• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 12, 2011

Google's "Dear Sophie" ad running on television during "Glee" and "American Idol" last week emerged as the most effective of the 130 new national TV ads to launch during the week ending May 6. The ad registered an Ace Score of 661, compared with a normal score of 553, according to Ace Metrix, which monitors television advertising effectiveness.  

The spot digitally narrates a little girl's life through the eyes of her father, using a Gmail "diary" demonstrating the capabilities of the Google Chrome browser. Google's ad scored 140 points higher than the average score in the Ace Metrix database of nearly 11,000 national ads. The Ad-of-the-Week designates the highest-scoring new ad of the week by Ace Score, an industry measure of advertising creative effectiveness.

The other ad that Google debuted last week as part of its "The Web Is What You Make of It" campaign, features the "It Gets Better" movement against the bullying of homosexual youth. The campaign also demonstrates the flexibility of using Google products. This ad achieved a 611 Ace Score, performing well among males and females 16 to 20, and received high Information scores, demonstrating consumers were receptive to the information the ad conveyed.

Jack Mckee, vice president of sales and marketing at Ace Metrix, said the company doesn't have its own panel data, so it recruits from the general population. Participants are screened based on age, demographics, income, region and ethnicity. They watch the ad and take a survey.

Television ads get screened daily, but not all do as well as the two from Google. Mckee said Google's ads did well because they took advantage of an emotional connection with the audience, delivering the message relevant to consumers. "In the 'Dear Sophie' ad we saw strength in what we call the change score, which relates back to whether or not survey participants think the company is moving a new direction," he said.

Other ads ranking in the list include Magnum Ice Cream, M&M, Oreo, and Nintendo DS, among others.