• by Paul Gough , August 11, 2003

First there was Jared. Now meet Herman and Sherman.

America's TV viewers did recently and two spots featuring the pair of weight-losing cousins topped the Intermedia Advertising Group's biweekly survey of top commercials in brand recall. A 15-second spot and a 30-second spot featuring Herman and Sherman took the first and second spots on the brand recall list. They were joined on the top 10 list by two spots from Old Navy, one from Gap and another from AFLAC, among other companies.

In terms of likeability, an Ethan Allen spot featuring children was the most likeable new spot on TV, followed by an ad for Castrol Syntec and BuyMusic.com.

Brand recall is based on the percentage of TV viewers who can recall within 24 hours the brand of ad they were exposed to during the normal course of TV viewing. The likeability measures how popular the ads are by monitoring which ads most frequently scored the highest among IAG panelists. The scores are then indexed against the mean score for all ads during the time period.

The top 10 ads in terms of brand recall for the weeks of July 21 through Aug. 3:

1. Subway Turkey Breast with Honey Mustard, Herman and Sherman lost 100 pounds, (:15), 245.
2. Subway Turkey Breast with Honey Mustard, Herman and Sherman lost 100 pounds, cousin talks about weight loss (:30), 242.
3. Old Navy Leave it to Cargo Skirts and Pants, parents on front porch send kids off to school, 194.
4. Totino's Pizza Rolls, kid bribes friends to get them to move big brother's boxes, 188.
5. Acuvue2, Rachel surprises Daphne, worried about sticking finger in her eyes, 188.
6. Gap Jeans, Madonna and Missy Elliott bump hips, on soundstage, 182.
7. Red Bull Energy Drink, cartoon William Tell shoots apple off son's head, 179.
8. AFLAC, husband asks wife is she wants to start a family, duck in bedroom, 179.
9. 10-10-987, John Stamos sees himself on TV, calls his mother, she nags and complains, 179.
10. Old Navy Cargo Train, "The hippest trip in America," 179.

The top 10 by likeability:

1. Ethan Allen Kids, baby in crib, boys play on bunk beds, girl listens to headphones, 215.
2. Castrol Syntec, men in lab coat fantasizes about being race car driver, 207.
3. BuyMusic.com, different people with headphones on rap, "Rapper's Delight," songs from $0.79.
4. Sony PlayStation 2 Downhill Domination, mountain biker falls from cliff onto family's station wagon, 185.
5. Foot Locker Adidas SL IV, employee goes into store room, huge basketball game going on, 158.
6. Home Depot Do-It-Yourself Workshop, women learn to install and build things, 154.
7. AFLAC, husband asks wife is she wants to start a family, duck in bedroom, 145.
8. Jaguar, Unleash A Jaguar Sales Event, Jaguar runs through office, man wants silver Jaguar, X-Type featured, 145.
9. Taco Bell Drink Big, Win Gas, man at drive-through has friends push his car, 141.
10. Kmart Joe Boxer, back to school, dancers in front of yellow lockers, guy in boxers on overhead swing, 141.