Boston, MA – Doritos, Marmot and Heinz produced the most engaging Super Bowl ads, according to a study which tracked people’s facial expressions while they watched the ads.
The study, in which software company Lucid and insight platform Qualtrics teamed up with Realeyes’ emotion measurement technology, tracked the facial reactions of over 3,000 people via their webcams during the ads. 49 key facial points were monitored to determine various key emotions as well as overall levels of engagement.
Doritos’ “Ultrasound”, scored better than 99.2% of ads ever measured by Realeyes in terms of emotional engagement. This is a combined measure of how well the ad grabs viewers’ attention, keeps it and leaves a lasting impression. The top 9 Super Bowl 50 ads all scored in the top 10% of ads ever measured.
“The winning Doritos ad bucked the trend by being the only one of this year’s top 10 not to have an animal or celebrity,” observed Realeyes’ CEO Mihkel Jäätma. “In what’s been described as a ‘very safe’ year, it divided opinion online ahead of the game while facial tracking showed it evoked above average levels of disgust, particularly in men. However, pushing the boat out certainly paid off.”
Read as: Snickers’ Marilyn ad scored better than 85.4% of ads ever measured by Realeyes
At the other end of the scale, Colgate’s “Every Drop Counts” scored worst of all Super Bowl 50 ads – being in the bottom 21.7% of ads ever measured – followed by PayPal’s “There’s A New Money In Town.”
Read as: Universal Pictures’ Jason Bourne ad scored better than 38.7% of ads ever measured by Realeyes
“The barometer of a successful ad shouldn’t just be whether people like and share it, but also whether it actually makes them spend money – ads that connect emotionally with people are more likely to make this happen,” explains Jäätma. “The four key tips to doing so are to hook the audience early, retain their attention, invoke a reaction – the stronger the better – and finish with impact.”
The full scores for all the Super Bowl ads are available here or to watch each individual ad and see how it scored throughout the duration click here.
Other selected findings
• The metric the top 10 ads scored less well on across the board was initial attraction – grabbing viewers’ attention in the first 8 seconds of the ad. The Doritos and T-Mobile ads were the exception, both scoring 9/10s
• Though they didn’t make it to the top, both Budweiser and Shock Top will be pleased to have resonated the most amongst the younger audience, usually found flocking in droves to the craft beer market. For Budweiser this is especially important after last year’s puppy ad, which was hugely successful amongst women but a total flop amongst the beer-drinking, beer-buying men they’re after
• Other people who nailed their targeting include Campbell’s, who resonated best amongst women aged 30-49; Pokemon, who appealed to the audience who’d grown up with it; and Buick amongst the over 30s
• The much discussed PuppyBabyMonkey, which mocked those same elements recurring in the top 10, didn’t actually resonate that well amongst the under 30s, which brought down its score. It was much more popular amongst 30-49s and the over 50s, who clearly appreciated the irony.
About Realeyes
Emotions drive behavior. Using webcams, we measure how people feel as they watch video content, enabling marketers to confidently target optimized content to the right audiences. www.realeyesit.com.
