It was a big year for Nissan, which not only launched the Leaf battery car, shown here, but which captured consumer attention with its TV spots.
The last strains of Auld Lang Syne have faded until next December 31st but the annual bacchanal of Car of the Year, or COTY, corporate ego/hype awards culminates next week at the Detroit Auto Show with the selection of the car and truck of the year, as determined by a select group of 50 auto journalists.
You can be certain the winners will proclaim their accolades proudly in their advertising, particularly television commercials, which even with all the social media acclaim and hyperbole, still gets the biggest part of every auto advertiser’s budget. But just how effective and memorable are car commercials with consumers?
Ace Metrix, a respected authority in television advertising effectiveness has just announced the Ace Score Top Television Ads in several categories including automotive advertising. The winners in the auto category are going to shock, surprise and stun some of the new crop of recently added advertising agencies and their clients as well as long term agencies still on the roster as agency of record.
The top 3 winners were:
- First place – Nissan Motor Co, LTD for “Wouldn’t it?” featuring the full line – (Click Here to see the spot.)
- Second place – Nissan North America, Inc. for “Infiniti M Blind Spot”
- Third place – Daimler AG for Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG “Triumphant.”
It’s important to note the commercials were scored by a random national sample of approximately 500 consumers and, after all, these are the people that come to a dealer’s showroom to purchase or lease a new car.
What was astonishing to me — and will be to most ad types in both agencies and client offices — was the dominance of one brand: Nissan. As you will see Nissan/Infiniti television commercials, which are created and produced by TBWA Chait-Day, of Los Angles, took eight, yes 8, of the top 20 television commercials.
Here’s the list of all winners:
| Rank | Company | Product | Ad Title | Air Date | Score |
| 1 | NISSAN MOTOR CO LTD | Nissan Full Line | Wouldn’t It? | 8/18/2010 | 671 |
| 2 | Nissan North America Inc | Infiniti M | Infiniti M Blind Spot | 4/5/2010 | 664 |
| 3 | Daimler AG | Mercedes- Benz SLS AMG | Triumphant | 5/29/2010 | 651 |
| 4 | American Honda Motor Co Inc | Acura Mdx | Man Keeps From Hitting Santa & Sleigh | 12/5/2010 | 645 |
| 5 | American Honda Motor Co Inc | Acura Mdx | The Ace Body Structure | 1/10/2010 | 643 |
| 6 | Nissan North America Inc | Nissan Full Line | We Make Them Better | 2/12/2010 | 642 |
| 7 | Daimler AG | Mercedes Benz Full Line | What Is Performance | 4/15/2010 | 641 |
| 8 | Daimler AG | Mercedes Benz E-class | Trust Car In World You Can’t Predict | 8/5/2010 | 640 |
| 9 | Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc | Lexus Auto & Truck Divsion Cp | Most Advanced Driving Simulator | 10/9/2010 | 636 |
| 10 | Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc | Lexus Hs Hybrid | Lexus Responded To Challenge | 3/15/2010 | 628 |
| 11 | Ford Motor Co | Warriors In Pink/ford | Warriors In Pink | 6/18/2010 | 626 |
| 12 | Nissan North America Inc | Infiniti M Series | World’s First Blind Spot Intervention | 7/26/2010 | 623 |
| 13 | Nissan North America Inc | Nissan Maxima | Daddy Stretches Car Into A Sedan | 9/4/2010 | 618 |
| 14 | Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc | Lexus Full Line | Pursuit Of The Impossible | 6/1/2010 | 615 |
| 15 | Nissan North America Inc | Infiniti Winter Event | Competitive Winter Event 2010 – Final | 11/22/2010 | 614 |
| 16 | General Motors Co | General Motors Corp Cp | Ed Whitacre: Exceeding Every Expectation | 4/20/2010 | 612 |
| 17 | Nissan North America Inc | Infiniti M Series Leasing | Blind Spot Intervention & Summer Event | 7/26/2010 | 611 |
| 18 | Nissan North America Inc | Infiniti M Series | Of Course You Haven’t | 3/18/2010 | 610 |
| 19 | Chrysler Group LLC | Jeep Grand Cherokee | The Things We Make Make Us | 6/11/2010 | 610 |
| 20 | VOLKSWAGEN AG | Volkswagen Jetta | Intelligent Crash Response System | 10/25/2010 | 610 |
Source: Ace Metrix
When I asked Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix about the auto scores this year, compared to last year, he noted, “Overall Ace Scores for automotive increased roughly 17% for 2010 vs. 2009. This can be attributed to the overall improvement in creative quality lead by companies such as Nissan. In addition, we continue to see consumers more receptive to auto ads as the economy and their personal financial situations improve. As we have seen in past quarters, an increasing Ace Score is a good predictor of future auto sales.”
Don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the Battle of the Eight Auto Brands next February 7 when Super Bowl XLV airs. To me that’s gonna be even bigger than the game. What do you think? As advance copies of the new commercials arrive I hope to post a review and solicit readers’ comments if there’s enough interest. Just email me: MartysMarketingMinutia@gmail.com.
Other major category rank winners included:
- Overall winner – Samsung 3D LED TV for “Wonderful” – score 736
- Restaurants – Starbucks for “The Big” – score 681
- Technology – Apple iPhone for “Face Time” – 696
- Consumer products – Procter & Gamble Dawn for “Wash Away” – 699
- Beverages – PepsiCo Gatorade for “The Game Has Evolved – 660