, especially women ages 21-35. Women age 50 and over gave the ad its lowest scores. Data from Ace Metrix™, the creative lifecycle management company, shows the ad to be better at grabbing attention than the average financial services ad, but worse at creating desire and conveying information.
The ad, which first aired on November 8, plays off O’Brien’s penchant for detail featuring the comedian in India selecting the perfect curtain fabric for his new show. It registered an overall Ace Score™ of 467 which is on par with the average for all financial service ads, but well below the average of 536 for all ads in the Ace Metrix database of nearly 8,000 national ads.
These comments from consumers illustrate the difference in scores between younger and older female viewers: a 21-35 female said, “It is a good commercial, even if I’d say it has nothing to do with Amex” while a 50+ year old female said, “I have no idea what the connection is between the ‘return’ of Conan O’Brien and American Express!”. Many viewers thought the ad was for Conan’s late night TV show.
“Financial services ads typically do not stir emotions– in fact, other than the E*trade talking baby Ads, the financial services category creative generally lands with a resounding thud, producing the lowest creative scores across all major categories. AMEX seems to be attempting to endear themselves to their audience with Conan’s humor and it certainly got their attention. However, most people just didn’t get the connection — what does Conan’s pursuit of silk for his TV show have to do with American express? In addition, older demos just don’t seem to relate to Conan at all. So at best you have consumers scratching their heads,” commented Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix.
To view the ad, please click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AceMetrix
Following is the complete Ace Score™ breakdown:
Measure Ace Score
Financial
Services Norm
Ace Score 467 465
Persuasion 518 538
Watchability 547 534
Likeability 591 560
Information 466 544
Attention 644 581
Change 534 567
Relevance 479 529
Desire 464 488
About Ace Metrix
Ace Metrix, the creative lifecycle management company, enables marketers, brand managers and advertisers to measure and manage the full creative lifecycle of their campaigns from idea to in-market optimization. For the first time, Ace Metrix delivers actionable analytics and competitive intelligence based on the scientific measurement of television advertising creative effectiveness. Featuring the patent-pending Ace Score, advertisers and brand managers can make critical creative decisions and strategically adjust media schedules in near real-time. Ace Metrix works with leading advertisers including Big Lots, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., Con Agra, Nissan North America and others. For more information please see www.acemetrix.com.
Note: Ace Metrix and Ace Score are trademarks of Ace Metrix. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
