Ace Metrix Reveals How and When Entertainment
Co-Branding Works – For Viewers AND Brands
Ace Metrix, the leader in measuring the impact of video
advertising, today released a report on the effects of advertisers
co-branding with big blockbuster movies. Analysis revealed that
this strategy draws attention to the brand ads before and during a
blockbuster’s time in theater, with all four franchises evaluated
contributing to high attention scores for their tie-in ads.
However, it doesn’t always result in general likeability for an ad
or brand as tie-in ads are sometimes polarizing, depending on the
scope of the audience interested in the films. Before just any
brand sets out to co-brand with a big blockbuster, it is noted that
it takes careful consideration and creative smarts to make a
relevant and believable connection between the movie/characters and
the brand.
In the report, Ace Metrix analyzed viewer response to four
recent blockbusters with automotive tie-ins: “Rogue One: A Star
Wars Story,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “The Fate of the
Furious” and “Cars 3.” The value of a tie-in cannot be measured by
box office pull alone. Both the movie and the tie-in ads’ success
are a function of their respective audiences. The polarity rank
indicated that the Cars franchise has broader audience appeal than
“The Fate of the Furious” – an R-rated, more limited genre target.
The potency of the brand connection to the movie franchise itself
and its audience are also a key component to a tie-in’s
success.
“A brand associating with any other entity automatically
alienates some people, so co-branding needs to be done carefully.
In short, viewers want to see that the connection between the brand
and movie/characters makes some sense,” said Peter Daboll, CEO of
Ace Metrix.
Across the full gen pop sample, all four franchises effectively
garnered high Attention for their tie-in brands, with the Visuals
and Characters dominating as the Single Best Thing about each
ad.
“The level of attention alone that such franchises bring to a
brand can often be enough to lead to sales success, as attention
brings awareness, which can lead to consideration if the classic
sales funnel is to be believed. All brands benefitted from above
average Attention compared to automotive norms. In our
attention-distracted era, where brands struggle to get viewers to
pay attention to anything, this is no small feat,” added
Daboll.
However, across all viewers, Likeability was less guaranteed
than Attention. Analysis revealed only “Cars 3” and “Guardians of
the Galaxy Vol. 2” had above category-norm likeability scores. The
brands leveraged the appeal of the Cars cartoon characters and the
new Baby Groot character to drive Likeability.
The overall best performance across all viewers was enjoyed by
Autotrader’s “Cars 3” tie-in, titled “Every Car Has a
Personality.” The success of the tie-in for Autotrader was driven
by consistently strong results on all performance measures
regardless of the audience, posting above norm Relevance and Desire
in addition to Breakthrough (Attention and Likeability).
“The ad plays into the emotional connection many of us have with
our cars,” said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix.
Behind Autotrader, Ford delivered some excellent
Breakthrough with their tie-in to the very popular and likeable
character Baby Groot from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” While
highly entertaining, this tie-in might not have worked as hard for
the Ford EcoSport brand as the “Cars 3” tie-in, with Baby Groot
taking center stage for some viewers, who thought the spot was
missing car-specific information.
On the surface, Dodge appeared to have some trouble, with just
one ad beating category norms. Some brands, however, do not seek to
capture all audiences. The Dodge muscle car brands boast a
very strong and loyal base, which happens to overlap quite nicely
with fans of the Fast and Furious franchise and as a result, Dodge
enjoyed much stronger resonance among male viewers.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” presented a unique opportunity
that Nissan simply could not pass up. “Once the connection
was made in the viewer’s mind between Rogue One and the Nissan
Rogue, anytime the movie was mentioned (and it was all over the
airwaves), that connection was strengthened, ensuring strong
awareness,” noted Daboll.
Below are the 13 ads from the analysis, ordered from highest to
lowest Ace Score:
Ad Performance (Ace Score) by Ad – Gen
Pop Audience
Blockbuster Franchise Brand
Ad Ace Score Cars 3 Autotrader
Every Car Has a Personality 625 The Fate of the Furious
Dodge Rally Cry :30 615 Guardians of the
Galaxy Vol. 2 Ford
Be the Guardian of Your Galaxy With the
Ford EcoSport
613 Rogue One Nissan Any Galaxy 610 The
Fate of the Furious Dodge Muscle Heaven | The Fate of
the Furious 589 Rogue One Nissan Any Galaxy
:60 575 Rogue One Nissan Star Wars 571
Rogue One Nissan By Storm 563 The Fate of the
Furious Dodge Shepherds | Brotherhood of Muscle
551 Rogue One Nissan Perform Better 550
Rogue One Nissan Best Scale 546 The Fate of
the Furious Dodge Rally Cry | Brotherhood of Muscle
527 The Fate of the Furious Dodge Monsters |
Brotherhood of Muscle 520
About Ace Metrix
Ace Metrix® is the standard in television and digital video
analytics, dedicated to measuring the impact of video ad creative.
We provide data and insight to enable marketers and creative teams
to produce more impactful work, test and adjust creative executions
in real-time, and understand what creative drivers impact their
brand KPI's. The Company is privately held and is backed by leading
venture capital firms and industry leaders including Hummer Winblad
Venture Partners, Palomar Ventures, Leapfrog Ventures and WPP.
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Ace MetrixSammi Scharninghausen,
650-468-7603sscharninghausen@acemetrix.com