Commentary
Super Bowl Ad Recall Dips For Brands That Excel Online
- by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, February 7, 2019
The cost of a Super Bowl spot in 2019 set a new record. In fact, 30-second ads that ran during the game cost about $5.25 million, according to one report.
Advertisers may be willing to pay a lot to gain attention during the biggest TV event of the year, but what about ad recall? It seems that game-time TV ad recall dips for some brands that did very well online on Amazon, Google, Bing and other platforms.
Evaluative Criteria, a market research company and division of CRG Global, analyzed ad recall about one hour following the game and found that of the 69% who watched the Super Bowl LIII, 50% recalled the Pepsi ad, 49% remembered the Bud Light, and 49% recalled the Budweiser ad.
Doritos at 48%, M&M’s at 37%, and Stella Artois at 35% rounded out the top six, with Avocados from Mexico at 33%, Burger King at 30%, Amazon at 30%, and Turbo Tax at 29% not far behind.
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Some of the brands with very limited recall included Skechers with 17%; Devour Frozen Meal, 17%; Olay Skin Care, 16%; Michelob Pure Gold, 15%; Colgate Total Toothpaste, 14%; Persil Detergent at 13; Bumble Social and Dating Service, 10%; Expensify, 9%; Bon & Viv Spike Seltzer, 9%; Hotels.com at 8%; and SimpliSafe at 6%.
One of the more interesting numbers came from Olay Skin Care. While the brand didn’t fare well when it came to TV ad recall in Evaluative Criteria’s report, it did very well in Merkle’s analysis of brands that supported their Super Bowl ad with digital channels, from social media and paid search to SEO and other digital media.
Olay’s ad served up in one of the top three spots in Google search results. The campaign supports a Super Bowl-focused landing page and an optimized YouTube video.
In Merkle’s ranking, Avocados from Mexico returned in the No. 2 spot for overall digital ads, earning the top score in search engine optimization (SEO).
Another thing to mention when it comes to Evaluative Criteria’s analysis of ad recall is that the automotive ads ranked center, between 29% and 19%. The brands that fell into that bracket include Kia, Hyundai, Audi, and Mercedes.
Laurie Sullivan is a writer and editor for MediaPost. You can reach Laurie at lauriesullivan@gmail.com.
Laurie, did they do this on an "unaided" basis or did they offer respondents some sort of cue to aid their memories---it makes a huge difference? Also, is it just, "I saw that ad", or did the respondent who claimed recall have to prove it by describing the ad and/or its message? Again, it makes a huge difference.
Could you please explain your recall methodology? I need to know to teach my students about this.
Checking on both sets of questions for you, Ed and Ellen.
Is it just a coincidence, or did PRIOR brand recognition play an important role?
From Evaluative Criteria:
The study was executed with nationally representative online panel sample. We used an aided list, utilizing the question “Which of the following brands do you recall seeing advertising for during the Super Bowl?”
In total we included 69 brands, of those 36 were actual advertisers and 33 were not advertisers during the game. Within each category we used competitors who advertised as well as those who didn’t to mask it (e.g. Crest vs. Colgate; Devour vs. Stouffer’s, etc.)
Thanks, Laurie.