Superbowl LII kicks off next weekend, but already, companies are stoking the buzz they hope to generate with some of the priciest ads that will run all year.
But does it work?
It's not always easy for Thinknum to track this kind of thing, since our numbers are generally corporation-wide. We can't give you tracking numbers for Tide or Mr. Clean or Skittles, to name just a few of 2017's ad winners.
But Kia had the #1 ad in last year's scramble, with an average rating of 7.47 (the next closest was Honda, with 6.97), and the picture here is pretty clear:
Kia released the promo for their eco-hybrid Niro on February 1st, for a slow-grow (sometimes it helps to keep the spot close to the vest, sometimes it pays to go large). And they got far-and-away their biggest boost of the year. Definitely points for hiring Mellissa McCarthy to do her extremely funny schtick; less points for the off-point message, which was basically "Treehuggers are dorks". It wasn't very long-lasting, but hey, you can't ask for everything.
Airbnb got an even bigger push for their feel-good ad "We Accept", with a message of tolerance and inclusion (which, alas, is not always felt by their landlords, who have been known to avoid minority renters). The spot ranked #16 with an average rating of 6.0.
The do-it-yourself hostelry company has a lot more buzz over the year than Kia, so this was just one of several spikes for them, but still pretty visible:
What do you think of the ads? Winners, losers? Are you looking forward to this year's crop? Let us know in the comments.