Emotional or Light Hearted Commercials: Which Do You Identify With?
By Jordan Takeyama
During the National Football League’s biggest weekend, it’s often the commercials that take center stage. It’s every advertiser’s dream. The world as your audience. But how do advertisers capitalize on the opportunity and connect with viewers? Advertisers are responsible for developing memorable content and messages that resonate with their audiences. This year, we saw our fair share of light hearted commercials and those that tugged at our emotional heart strings. And most of them were discussed the next morning at the water cooler.
So who did this year’s commercials resonate with?
Based on 10 of the more talked about commercials during this year’s Super Bowl, we categorized them into two segments: emotional and light hearted. We leveraged our social media analysis to dig a bit deeper into the core demographics and social behaviors of the consumers who engaged with these brands. Interestingly, nearly three times the number of social media users engaged with brands associated with emotional commercials rather than the brands tied to more humorous TV spots.
The Emotional Heart Strings (Airbnb, Audi, Budweiser, Coke and Lumber 84)
Our analysis revealed more than 52 percent of the consumers who interacted with these brands on social media were women, and nearly 28 percent fell between the ages of 26 and 35. Moreover, these consumers were 15 percent more likely to be single than the average social media user. They were also 1.91 times more likely to reside in Washington D.C.
The analysis also showed consumers who engaged with these brands were 2.69 times more likely to fall within the life stage Experian refers to as “Urban Edge” based on the company’s lifestyle segmentation system. People in this segment tend to be younger, up and coming singles, who live big city life styles near the top metropolitan markets.
The types of social media handles these consumers were more likely to follow, included sports organizations, soccer teams and leagues, and magazine brands. Additionally, the hashtag these consumers were more likely to talk about than the average social media user was #travel, while they were more likely to mention @nytimes in social media posts.
Commercials With A Funny Bone (Bai, Buick, Kia, Mr. Clean and T-Mobile)
While there were some similarities in the core demographics of both segments of social media users, there were some slight variations. More than 54 percent of social media users who engaged with the brands tied to the light hearted commercials were men. These consumers were also 26 percent more likely to be single than the average social media user, and 1.55 times more likely to reside in Washington (state).
Consumers who engaged with these brands were 1.74 times more likely to fall within the life stage “Heritage Heights.” These are often single people and families with modest incomes who live settled lives in urban apartments. The types of social media handles these consumers were more likely to follow, included NFL and football enthusiasts, WWE, and technology influencers. Furthermore, the hashtag these consumers were more likely to talk about was #sweepstakes, while they were more likely to mention @shawnmendes than the average social media user.
Quite frankly, each consumer is different. What peaks their interests and motivates them is unique to every individual. It’s up to marketers to understand who their customers are, and how to engage them in an impactful and meaningful way. And social media data provides them with a remarkable view into their preferences and opinions. Through our data and insights, we’re able to help marketers tap into who their customers are and how they behave. Marketers can take this information and optimize content for future marketing campaigns and deliver messages that resonate with their target audiences. The Big Game is only once a year, but marketers should “game plan” year round. It’s those marketers who will come out on top.
