Super Bowl Ads: The Creative Elements that Drove Success

EDO, the TV outcomes company, and Vidmob, the leading creative data company, today revealed findings from a joint study identifying the creative elements that drive successful Super Bowl ad performance. Using AI-powered analytics, VidMob and EDO analyzed 176 ads that garnered 18.4 billion impressions from brands that ran an ad during the 2022 and 2023 Super Bowls, to identify the key visual elements and creative strategies that successfully boosted ad engagement.

Top-performing Big Game ads from well-known brands, including T-Mobile, Skechers, Toyota, Polestar, and Salesforce, were among those that revealed five key components that generated higher engagement rates.

Key findings include:

• Vintage style has timeless appeal: Ads with nostalgia, classic music, and iconic talent sparked 36% more engagement than the median-performing Super Bowl spot. Ads that featured stars aged over 65 also achieved a notable 57% lift.
• Epic scenes steal the show: Creatives that include expansive views, aerial trips and astronomy secured a 64% higher engagement rate. Ads set in outer space fueled the single highest interactive peak for any creative element at 125%.
• Driving accelerates interest: Scenes depicting talent taking the wheel saw a 62% engagement hike, regardless of whether ads were promoting automotive brands, while ads simply featuring cars achieved an impressive 80% increase.
• The great outdoors captivates: Visuals involving trips into nature enhanced engagement by 59%, with ad impact accentuated by outdoor jackets and footwear – driving jumps of 53% and 78% respectively.
• Simple taglines speak loudest: Short, declarative brand statements hooked audience attention, generating a 33% rise in engagement when phrases including words such as “This”, “It’s” and “no” appeared on screen along with a slow rollout of text at one word per second.

“Super Bowl TV ads are prime advertising real estate and one of the pinnacle investments for brands, which makes it crucial to ensure these high-stakes slots deliver optimal results,” comments Alex Collmer, CEO of Vidmob. “Our work with EDO highlights the importance of understanding the creative science behind high-impact ads and how they can help brands strengthen future campaigns.”

“The Super Bowl is the biggest stage in advertising, but for all the impact a great Super Bowl ad can achieve, it’s still a single spot that will slip out of consumers’ minds if they’re not given a good reason to remember it,” said Laura Grover, SVP, Head of Client Solutions, EDO. “Identifying the right ingredients for your Big Game ad creative is crucial to its success. Our TV outcomes data combined with VidMob’s technology delivers granular insights into what makes a Big Game ad effective, uncovering valuable strategies for advertisers.”

Methodology

EDO has scored the impact of all national Super Bowl TV ads based on business outcomes since 2015, measuring increases in online consumer engagement for a brand or product in the minutes immediately following a TV ad. VidMob used its AI-enhanced analytics platform to extrapolate creative-specific insights from EDO’s 2022 and 2023 Super Bowl data. Encompassing 176 ads and more than 18 billion impressions, the joint analysis evaluates engagement increases driven by specific creative elements against a control median-performing Super Bowl ad. Network promotions, and pre- and post-game ads were excluded from the analysis.

About Vidmob
Vidmob is the leading creative data company that empowers marketers to make decisions that improve media, brand, and business outcomes. With unmatched AI & ML technology paired with the most connections to the world’s leading digital channels like Google, Meta, Amazon Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snap, Pinterest, Hulu and Reddit, Vidmob delivers powerful creative analytics that result in meaningful business impact.

Vidmob is a mission-driven organization, donating over 1% annually to Vidmob Gives, a 501c3 committed to giving back to our communities through service work, donations, and the development of pro bono creative for nonprofits.

Learn more about Vidmob at www.vidmob.com and Vidmob Gives at www.vidmob.com/vidmob-gives

About EDO
EDO, Inc. is the TV outcomes company — a leading platform measuring predictive behaviors driven by Convergent TV advertising. By combining real-time engagement signals with world-class decision science, EDO data maximizes creative and media performance. We work with modern marketers at leading brands, TV networks, entertainment studios, and ad agencies. EDO’s investment-grade data aligns advertising investments to business results — with detailed competitive, category, historical, and predictive intelligence. For industry intel, success stories, and top ads, visit EDO.com.