FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 12:32PM
Introduced in 1989, the USA Today Ad Meter uses a large panel of viewers to rate all of the TV commercials that air during the Super Bowl. This year, there was an especially large number of automotive ads, so we thought it would be fun to conduct an "Ad Meter" of our own. We wondered whether the readers of Autoextremist – hard-core automotive enthusiasts, many of whom work in the auto industry – would view these ads differently than they are viewed by the general public.
The chart above shows how a group of 200 Autoextremist readers rated the eight auto commercials (blue line) and how these ads were rated by USA Today’s public panel (orange line). The numbers in orange show USA Today's Ad Meter rankings for the auto ads among all 62 ads that ran during the game. Despite the differences between these two groups (we are pretty sure that our AE readers are more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about automotive vehicles and are generally older and more affluent than the USA Todaygroup), and despite the fact that we used a different rating scale than the USA Today poll, you can see that our auto enthusiasts and the USA Today group gave these ads very similar overall ratings. Both groups gave the Jeep Gladiator and Hyundai Sonata commercials their highest ratings and Audi e-tron their lowest ratings. The only two major differences between the Autoextremist and USA Today readers were for the Jeep Gladiator ad and the GMC Hummer EV ad – in both cases, the Autoextremist readers rated these two ads much more positively than did the USA Today panel. It is not clear what these two differences are due to or what, if anything, they mean. Overall, it looks like automotive enthusiasts react to TV commercials about automotive vehicles very similarly to how the general public does.
We also looked to see if any of the various subgroups within the AE Ad Meter survey group differed in their reactions to the ad. We found a few statistically significant differences. Nearly two-thirds of our AE Ad Meter participants work (or have worked) in the auto industry (63% vs. 37% whose work is outside of the auto industry). Those working in the auto industry gave the poorly regarded Audi e-tron commercial a slightly more positive rating than those outside the industry.
Among the AE Ad Meter participants working in the auto industry, 58% work at one of the OEMs, 24% work at a supplier company, and 19% are affiliated with a dealership. The dealership folks rated the KIA Seltos commercial significantly higher than those working at automotive supplier companies. People from the dealerships also rated the Porsche Taycan commercial significantly lower than those working at either an OEM or one of the supplier companies.
We also looked at how people working in automotive marketing, advertising, and PR (either at an OEM or an agency) viewed the Super Bowl ads. These folks made up 20% of our auto industry group. We wondered if these consumer-messaging professionals would bring a different sensibility to their ad evaluations. They didn’t, with one exception. They rated the Hyundai Sonata commercial statistically significantly more positively than their colleagues working in other areas of the auto industry did.
Overall, it is interesting and potentially noteworthy that the bottom two auto ads on the USA Today Ad Meter were for EVs - the Audi e-tron and GMC Hummer EV - with the all-electric Porsche Taycan also scoring in the bottom four. (And except for the Hummer EV, the Audi and Porsche ads were judged harshly by AE readers as well.) Clearly, there are challenges to marketing EVs that go way beyond just selling consumers on a particular brand. Who will 'crack the code' and emerge a winner on the EV advertising front?
Thanks, once again, to Allen Bukoff for his survey and analysis. (And thanks to WordGirl too!)
Editor-in-Chief's Note: The fact that Ford tried to pin responsibility for the company's dismal fourth quarter results on Joe Hinrichs was predictable and pathetic. And I am glad he told them to go pound sand. Joe is too good and has too much to offer to depart for the Land of Leisure just yet. Any number of companies could benefit from his talent and expertise. I will name one. If Elon Musk was as smart as he thinks he is, he'd offer the moon to Joe to come in and turn Tesla into a properly functioning car company - and then get the hell out of the way. But St. Elon's ego would never allow it. I will reiterate what I said in my column. Why is Hackett still there? And when Bill Ford hands the keys to the Kingdom to Farley after Hackett is retired, I fear for the future of the company. Knowledgeable, seasoned professionals have seen right through Farley's smarm offensive from the beginning. But Farley was smart enough to know that he only had two people to convince of his brilliance and that he was "the guy" - Hackett and Bill Ford. And it worked. Now, however, and to make things worse, we're going to be forced to endure an endless series of articles in the press that canonize Farley, which is a revolting development if there ever was one. Memo to the True Believers at Ford: Good night and good luck. - PMD
Daimler AG. Reuters says that the German Handelsplatt newspaper is reporting that Daimler AG is planning to cut 15,000 jobs and eliminate models including the Coupe and Convertible versions of its flagship S-Class. And so it begins. This is just the tip of the iceberg that's about to hit the auto industry. All together now: A giant steaming bowl of Not Good.
(Aston Martin images)
AE Song Lyrics of the Week:
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself
Well... How did I get here?
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
After the money's gone
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
After the money's gone
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Water dissolving... and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
Into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones
There is water underground
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
After the money's gone
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground
And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right?...Am I wrong?
And you may say to yourself
My God!...What have I done?!
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
Into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones
There is water underground
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
After the money's gone
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up
Time is an asterisk
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Yeah, the twister comes
Here comes the twister
Same as it ever was...
"Once In A Lifetime" - Talking Heads - from the album "Remain In Light" (Songwriters: Brian Eno/Christopher Frantz/David Byrne/Jerry Harrison/Tina Weymouth)
© Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group