The Super Bowl is an American tradition, a broadcast phenomenon, and an advertising bonanza. With 106 million pairs of eyes on the screen, the potential to reach consumers is huge. No wonder companies will shell out millions of dollars for thirty seconds of airtime. Nearly as much money goes into making the ads themselves. An entire culture has arisen around ranking ads according to how funny, exciting, or appealing they are. Those who win –win big. Those who fall short face big losses. During this annual affair, the pressure’s on to make a splash with the most memorable, effective, and best-liked ad. If you don’t, you could be out several million dollars. But what qualifies as a good ad? FGI’s SmartPanel gave us some ideas.

Most Likeable Ads
We looked at ten different ad concepts and asked how effective they were, which were most memorable, and which consumers liked the most (or least). Our panelists said they “liked” or “strongly liked” spots from the following sponsors:

By this account, HomeAway, CareerBuilder.Com and Google lost out: fewer than 35% of respondents liked or strongly liked their ads. But being likeable is not the same as being impactful. We also asked which ads had the greatest influence on intent to purchase. As it turns out, the commercials consumers liked weren’t necessarily the ones that made them go out and shop.

Snickers and Doritos Scored a Touchdown
Doritos and Snickers saw some wins. 39% of respondents said they were likely or very likely to purchase products from Doritos after viewing the Super Bowl ad.

Intent to Buy: Doritos

Meanwhile, 36% of respondents said they would be likely or very likely to buy a Snickers bar after watching the Betty White ad that made so many chuckle.

Intent to Buy: Snickers

Some Ads Missed the Mark
Bud Light and Volkswagen did not see the same benefits in terms of intent to purchase, notwithstanding how funny the Bud Light ads were, or how endearing the VW “punchbuggy” concept. Only 17% of respondents were “likely” or “very likely” to buy a Volkswagen after viewing the Super Bowl ad. 24% said they would want to buy a product from Bud Light, compared to 42% who described themselves as “not likely” or “not very likely.” These figures may affect decisions companies make about advertising in the future. They suggest that what’s cute or funny, even when viewers like it, may not always be what convinces them to buy. Moreover, not everyone may use the product advertised to begin with.

Failure to Recall
The SmartPanel study uncovered another blind spot in Super Bowl advertising: whereas viewers remembered some ad concepts better than others, they often failed to link concept to sponsor. One of the more memorable ads was CareerBuilder’s “Casual Friday,” which exactly half of viewers could remember. When asked, however, 56% said they couldn’t recall which brand the ad endorsed. The ad was also one of the least-liked, and only 22% of those surveyed said they were “likely” or “very likely” to use CareerBuilder’s services –as opposed to 38% who were “not” or “not very” likely.

Coca-Cola experienced similar problems. Whereas 46% could remember an ad concept that involved “The Simpsons,” only 25% could remember the ad belonged to Coke –compared to 65% who could not. Coca-Cola also saw losses, although not quite as significant, in intent to buy: 35% “not likely” or “not very likely” compared to 32% “likely” or “very likely” to purchase.

On the other hand, 79% of all surveyed said they could remember an ad involving “Betty White playing football”; this made it the most memorable ad of all. What’s more, 41% could remember the ad belonged to Snickers, versus 41% who could not. That ad was also a favorite among viewers, and Snickers saw the most positive results in terms of intent to buy. In this case, having a memorable ad had definite benefits for Snickers.

Viral Impact
Much as viewers enjoyed the Snickers ad, they still didn’t watch it on YouTube after the game. To get a sense of each ad’s viral impact, we asked viewers how likely they would be to look up ad concepts on that site after the fact. 26% reported they would be “likely” or “very likely” to look up the Betty White ad online, compared to 54% who would not.

Viral Impact: Snickers

Actionable Insights
Overall, our data indicate that the success of an ad depends on more than one variable. Just being memorable, visually stimulating, funny, or likeable is not enough. The ideal Super Bowl ad is all of these things and more. It captures the viewer’s attention, enhances the brand, reminds the viewer who is advertising, and leaves a lasting impression. To accomplish these objectives, companies should test every detail of creative copy, recall, impact, brand fidelity, and investigate the potential for viral sharing. The foremost research methods are imperative to this process. Even then, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi that makes the most dazzling ads so dazzling. A mix of intuition and targeted research is the key to finding that magic mix of elements.

Next Steps You Can Take

• Learn more about the results of this study: complimentary access to the data in this report, including cross-tabulated results, is available upon request from FGI Research.
• Contact FGI Research: click here or call us at (919) 929-7759
• Explore FGI Research’s market research solutions, including custom panels, full service research, and our online sample (SmartPanel).
• Join FGI Research’s online panel to participate in future studies.

Survey Methods
Date of Study: 2/18/2010
Total Responders: 227
Sample Source: FGI SmartPanel

This nationally-representative sample consists of adults aged 18 and up and is balanced to the US population using recent census data. One can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.