Google’s “Loretta” Is Most Effective Ad Of Super Bowl LIV

Tech giant’s tear-jerking ad beats Cheetos and NY Life Insurance in video ad tech company Unruly’s ranking of the most effective ads from Super Bowl 2020

Google’s “Loretta” is the most effective ad of Super Bowl 2020, according to new research from Unruly.

A study by the video ad tech company found the tech giant’s tear-inducing ad, which tells the story of an elderly gentleman asking his Google Assistant to display stored memories of his late wife, was the campaign most likely to have the biggest impact on brand and business metrics.

Unruly, recently acquired By Tremor International, ranked all of the big ads from this year’s Super Bowl using its proprietary metric UnrulyEQ — a composite score based on a campaign’s ability to not only engage consumers, but also drive brand metrics such as brand favorability and purchase intent.

Google came top with an overall score of 6.5 out of 10, putting it ahead of Cheetos’ “Can’t Touch This” (6.1) and NYLIC’s “Love Takes Action” (6.0). Doritos and WeatherTech also made the top five. Other ads to make it into the top 10 include Microsoft, Hyundai and Snickers. Ads from Coca-Cola, Amazon and Facebook did not make the top 10.

Most Effective Ads Of Super Bowl LIV – Compiled by Unruly

Google’s ad finished top after half of viewers (49%) had an intense emotional response to the content, 58% more intense than the average US ad and the highest of any ad tested.

The ad was also almost twice as likely to make people smile, almost four times more heart-warming and 12 times sadder than the average US ad. Such an intense emotional response also had a significant impact on its brand metrics. Half of all viewers came away with a favorable view of the brand (49% vs US average of 37%) — the highest brand favorability of all the ads tested. Purchase intent (46%) and viewers’ willingness to find out more (47%) were also higher than the US norm.

Terence Scroope, VP, Insight & Solutions, US, said: “The Super Bowl is traditionally the chance for advertisers to bring home the laughs, yet two of the top three ads leaned heavily on more serious emotions. Google’s ‘Loretta’ ad had the highest score for sadness in the top 10 and both Google and NY Life Insurance had some of the highest scores for warmth at 32% and 26%, respectively. It really shows how leaning into more unusual emotions can help brands stand out during the funny ads usually dished out during the Super Bowl. ”

JEEP’s “Groundhog Day”, which sees Bill Murray reprising his role in the iconic 90s movie, was the ad most likely to make people laugh, with 21% of viewers finding the content funny — more than 5 times funnier than the average US ad. It was also the Super Bowl ad most likely to make people happy, with a quarter of viewers (25%) admitting the content made them smile.

Read Unruly’s complete summary of Super Bowl LIV data here.

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