Ace Metrix Ad-of-the-Week: “Man Takes Avatar” for Windows Phone 7 From Microsoft

LOS ANGELES – Ace Metrix™, the authority in television advertising effectiveness, announced the Ad-of-the-Week for the week ending December 14, 2010. The “Man Takes Avatar With Him” ad for Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft, registered the top overall weekly Ace Score™ with a score of 623, out of a possible 950. The ad features a man’s avatar alter ego playing games on a Windows Phone 7 smartphone.

The Ad-of-the-Week designates the highest scoring new ad of the week by Ace Score, a patent-pending measure of advertising creative effectiveness.

“The Windows Phone 7 is a new entrant in a fast-changing and fiercely competitive market dominated by Android, Apple, and RIM. Effective creative is critical to brands attempting to establish themselves, as well as brands that are attempting to defend their positions,” commented Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix.

The table below shows smartphone percent of subscribers compared to Ace Score average by vendor.

Table 1: Smartphone Penetration
Operating System % of subscribers 20101 Change from
2009
Average
Ace Score2
Android 23.5% 352% 605
Microsoft3 9.7% -46% 596
Apple 24.6% -3% 582
RIM 35.8% -14% 555

1 comScore Reports October 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
2 Ace Metrix 12/17/2010
3 Microsoft subscriber % prior to Windows Phone 7 launch

Using a mix of humor, real people and an Xbox avatar that joins the real world, Microsoft has created an ad high in “Likeability”, “Attention” and “Change”, all Ace Score components, that appeals equally to men and women.

Younger respondents rated the ad higher than older respondents, Ace Score 651 vs. 608, and caught on right away that the boyfriend/avatar was associated with Xbox.

According to Daboll, “We have proven that high Ace Scores drive sales and this is evident in the mobile category. Android and iPhone Ace Scores have dominated the category for the past several months, and their share changes reflect that. It is interesting that Microsoft, being the new entrant in the category with Windows Phone 7, has launched with competitive Ace Scores.”

As respondents put it, “It made me laugh with a great dovetailing of Microsoft products” and “Since the Windows phone is a new product and has a lot of competition, it was smart to make the ad appealing.”

To view the ad, please click here: http://www.acemetrix.com/events/ad-of-the-week.

About Ace Metrix

Ace Metrix is the industry authority in measuring and understanding the impact of advertising creative. Through patent-pending Ace ScoreTM measurement technology, Ace Metrix collects and measures the consumer impact of every nationally breaking TV ad in near real-time. Through its Creative Lifecycle ManagementTM suite of products, Ace Metrix provides actionable creative analysis, from ideation through real-time in-market performance optimization, to many of the world’s leading advertisers and agencies. Ace Metrix works with leading advertisers including Big Lots, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., ConAgra, Nissan North America and others. For more information please see www.acemetrix.com.