Nike, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Procter & Gamble Win Medals in Olympics Advertising Breakthrough, According to Ace Metrix

Official Sponsorship Combined with Use of Specific Olympic Athletes Offers Secret Sauce to Olympic Ad Effectiveness

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ace Metrix, the leader in measuring the impact of video advertising, today revealed the highest Breakthrough ads and advertisers of the Rio Olympic Games, a list led by official Olympic sponsors. The Ace Score components of Likeability and Attention combine to form the Breakthrough dimension of an ad, which is particularly important for Olympic ads, as it measures an ad’s ability to break through the clutter and get noticed. P&G’s “Thank You, Mom – Strong”, a viral hit online long before the Games began, showed the highest Breakthrough of all Olympic ads, proving that the most heartfelt messages often resonate the strongest.

On an aggregate basis, official sponsors Nike, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and the P&G family of brands made it to the medal stand for highest average Breakthrough level for all of their ads. Nike’s “Unlimited” campaign drove success for the brand through inspiring and relatable stories for the athlete in all of us, as well with a focus on Olympians such as Simone Biles and Allyson Felix. Among non-sponsors, the top brand for aggregated Breakthrough of all ads is Under Armour, though they come in ninth among all brands.

“Even with the Rule 40 change this year allowing more leeway for non-sponsors to air ads, we see that brands that invest in Olympic sponsorship make sure their ads deliver,” commented Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix.

Ace Metrix data indicates that consumers found certain Olympic athletes in ads to be not just likeable, but loveable. For example, Simone Biles, Kerri Walsh-Jennings, and Missy Franklin were featured by multiple brands, with ads high in Breakthrough and emotional response.

“The most successful brands have aligned themselves with athletes that allow them to tell authentic stories that viewers find highly engaging. Whether using humor or sentimentality, these emotional connections drive viewer engagement,” Daboll commented.

Top Breakthrough Ads of the Rio Olympics
Rank	Brand	Ad Title	Ad Length	Attention Score	Likeabilty Score
1	Procter & Gamble	Thank You, Mom - Strong	2:00	780	754
2	Dick's Sporting Goods	The Contenders :60	1:00	746	739
3	Samsung	The Anthem - Rio 2016 Olympic Games	1:40	735	727
4	Bounty	Allyson Felix: Faster Than Chloe	:30	725	736
5	Dick's Sporting Goods	Vault. Sleep. Repeat. (:60)	1:00	721	727
6	Gatorade*	Never Lose the Love	1:00	709	737
7	United	One Journey. Two Teams.	1:00	736	709
8	Hershey's	U.S. Olympic Hopeful Hello From Home	2:10	712	727
9	Hershey's	Hello From Home U.S. Olympic Wrestler	2:10	712	726
10	Nike General Apparel	Unlimited You	2:35	742	696
*not an official Olympics sponsor

Emotionally Charged Ads Lead the Way

Emotion is closely tied to the components of Breakthrough. Verbatim responses from viewers to an open-ended question in Ace Metrix testing show that the top Breakthrough ads had a strong propensity to stir admiration, tug at the heartstrings, and in a couple of instances, make consumers laugh out loud. A few examples:

• “Very inspirational and patriotic. Makes me want to go to Dick’s and buy something.” – M50+ on Dick’s Sporting Goods’ “The Contenders”
• “I think the advertisement was both innovative and powerful. I liked how the Samsung Galaxy S7 phone was incorporated within the anthem for every country.” – F16-20 on Samsung’s “The Anthem - Rio 2016”
• “It's great! I really enjoyed it. It is very funny, entertaining and inspiring at the same time. I would love to see more like this from this company.” – M21-35 on Nike’s “Unlimited You”

Iconic Campaigns and Honorable Mentions

Ongoing campaigns from P&G (“Thank You, Mom”) and Always’ (“Like a Girl”) continued to provide leading Breakthrough capacity during the Olympics. P&G’s 2-minute “Thank You, Mom - Strong” featuring four Olympians and their moms, was the top ad, while Always’ “#LikeaGirl Keep Playing” delivered the strongest Breakthrough seen in ads not featuring an Olympian (702 in Attention and 734 in Likeability).

Aside from Gatorade’s “Never Lose the Love”, the two non-sponsor ads that performed the best in terms of Breakthrough were Pizza Hut’s "The Big Flavor Dipper: USA Edition", which achieved an Attention score of 713 and a Likeability score of 699, and Apple’s "The Human Family - Shot on iPhone" (Attention 698 and Likeability 703.) Without using Olympic athletes, these engaged viewers by creating desire (for pizza) and through unique and inspiring messaging.

Other honorable mentions are ads from Chobani ("Team USA & Chobani Present: Cooking with Marlen Esparza") and BMW ("Drive for A Cause"). While not high in Breakthrough, these ads succeeded with consumers in other key measures, such as providing compelling information and driving change in perception of the brand. Chobani’s ad achieved impressive Information and Change scores (732, 691) while BMW garnered scores of 705 and 680 in those same measures.

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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