Disliked Super Bowl Ads Still Are Winners

It doesn't matter if viewers like or dislike Super Bowl commercials -- all that matters is that they talk about them, according to data from Amobee Brand Intelligence (ABI) that shows which Super Bowl ads did the most for which brands. 

"Our historical data shows that from an awareness perspective, it is actually better to be seen in a somewhat 'off' light then not be seen at all -- or amplified at a tenth of the decibel level," says Ammiel Kamon, SVP of Product and marketing for Amobee Brand Intelligence.

Putting that theory to the test is Nationwide, whose "Make Safe Happen" ad generated over 238,000 social mentions of which 64% were negative, the ABI research.

"Nationwide was extremely fast, in the moment, in getting out there and proactively telling their story officially and engaging in a dialogue," says Kamon. "We would not be surprised if in two weeks, it turns out to be an overall large net gain in brand awareness. This potentially would be 10 times what they would have seen by way of awareness had the negative responders not begun to amplify en masse."

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Meanwhile, Budweiser was the night’s most successful advertiser, earning 234,000 social mentions during the game around its Best Buds spot. And Coca-Cola was the second-most popular advertiser of the night, with 60% of Twitter chatter evaluated as positive. 

The hashtag #LikeAGirl received 403,000 Tweets during the game, though advertiser Always only had 7% as real-time activity, showing that while people loved the ad, they didn¹t necessarily associate it with the brand that created it.

The best loved auto brand wasn't BMW, Chevy or Mercedes, but rather Fiat whose blue pill inflated ad generated 52,910 Tweets around a single ad break.

McDonald was the most favored quick-service advertiser, per ABI, though 90% of its tweets were for shoutouts to other brands. 

Skittles won the battle for viral chatter among first-time advertisers with 85,383 social mentions -- 199% greater than another SB newbie, Ecuador Tourism.

An ad for the film “Jurassic World” wowed viewers, generating 48,000 social mentions, more real-time interest than the next three movie trailers combined.

Before kickoff, University of Phoenix was the brand with the most big game-related social media consumption in January, driven by the fact that they held the naming rights to the stadium where the contest occurred. Budweiser had 65% and GoDaddy 63% as much social media consumption in January, thanks to pre-releasing their spots (GoDaddy’s puppy parody, of course, was pulled prior to the game due to negative consumer feedback).

Examining top brands on the night by category, 26% of mentions during the game were around consumer packaged goods brands, 20% around beverages, 15% around automotive, 13% around finance and insurance brands,10% around food brands, 6% around entertainment, and 10% around other verticals. 

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