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Subway, Sonic turn in effective Q3 ad campaigns

October 3, 2011

Ace Metrix, which measures television advertising effectiveness, has listed its top 10 national ads for the third quarter of 2011. The list is full of food ads, including Sonic and Subway.

Sept. 11 tribute ads from Budweiser and State Farm garnered the highest Ace Scores of 665 and 662, respectively (on a scale of 950).

They were followed by Sonic's "Man Has Food Fantasy" ad, with 657 points. Subway's "Skip the Grease" ad, for its new oven crisp chicken sub, had the sixth highest score, with 643.

The top 10 most effective TV ads of Q3 2011 were:

1. Budweiser, "9/11 Tribute," 665
2. State Farm Insurance, "Thanks: 90," also 9/11 tribute, 662
3. Sonic, "Man Has Food Fantasy," 657
4. Nissan Full Line, "Vision," 652
5. MasterCard, "Ray Romano: Stand Up To Cancer," 646
6. Bisquick Baking Mixes, "Unleash the Hidden Power," 646
7. Subway Oven Crisp Chicken, "Skip the Grease," 643
8. Mercedes Benz, "Vic Gundotra: Drive to Distraction," 643
9. Clorox Clean-Up Spray Cleaner, "Kitchen Volcano Eruption," 643
10. Red Lobster, "Grill Cooking with Charles Himple," 642

The effectiveness of food ads in Q3 of this year was a departure from last year when Apple's iPad ads and other tech ads dominated Ace Metrix' most-effective list. Restaurant and food ads performed better than a year ago and represented four of the top 10 most effective ads this quarter versus only one (from Domino's Pizza) for Q3 of last year.

"It is well-documented that people crave food during stressful economic periods, a potential driver of interest in creative food messages in a quarter when economic uncertainty was one of the greatest headlines," said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. "The broad spectrum of food — from burgers to pancakes and then from healthy subs to grilled seafood — indicates a lack of consistency in consumer appetites and a great opportunity for food advertisers in an economy that shows little sign of improvement."

An Ace Score is the measure of ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV ads. Respondents are randomly selected and representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience. The results are presented on a scale of 0-950, which represents scoring on attributes such as relevance, persuasion, watchability, information, attention, etc.

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