Determining if Superbowl Ads Behaviorally Compelling

During our neuromarketing experiments we analyzed how ads worked to influence people to buy.    Here ImmersionNeuro has new ideas on how they operate.  Check out their site for current ads.

Exclusive: Your brain is lying to you about Super Bowl ads.  in FastCompany  This neuroscientist can prove it   Immersion Neuroscience CEO Paul Zak on what measuring unconscious emotional response tells us about your brain that you can’t.
By Jeff Beer

The best commercial of the 2018 Super Bowl according to the almighty USA Today Ad Meter was Amazon’s “Alexa Loses Her Voice,” a hilarious look at what might happen if certain celebrities were given free reign to voice the digital assistant. The Ad Meter, which for many CMOs is the only measurement that counts, is based on public votes. You liked it. I liked it. We all liked it.
Or did we?

Paul Zak, PhD, cofounder and CEO of Immersion Neuroscience, says there’s a big difference between the Super Bowl commercials we say we love, and the ones our brains actually love, that we’ll remember, and will most likely lead us to actually buying the product.

Which is, uh, kind of the whole point.

According to Zak, the best performing ad of the 2018 Super Bowl was Diet Coke’s “Groove,” featuring a woman dancing after being happily possessed by the soda’s new mango flavor.

“Generally the ads that win have an emotional component, have a good story structure, but they don’t have to be likeable,” says Zak. “The Diet Coke ad isn’t really likeable, but it’s so weird you just want to know what this woman’s doing, you just can’t forget it. It’s bizarrely compelling.”   ..... "

Mr Clean Goes to the Superbowl

Have been a participant in the Mr Clean brand equity, and especially how it has been enhanced by technology.    Lately there has not been much technical enhancement, but at least he is going to the US Superbowl.  He has also learned some personal cleaning skills of his own.   In AdAge.

Hidden Science Behind Superbowl Ads. Neuroscience?

In Adage:  Lots about behavioral science to understand top ads, but no mention of neuroscience. Consumer behavior is different than neural behavior.   Recall that in past years I have mentioned some of the neuromarketing techniques used to analyze superbowl ads.  (See the Superbowl link below)   I even did secondary analysis of that data.  Does this mean that neuromarketing is fading?

Center for Neural Decision Making

Was referred to this recently.  I like the broader view of looking at decision making in general, not just that which can be detected by brain science.

"... The Center for Neural Decision Making at the Fox School of Business (At Temple University) investigates the neurobiological bases of human behavior, preference formation, and decision making. .... 

CNDM research has recently been featured in several news articles, including  in Forbes: Neuromarketing: Pseudoscience No More  (February 24th, 2015) and  in Science Magazine:  What will be the best Super Bowl commercial? Science may have the answer (January 27th, 2015).  .... "   (Links at the site)

We followed the super bowl ad metric for some years here.

A number of interesting publications are pointed to.  Part of @foxschool, but there appears to be no stream for the Neural Decision Making work except at the site link above.

Brain Tracking the VW Commercial

Sands Research provides a video of brain activation from their recent Superbowl ad study.  Here the one from award winning ad: The Force by Volkswagen.  Agency: Deutsch, Los Angeles.  This short video is a good example of what neuromarketing studies aim to do via physiological measurement.

Beyond Supermoms

In Adage:  CPG starts to advertise without the supermom stereotypes. With some examples from recent Superbowl ads.   " ... Advertising's legacy of depicting women in commercials has seemingly veered between two supermom cliches, the 1950s-era "too-perfect" housewife versus "the modern mom" that can easily handle work and family, writes David Gianatasio. But some consumer-packaged goods brands are "making strides in targeting women in novel ways while eschewing stereotypes," he writes. Tide's Super Bowl spot, which placed a husband and wife on a level playing field when it came to rooting interests, and Huggies' "Mommy Answers" campaign aimed at expectant mothers, are among examples listed in this article ... " 

Superbowl Ads

Ad Age links to all the 2013 super bowl ads in one spot.  Convenient for review purposes.

Coke is Gamifying the Game

In Adage:  Coke creates a social media game based on a Superbowl ad.   How well will it work for ongoing engagement beyond the event?   Would it have been better to create something that is football related?   Will it depend on the progress of the football game?    An ad is a short 'bite'of interaction that can be forgotten,  an ongoing game requires fun engagement with some effort.  Will this idea perform? " ... On Facebook today, the beverage giant unveiled a teaser video for a spot it calls "Mirage," a 60-second ad showing that depicts three factions --badlanders, cowboys and showgirls -- racing through the desert in pursuit of a bottle of Coke. The ad, created by Wieden & Kennedy, closes with a cliffhanger, as the groups realize the bottle was simply a sign. Another sign points them "50 miles ahead." In a twist reminiscent of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, consumers will sabotage competitors and choose who wins the Coke, ultimately choosing the 30-second spot that will air post game. ... " 

Webinar on Neuro-Ranking Superbowl Ads

This webinar looks to be very useful, especially for someone interested in the practical application of neuromarketing.  It will be held tomorrow March 8 at 2 PM EST, Here is the complete invitation, with lots more information, including the background behind why they believe VW won, excerpt below:

" ... Sands Research will demonstrate and discuss how we collect this key data for establishing the ranking using our EEG and SMI's Eye-tracking technology. Dr. Sands will also discuss our Neuro Engagement Score (NES) and  Emotional Valance Score (EVS) and the overall Ranking of all the 69 ads presented during this year's Super Bowl.

Learn the details by attending the webinar  When: Tuesday, March 8th  2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST, How: For log-in information email - info@sandsresearch.com  and we will send you the details.
To view all the previous Sands Research Super Bowl Ad Studies follow this link ....  "

Sands Research Superbowl Ad Ranking

Sands Research has posted their most recent super bowl ad ranking information, based on their unique neuro marketing methods.  They have also included eye tracking information this year as well, which is further very useful in understanding consumer reactions to ads.   They write below, much more at the link above, including rankings of all 69 ads.  

" ... The wait is over. All 69 Super Bowl Commercials have been tested in-depth and as seen above, we now have a new format which includes our Emotional Valence Score (EVS)™ and has the eye-tracking data overlaid on the commercial.  Deutsch LA's Darth Vader Ad for Volkswagen not only tops the ranking but also achieved the highest Neuro Engagement Score (NES)™ since we began testing the Super Bowl advertisements four years ago. In 2010, Deutsch LA also achieved the top spot with their Volkswagen Punch Dub advertisement ... "

Superbowl Ad Analyses

Sands Research sends along complete rankings and background from their yearly Superbowl Ad study.

" ... Leading neuromarketing firm Sands Research announced today that it has completed its annual study gauging the effectiveness of Super Bowl commercials. The 2010 results were compiled using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and eye-tracking data gathered from study participants...

“Our technology measures engagement millisecond by millisecond and is the only to reflect frame by frame changes in emotion. Volkswagen’s ‘Punch Dub’ was our top scorer this year with a commercial that engaged viewers in virtually all of the frames,” stated Dr. Stephen Sands, Chairman and Chief Science Officer at Sands Research. “The company turned viewers into ‘Volkswagen detectors’ by having them look for and anticipate the cars – VW really maximized their entire 30 seconds.” Dr. Sands also noted that Google’s “Parisian Love” advertisement used an engaging storyline to elicit a consistent, deep emotional response from viewers.

Using its proprietary Neuro Engagement Factor (NEF)™, the company ranked these spots and 61 other commercials. The top ads and their respective scores are as follows, click on any of these below to see the ad and the brain reaction. This is a chance to see how the ad stim matches up against the details of the brain scan:

#1: Volkswagen - Punch Dub/Deutsch – Los Angeles (4.71)
#2: Vizio - Forge/Venables, Bell and Partners – San Francisco (3.96)
#3: Budweiser - Bridge/DDB – Chicago (3.91)
#4: Google - Parisian/Google Creative Lab (3.80)
#5: Bridgestone - Whale of a Tail/Richards Group – Dallas (3.71)

More information and complete ratings
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Superbowl Neuromarketing Report

In their February newsletter Sands Research is offering their report on their yearly report of superbowl ads. ' .. Each year, the Sands Research team prepares for the big event - our annual neuro-engagement ranking of the seventy plus television advertisements that run during the big game. Will this year's Bridgstone spot repeat in the number one position or is a new champion crowned? In 2009, three out of our top five ranked spots were nominated for Emmy's and the Coke Heist spot from Super Bowl XLIII created by Wieden + Kennedy, won the 2009 Emmy Award for outstanding TV commercial ... ' .

They also have a Webinar this Wednesday on the study:

When: Wednesday, February 24th
Time: 2:00 pm EST / 11:00 am PST (19:00 UTC /GMT)
Contact at: info@sandsresearch.com for the login information.

Superbowl Ad Biometrics

Good Wired article on a number of ad biometrics studies being done during the Superbowl, which has increasingly become a laboratory for non conscious neuromarketing analysis. Useful introduction to what is being done.

Superbowl Ad Analysis

Roger Dooley on Neuromarketing analysis of Superbowl advertisements..

Brain Scanning the SuperBowl

Short Ad Age video on brain-scanning Superbowl Ads. Can be downloaded as a podcast. You may need to register, and after a short while they cease being free. This has now been done for at least three years. Details on the work done by Sands Research.

The results do not match well with other ad popularity polls, for example the much praised Tide to Go commercial got low brain activity, though no one knows exactly what this means. Attention perhaps, but will it lead to remembering or buying the item when shopping? The video also gets some terminology wrong, calling it neuroeconomics, which is related to but not the same as neuromarketing. These techniques have started to receive mainstream interest, from Nielsen for example. I am convinced that there will be substantial results from these and related methods.

Update: For something new, see twitter ratings of the ads.