So when Cadillac claimed it was fairest of them all, we had to take a closer look.

Cadillac’s 30-second preview of the upcoming 2013 ATS compact sport saloon during last Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVI broadcast, was apparently the most-viewed single advertising spot in U.S. television history. (With Super Bowl XVLI reaching a record U.S. television audience of 111.3 million viewers)

The data used by Cadillac was provided by Kantar Media, a well respected audience insight company, using return path data (RPD) sampled passively through the set-top boxes of an opted-in audience. The sample size used was 100,000 (of the 111.3 million audience) and Kantar Media then sample a behaviour they call ‘TuneAway’, which is essentially when a household changes channel to avoid a commercial.

The lower the TuneAway, the more successful the ad or programme. In theory.

A large proportion of investments made in technology companies at the moment are in the field of audience research and response, mostly to optimise online spend or manage customer relationships on 3rd party platforms such as Facebook. Each try to promise a ‘silver bullet’ solution (one dashboard for all needs) and tend to focus on the interpreted data rather than the method (and its assumptions) used in producing the data.

The problem though with all TV audience data is that it measures the behaviour of a household, rather than a person. A household could be a group of mates sitting down to watch the game, a family dictated to by a dominant parent or even a busy social gathering where the TV is switched on in the background.

Additionally, just like many online traffic measurements (such as Alexa or Comscore) the audience panels providing the data must first be opted in, which is often achieved via incentives (free anti-virus software, of gift vouchers). This further skews the data towards those people who look out for free-gift offers.

Cadillac’s spot, called “Green Hell,” aired at 9:37 Eastern Time, during the game’s “two-minute warning” official timeout, so audiences were literally on the edge of their seats. How many of them stayed there, rather than visiting the loo or fetching another beer is anyone’s guess.

Whilst Cadillac may have scored highest (43.46 for their 30 second spot) in the 100,000 household sample, they are currently only 47th in the Viral Video Chart with a little over 536,000 views and 1,989 shares.

This compares with Volkswagen’s 23 million views and 942,943 shares and Honda with 19.3 million and 360,900 shares, so you can see why I almost choked on my breakfast this morning. All of these are of course online viewing figures, but they likewise portray the behavior of individual people, each of whom have ‘chosen’ to click on a video rather than passively viewing it during a live broadcast.

The lesson? Don’t believe everything you read and make sure you understand how behavioural data has been compiled and the context that it refers to.

It’s good to see Cadillac embracing the Nurburgring so strongly during development of their ATS sports saloon, I just hope they’ve also inherited some of their Germanic competitor’s understatement when it comes to the performance of the car.

Whilst there are several instances in the 100+ Super Bowl ads, we’re interested in Automotive brands and fortunately there are several juicy ones to take a look at.

The NFL takes issue with Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” commercial

Chrysler’s ad was by far the most ‘moving’ ad of the Super Bowl, featuring Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood narrating the story of Detroit’s Motor City, digging deep despite the tough conditions and coming out fighting for the second half.

How does this grab you? “This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah, it’s half time America and our second half is about to begin.” Powerful stuff.

So, amidst such inspiring poetry it came as something of a surprise when a kerfuffle kicked off as the NFL (Super Bowl rights holders) claimed the ad violated their copyrights. The ad was taken down from YouTube, but then an NFL spokesperson subsequently claimed the league didn’t take the ad down and is now asking Google to investigate.

Something is certainly going on – Chrysler have been frantically contacting publishers and asking us to display their ad, but when we uploaded a copy to YouTube this afternoon it was immediately removed, accompanied by the message “This video has been removed because its content violated YouTube’s Terms of Service. Sorry about that.”

What’s the matter, don’t they like poetry..?

So what was it? A marketing stunt? A misunderstanding, or a media storm contrived from our over-active imagination? Take a look and see for yourself.

Ford lawyers-up over Chevy’s Silverado commercial

Chevy’s Silverado ad takes a direct swipe at rival Ford, as it tells the story of group of men who survive a world-destroying apocalypse (as supposedly predicted by an ancient Mayan calendar), because they all owned Chevrolet Silverado trucks. However, one of their friends (Dave) doesn’t make it.

“Dave didn’t own the longest lasting, most dependable truck on the road,” one of the surviving group says. “Dave bought a Ford.”

Ford, were naturally outraged by such a negative portrayal of their brand and delivered a ‘cease and desist’ order to General Motors, due to the “unsubstantiated and disparaging claims regarding Ford’s pickup trucks.”

Chevrolet, who clearly had no intention of complying with Ford’s request, didn’t just run the ad as planned but have continued to fuel the spat by joining a live web discussion on the automotive blog Jalopnik.

Ford is objecting to the reference that the Chevrolet Silverado is “the longest lasting, most dependable truck on the road”, and said that “..If Chevrolet does not comply with our request (they didn’t) to permanently remove the commercial from its website, its YouTube and Facebook pages and any other internet sites, then Ford will take all appropriate steps to enforce and protect its reputation.”

General Motors (parent company of Chevrolet) remain unrepentant, saying “We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest lasting full-size pickup on the road.”

Ewanick went on to say, “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize. In the meantime, people who are really worried about the Mayan calendar coming true should buy a Silverado right away.”

Now that’s just rubbing salt in an already very raw wound…

Toyota serve up some Super Bowl spam on Twitter

As reported in the marketing blog eConsultancy this morning, via a report originally published on The Next Web, Toyota were caught red-handed trying to boost their Camry Effect campaign by sending unsolicited messages to random individuals, apparently based on nothing more than a tweet in their timeline mentioning the Super Bowl.

Here’s what TNW had to say in their article, “In what is probably the worst Twitter promotion I’ve seen on the platform since the company launched in 2006, Toyota has created a slew of accounts and is spamming people about what it is calling the “Camry Effect a Friend’ Giveaway!”. The worst part is that they’re all verified accounts, so while Twitter isn’t involved in the promotion, someone at the company definitely knows about it.”

Toyota subsequently apologised in the following statement, “We apologize to anyone in the Twitterverse who received an unwanted @reply over the past few days. We were excited to share the message of our Camry Effect campaign in a new way and it was never our intention to displease anyone.
We’ve certainly learned from this experience and have suspended the accounts effective immediately to avoid any additional issues.
Kimberley Gardiner, National Digital Marketing & Social Media Manager, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc.”

Embarrassing mistake? Or deliberate tactic to gain exposure? You decide, but as is proven by this article, all 3 brands have certainly drawn attention away from their competitors and become a talking point in sections of the media that wouldn’t normally be talking about their cars.

We took a sample of the data yesterday, to provide for a pre and post-game view of the main contenders, and learned that Honda’s Ferris Bueler themed videos were firmly in the lead for views, if not social shares. 

But less than 18 hours later, the leaderboard has changed to underline just how competitive the battle has become.

First things first, if you were following the Twitter feed last night of @unrulymedia or @VideoChart, then you’ll have noticed the following stats;

1. <40 million people were estimated to have shared their favourite ads online 'after' the game (35 million of these via Facebook)
2. It was estimated that 2.5 million people would send their favourite Super Bowl ads to their friends using YouTube 
3. The highest tweets per second came at the end of the game – 12,233, followed by the second highest during Madonna’s performance, reaching 10,245 tweets per second.
4. Whilst in the final 3 minutes of the Super Bowl game, an average of 10,000 tweets per second were sent. 

If you’re head’s not spinning from those numbers, then let’s take a look at the Automotive brands and what changed on our scoreboard overnight.

Yesterday’s Pre-game data (as of 05/2/2012 at 17:00 GMT)

The post-game reckoning

Since yesterday evening our Top 10 Super Bowl Ads gained 15.2 million views between them – climbing from a total of 54 million to 69 million views.  The biggest gains were made by Volkswagen, with “Bark Side” climbing from 11.9 million views to 23.9 million and social shares rising modestly from 692,825 to 705,760. 

The second of Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ads, and the main feature spot during the game, “The Dog Strikes Back”, rose from 3.8 million up to 4.65 million views and from 118,712 to 145,982 social shares, proving that audiences are more interested in a dog symphony than the re-creation of a Star Wars pub in Tatooine.  Nevertheless, when combined Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ads are now back ahead of the competition with 28.55 million views and 851,742 shares.

After a surge leading up to Super Bowl 46, Honda’s Ferris Bueler inspired ads, “Coming Soon” and “Matthew’s Day Off”, have suddenly stalled, rising only 850,000 views overnight from 16.6 million to 17.45 million views. 

Honda’s luxury brand Acura performed slightly better, rising 1.4 million views from 14.1 million to 15.5 million and from 50,568 to 55,599 shares.

The Automotive sector remained dominant, although we lost 1 brand from the Top 10 (Kia Optima: “A Dream Car. For Real Life.”) and a few new entrants joined the race to become king of the Super Bowl car ads.

You’d be brave man (or woman) to bet against Volkswagen, but then let’s wait and see once the bulk of social sharing occurs during the next few weeks.  The acid test for a viral video is when its meme is adopted and re-personalised by ordinary people, when it moves outside the reach of paid promotion and connects with a wider audience reached through social and earned media.

Judging by the comments coming through on our YouTube channel, many people are only ‘just’ discovering these ads, so there’s plenty more to learn as these campaigns start to become talking points (or not) in environments outside the influence of their promoting brand.

It’s worth reminding you why we’re paying attention to a ‘football game’ when our main focus is obviously cars, driving and the lifestyle surrounding them.

Put simply, the Super Bowl has become the biggest stage for brand marketing in the U.S. and one of the most significant factors behind the success of each brand’s marketing activities throughout the year, both in the U.S. and globally. And surprisingly it’s Automotive brands which dominate ‘and’ rate highest with audiences in terms of increased buzz.

But Super Bowl success goes far beyond TV advertising, with nearly as many viewers watching the ads offline, and unlike ‘broadcast’ media, online represents a personal ‘choice’ and is therefore of greater value.

This is perhaps one of the best illustrations of ‘New Media’, which rather than being defined by technology (i.e. digital vs print or broadcast) is actually better explained by the separation of content from the channel it’s being carried on. Yes, there are specific adjustments necessary to optimise each medium, but the winning brands are those that treat the world as their stage and build their content to reach audiences wherever they may choose to consume it.

Topping the automotive brands in this year’s Super Bowl are Honda and Volkswagen, who’ve stolen a march on the 14 other brands who’ve ploughed tens of millions of dollars into the event. Both have leaned heavily on popular characters from TV and Film (Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Matthew Broderick, Darth Vader/Star Wars) and used humour as one of their principal ingredients.

There are also a few late entrants (BMW, Kia) that could create a few upsets for our league table, so we’ll revisit the scorecard later in the week to see how they’ve fared.

The Pre-game Scorecard

In the top 10 Super Bowl ads this year, 7 of them are for Automotive brands but even more impressive is this – 7 Automotive ads represent 92.3% of the social shares within this premiere group.

These top 10 videos have clocked up just over 54 million views between them so far, and to further underline the dominance of the automotive sector, they represent 94.4 % of this total – that’s despite the best efforts of David Beckham (H&M), Budweiser and the U.S. Navy Seal themed ‘Act of Valor’ trailer.

As before all data has been provided by Unruly Media’s Viral Video Chart and is valid as of 05/2/2012 at 17:00 GMT. Previous data was taken at 19:10 GMT on 31/1/2012.

So what’s happened?

Volkswagen’s early lead was overtaken by Honda during the latter part of the week (now 15.7 million views versus 16.6 million), although VW are miles ahead when we look at social shares (811,000 versus 329,000). Even if we included Acura (Honda’s luxury car division), we would still be looking at only 379,000 shares, but a whopping 30 million views.

GM, the biggest spender at this year’s Super Bowl, have dropped further behind the big two with Chevrolet’s ‘Happy Grad’ advert dropping from 9th to 24th in the chart, but thankfully (for Chevy) their Silverado truck advert has stepped in to carry the brand forwards (currently 12th).

Despite all the hoopla over Audi’s Twilight-themed Vampire Party ads, it must be embarrassed by its performance compared to sister brand Volkswagen. Quite frankly it hasn’t caught on – perhaps audiences are (finally!) tiring of the Robert Pattinson/Kristen Stewart storyline and Audi have been too late to the party in using it. Whatever the reason, despite a 70-100% increase on last week’s figures, the opposition seem to have a lot more power under their hoods.

Watch out for Kia going forwards next week, it’s an epic ad, with a start-studded cast and it’s clearly designed to appeal to both sexes.

But the race continues between Volkswagen and Honda/Acura. Who will win the bragging rights in our scorecard? But perhaps more importantly, who will translate their Super Bowl success into the kind of numbers their shareholders place a value on?

The Newcomers

Several new videos have joined the fray since last week, most of which we will talk about another time. If you missed the original batch of ads, then you can watch them in our previous post, meanwhile here are some of our favourite new ones.

Kia Optima: “A Dream Car. For Real Life.”

Chevy Silverado “Apocalypse” featuring Ford

BMW 3 SERIES – “THE CLOSE CALL”

Also take a look at “THE SCORE”, “THE PERFECT SEAT”, “THE BIG GRAB” and “THE ENTERTAINER”.

Chevy Sonic “Joy”

Chevy Volt “Aliens #1 – Come On”

Agency Deutsch Inc, started making the ad over 6 months ago, whittling down their script ideas from an initial ‘short list’ of more than 200 suggestions. The one mandatory requirement was that it had to follow on from last year’s Star Wars theme and of course have the same appeal across a broad range of demographics and native language.

The Golden Rule for viral video campaigns is “Whatever you do, make sure you include either a dog or a cute kid, ideally both..”, well Volkswagen have already proven the second part of that rule with Little Vader in ‘The Force’, so it only seems fair to give the dogs a go this time around.

You should have seen part 1 (more than 10 million people already have), the 60-second teaser video released last week called ‘Bark Side’, now the final piece of Volkswagen’s 2012 Super Bowl onslaught is ‘The Dog Strikes Back’, a tale of ‘Bolt the dog’ who needs to get in shape to fit through the door-flap and chase after a new VW Beetle that drives through the neighbourhood each day.

The dog is cute, the achievement (getting in shape) is one that we can all identify with and Bolt’s endorsement of the VW Beetle leaves us wanting to buy one. Job done.

Tim Mahoney, Chief Marketing Office for Volkswagen US was quoted on msnbc.com saying, “..spots like this are all about prompting people to ask, ‘Can I imagine Volkswagen being the brand for me?’, car buyers can find the nuts and bolts of performance elsewhere.”

But then 45-seconds into the spot we learn that we’re not the only ones who’ve been watching the happy scene. Far far away, in a galaxy under Imperial rule, the residents of Tatooine have been keeping an eye on Volkswagen’s Super Bowl Ads.

We join them in the Mos Eisley Cantina on the planet of Tatooine, the venue where Obi-Wan and Luke hired Han Solo, as they watch the new ad and debate if the dog is better (or not) than the ‘Vader kid’. The debate soon comes to a halt when Lord Vader enters the cantina and uses a Jedi mind-trick to suffocate the insurgents (i.e. those who favoured the dog).

Apparently the production team rebuilt the original film set from Star Wars, which ads further authenticity to the scene.

So what do you think? Is Bolt the dog funnier than Little Vader? And is this latest video, ‘The Dog Strikes Back’ as good as the teaser, ‘Bark Side’?

Be careful how you answer..

If you’ve clicked on this post looking to enjoy the latest videos, then I suggest you visit ‘Super Bowl XLVI – The Greatest Automotive Ad Game on Earth’, where you can view each of the automotive ads vying for the top-spot at the Big Game this year.

Meanwhile, let’s take a quick look at how the automotive sector ads are doing, now that the dust has settled.

Can Volkswagen be beaten?

Last year Volkswagen destroyed the opposition at Super Bowl XLV and most importantly during the remainder of the advertising year. Their campaign, “The Force”, clocked up nearly 53 million views in less than 12 months and a record 4.8 million social shares.

They did this, not by producing the best advert (although it was fun to watch), but because they figured out how to game the attention of online audiences, drumming up initial buzz before the campaign started (something big is coming) and then feeding people’s innate appetite to share and be acknowledged (as a trusted finder) in their social groups.

The ad went viral in its first week and sustained the interest of audiences, primarily because the meme entered the vocabulary of parody writers, was picked up and used by other media campaigns (launch of the Hollywood-produced ‘Thor’ Film) and became the poster-child for combustion-engine haters Greenpeace in their anti-VW campaign, ‘The Dark Side’.

So did Volkswagen take on board the valuable lessons from 2011? And what about the other automotive brands?

Here’s a quick look at the points table to remind us where each of the campaigns have currently reached (all data was obtained from Unruly Media’s Viral Video Chart and valid as of 31/1/2012):

In 2012, Honda learns that if you can’t beat them… why not join them?

So far in 2012, Honda are the only automotive brand within spitting distance of Volkswagen, but even so, just look at their measly 2.95% shares per view figure compared to Volkswagen’s 6.10%. To put these into perspective, in our 2011 round-up we reported Ken Block/DC Shoes Gymkhana 4 achieved 16.3%, whilst Volkswagen’s ‘The Force’ reached 10.2%.

So as a benchmark we are looking for at least 1 in every 10 views (many of which will be repeat viewings) to result in the video being shared.

Whilst the share performance of Honda’s 2 videos looks modest compared to Volkswagen, the number of views is far closer. This tells us that the pre-launch mentions of Matthew Broderick’s involvement in the campaign, plus all the media speculation about a remake of the film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, will have generated a considerable boost in search traffic, but so far viewers haven’t been quite delighted enough to share it as readily as they have VW’s Bark Side teaser.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment so far though, is for GM/Chevrolet.

When we tally up our estimates for the media spend by automotive brands in this year’s Super Bowl, we’re looking at $66.5 million for the TV spots alone (19 spots at a minimum of $3.5 million each), add on top of this the filming & production, fees for actors, brand licensing (Twilight, Star Wars, Rocky..), agency fees and online advertising costs and there can’t be much change left from $100 million, with perhaps $30 million of that total being carried by GM.

So they’ll not be best pleased to see their main feature spot trailing the field in 7th place, although they still have 4 more ads to try and recover the lost ground.

But perhaps the most intimidating observation to make is that Volkswagen have yet to launch their full commercial (which will feature the New Beetle), but it’s early days and the Big Game is still just under 5 days away..

Conclusion

There’s no doubt in my mind, that the success of advertising in today’s digital world depends on managing the shift from paid promotion through to the more sustainable journey in earned media. Whereas earned media used to cover just professional publishers and news providers, it now includes every single consumer who writes comments, blogs or just updates their Facebook page and is therefore publishing their opinions about a brand.

This is the heartland for innovative ad campaigns who seek to maximise the reach, sustainability and re-usability of their creative message and the most difficult change to embrace for ad agencies more used to influencing rather than engaging the audience.

We’ll draw out more insights from the 2012 Super Bowl Ad war once the game is over, but for now one can only imagine Volkswagen are rather pleased with the creative work of their agency Deutsch, LA.

Last year around 111 million people watched the event live on TV, making it the most-watched single broadcast in the history of U.S. television. So perhaps it’s no surprise that a prime-time 30 second ad spot sells for up to $3.5 million..

But you might be surprised to realise that the advertising war is fought, not between sporting goods or even soft drinks companies, instead it’s the big automotive brands who will slug it out for the audience’s attention.

Of the 35 ad spots announced thus far, 13 of them are for automotive brands including Honda America, Acura, Audi of America, Bridgestone Americas, Cars.com, Chrysler, General Motors (Chevy & Cadillac), Hyundai, Kia Motor, Lexus, Suzuki, Toyota and Volkswagen.

And let’s not forget that Super Bowl 46 is sponsored in its entirety by Chevrolet.

Isn’t this only relevant to U.S. viewers..?

The downstream value of advertising spend has changed a lot during the past decade, with the growth of online video platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. Whilst the passive viewing figures of network TV look impressive at first glance, the real ‘meat’ of the campaign response happens online after the big game, where conversations and social sharing turn the spark of popularity into a viral phenomenon. Online is now the medium that reaps the long-run value from the huge TV spend on these campaigns.

Three of our Top 10 Most Shared Automotive Ads of 2011 were Super Bowl ads, with the most viral (Volkswagen’s ‘The Force’ commercial) owing its success purely due to its clever deployment in the week running up to Super Bowl 45.

So, Super Bowl month is a big deal for automotive advertisers not just in the U.S., but all around the world. During this period there is a huge increase in audience engagement as people talk about their favourite ads, and the attention is multiplied by the earned media coverage from publishers and social platforms.

However, in a straw poll taking during several conversations with agencies this morning, not one of those I spoke to were planning to take advantage by seeding their own campaigns into this perfect storm, either via hastag promotions or insight-driven search marketing. No wonder traditional display ad performance is at an all-time low..

Show me the money..

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Super Bowl ads and teasers that have already broken cover online. There’s plenty more to come, so we’ll update this post as we receive them.

Acura “Jerry Seinfeld vs Jay Leno” NSX Big Game Commercial

If you don’t already know about one of America’s wealthiest funnyman, he’s also a HUGE car guy – mostly Porsche, but the 2015 Honda/Acura NSX would clearly suit him down to the ground.

The 60-second spot features comedian Jerry Seinfeld going to extreme lengths to bribe the man who holds the rights to buy the first 2015 Acura NSX supercar.

Honda confirmed at last month’s NAIAS Detroit auto show that the NSX will be built, so it remains to be seen who’ll manage to elbow their way to the front of the queue. I wouldn’t bet against Jerry Seinfeld.. unless of course J Leno wants it too.

Audi “Daylight”

With the Twilight series of vampire films continuing to excite audiences around the world, Audi have cleverly chosen to create a series of online commercials to promote the new LED headlights on the A7. Called “Daylight” (a subtle play on the film’s title), the series of five commercials portray Audi’s A7 when fitted with LED headlights as an accidental vampire slayer – “Something will take the lives of 25 vampires tonight. Hint: it won’t be a wooden stake”.

There’s also a social element to this campaign, which viewers can engage with at http://audiracethelight.com and win the prize of a trip to the Audi sportscar experience.

Bridgestone “Performance Balls and Puck”

Bridgestone Tyres (or Tires as written in the U.S.) have chosen an early April Fools theme for their Super Bowl ads this year. The sheer volume of videos within the campaign is more than all the rest of these brands put together – 17 at last count – but for the sake of brevity we’ll focus on the main Super Bowl 2012 teaser.

The ads present scenarios where the mild-mannered Bridgestone mega-minds (The Titans of Tread, The Rulers of Rubber..) put their tyre technologies to the test in an entirely new arena.. The sports world may never be the same again.

If you’d like to watch the other 16 videos, then head on over to SkiddPlayer’s Ads and Commercials channel or visit the Bridgestone Super Bowl Ads channel on YouTube.

Cadillac “Green Hell”

Cadillac’s 30-second Super Bowl spot is perhaps the most conventional of this year’s collection – over the past year Caddy have been developing their all-new ATS Saloon at Germany’s world-famous Nürburgring Nordschleife track and their Super Bowl spot simply brags about it being comparable with the world’s best – but if anyone disagrees, then just tell them to “..go to green hell.”

Cars.com

This is the ad that will be run by U.S. retailer cars.com during next weekend’s Super Bowl, which embraces the charitable goal of donating $1 to one of seven children’s charities for viewer’s who vote using the Shazam smartphone app. It’s a creepy ad featuring a two-headed customer in a car showroom, the smaller head sprouting from his shoulder representing his ‘confidence’ which has been coming out of him ever since he visited the cars.com website.

Chevrolet “Happy Grad”

In addition to their sponsorship of Super Bowl XLVI, Chevy are running three in-game TV commercials, two pre-game and two post-game. Together, of course, with online variations of this 60 second “Happy Grad” spot. In addition to the ad below, Chevy will also be running other campaigns in parallel, expected to generate 1.5-billion views during the 4-week campaign period. Not bad eh? But then again, it’s not going to be cheap.

“There’s 11 automakers advertising in the Super Bowl, so we had to figure out how we can make people laugh and make sure it’s entertaining enough to get out information from us – not just during the Super Bowl, but what do we do before, during and after,” said Chris Perry, Chevy’s VP Global Marketing and Strategy. Laugh? We nearly peed ourselves..

Honda: “Coming Soon” (Matthew Broderick returns in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

This is all set to be an epic TV commercial as Honda pulls out the Hollywood big guns to promote the redesigned CR-V. The 10 second intro is explained by the following statement, “We hate to be such a tease, but on a day like today, we just have to. Stick it out until the Super Bowl, or take a “day off” on Monday and catch the big reveal.”

Anyone over the age of 30 will instantly recognise the catchy (chucka chucka) riff from the 1986 film, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and know that there’s trouble afoot. We can’t wait to see what happens next..

UPDATE: And here’s the full 2:25 commercial featuring Broderick and the CR-V. Honda have cast Matthew Broderick as himself, skipping out on a day of acting work and living it up in his all-new CR-V.

In Honda’s homage to the 1986 classic they have hidden over two dozen references to the movie throughout the commercial. Some are obvious, some are VERY subtle. They’re inviting you to submit the ones you find via Twitter using the hashtag #dayoff

Hyundai “Think Fast” , “All For One” and “Cheetah”

Hyundai are running three Super Bowl ads this year, although only two will run during the Big Game. The first promotes the Genesis Coupe, describing its 343 bhp engine as giving new meaning to the phrase “Heart Pounding Power”…

To illustrate just how effectively it works, the 30-second ad shows that it even has the power to revive a passenger suffering from sleep apnoea (or was that a heart attack?), who, in the middle of sharing his latest pearls of wisdom with the young padawan driver, loses consciousness.

Our Genesis Coupe R-Spec driver proceeds to use the coop’s strong brakes and acceleration to shake his boss back to consciousness, although on such a quiet open road, you do just wonder why he didn’t just stop the car and give the poor bloke some proper resuscitation.

The spirit captured in Hyundai’s second Super Bowl ad is a showcase of the company’s culture, portrayed in their very own rendition of the Rocky Theme Song. Employees from Hyundai’s Montgomery, Alabama plant provide a little vocal encouragement to one of their designers.

Hyundai’s third and final ad is called “Cheetah”, and shows the danger of working as a animal-handler in a dramatic race between the new 198 bhp Hyundai Veloster Turbo and a Cheetah.

The Veloster Turbo (which looks rather tasty by the way) leaves the Cheetah for dust, but in the Cheetah’s frustration the only thing left to chase is the animal handler – who is also rather tasty, at least from the Cheetah’s point of view..

Kia Super Bowl XLVI teaser with supermodel Adriana Lima

Adriana Lima does anything but put us to sleep, so it will be interesting to find out exactly how the tune, ‘Mr Sandman’, and a gorgeous supermodel feed into promoting the Kia Optima. Apparently the storyline depicts an “extreme dream sequence” after the Sandman accidentally spills a whole bag of magic dust on a sleeping couple.

The 60-second ad spot entitled “Drive the Dream,” features the new 2012 Optima Limited as it races through a Gen X couple’s wildest dreams, including: Victoria’s Secret Angel Adriana Lima waving the checkered flag at a speedway; an in-your-face Mötley Crüe concert; mixed martial arts legend Chuck Liddell battling in the ring; a heroine and hunk on horseback in a romance novel setting; champion bull rider Judd Leffew taming a bucking rhinoceros; and a fairy tale ending.

The full extended-version of the ad will be available here on SkiddMark from February 2.

Lexus Superbowl Ad “The Beast” introducing the All-New 2013 GS

Lexus is making its first Super Bowl appearance to promote the 2013 GS, which hits US showrooms next month. The 15-second teaser depicts a powerful entity caged in a transportation container with the message, “The Next Generation of Lexus, cannot be contained”.

Update (31/1): Earlier this evening Lexus revealed their full 30-second spot, but unlike other brands it simply promotes the new GS saloon, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September, with a closing promise that “..this is just a glimpse of what Lexus has in store for 2012.”

In the context of such strong competition this year, it’s a weak first-attempt without any story or a reason to share socially. Given the premium being charged for TV advertising during the Super Bowl, it’s difficult to see why Lexus chose to enter the race with this effort.

Suzuki “Sled” 2012 Super Bowl Ad

American Suzuki Motor Corporation will once again advertise during the Super Bowl with an all-new television commercial called “Sled”, highlighting the car maker’s all-wheel-drive 2012 Suzuki Kizashi sport saloon. The music used in the ad is “Party Still Jumpin” created by Ben Kahle and stars two actual Intuit Eskimos from Alaska. Filmed on Canada’s frozen Spray Lake on the outskirts of Canmore, Alberta the ad was shot in one day.

Toyota “It’s Reinvented! — Toyota Camry”

Toyota takes a light-hearted look at day-to-day experiences and items that could have been reinvented (like its all-new Camry saloon), such as a baby that never requires a nappy change, the Department of Motor Vehicles being an enjoyable place of fun and games, and house plants that defend against intruders by fighting crime.

The premise of the spot is that good things are always better when reinvented; and in this case, they are also funnier. The ad represents Toyota’s return to Super Bowl advertising after a 3-year hiatus. Just like Honda’s ad, Toyota have included a social element within their Super Bowl campaign, which will kick-off directly after the commercial is broadcast during the third quarter of the game.

Viewers will be encouraged to tweet with the #Reinvented hashtag about what they’d like to see reinvented and selected tweets will be responded to in real-time with a creative depiction of their idea. Sounds fun (if you’re in the US…)

Volkswagen “Bark Side”

Volkswagen were the undisputed ‘kings’ of Super Bowl XLV last year with their contagiously popular “Dark Side” commercial. Their tally of 4.8 million social shares represented a new record for branded video campaigns, and they’ve come out fighting in 2012 by featuring dogs in the pre-game teaser. Called “Bark Side”, the canine chorus barks a familiar tune and will be used to promote the new VW Beetle.

And there’s a strong social element to this year’s campaign with their “Intergalactic Invite” – http://web.vw.com/star-wars-invite/ and following star wars themed introduction;

“Pretty soon, in a neighbourhood not very far, far away…

Episode XLVI

BACK. AND BETTER THAN EVER.

Tensions rise in the galaxy as the Big Game approaches. An entire planet’s population waits for the invitation to feast on nachos, cheer on their team, and watch the legendary battle unfold. Little do the earthlings know that you, young Jedi, have already begun the quest to host the Big Game Party. You are about to create an INTERGALACTIC INVITE and save the galaxy from ultimate Game Day doom.

A year ago, you witnessed the power of a pint-size Lord of the Dark Side. This year, witness the power of a new Force. Volkswagen is back and better than ever…”

Credits: Several sources were used in compiling this article which I would like to acknowledge – Unruly Media’s Viral Video Chart, Adage, AutoAdOpolis and of course SkiddPlayer.

Gallery

Rather than base our Top-10 listing purely on video views and social shares, I thought it would be interesting to look a little closer at how well each campaign contributed to the ‘equity’ of each brand – the assets a brand is then able to use across its entire marketing mix.

In today’s highly networked business environment, the old adage “what get’s measured, gets done” is becoming something of a liability as marketing teams seek to justify their actions through quantitative analysis and attribution modelling, whilst often ignoring the factors which drive those results.

When something can’t be measured, does that make it not worth doing? Of course not. But in the rapidly evolving digital environment, that’s precisely what happens. We struggle to keep up with all the tools, platforms and new methods far less accurately measure them, so just like performance, lightweight construction or efficiency, automotive marketers sometimes need the intelligence to realise where taking the right action is equally as important as being able to justify it thereafter.

Ultimately, intelligence boils down to using the assets at your disposal in the most effective ways to achieve your objectives. Let’s see how well they did:

Top 10 Most Shared Automotive Ads of 2011 (not all released in 2011)

1. Volkswagen: The Force: Volkswagen Commercial  – 47.5 million views, 4,813,984 shares (32,618 comments)
2. DC Shoes: Ken Block’s Gymkhana Four; The Hollywood Megamercial – 13.1 million views, 2,111,150 shares (19,115 comments)
3. Kia: Party Rock Anthem-Kia Soul Hamster Commercial – 10.7 million views, 1,556,221 shares (12,748 comments)
4. Nissan: Pôneis Malditos – 13.9 million views, 968,124 shares (25,827 comments)
5. DC Shoes: Ken Block’s Gymkhana Three; The Ultimate Playground – 733,112 shares
6. Chrysler Eminem Super Bowl Commercial – Imported From Detroit – 15.4 million views, 436,016 shares (28,241 comments)
7. BMW 1M – Walls – MPowered Performance Part 1 – 3.0 million views, 407,505 shares (1,922 comments)
8. DC Shoes: Ken Block’s Gymkhana Two; The Infomercial – 341,980 shares
9. Team Hot Wheels – The Yellow Driver’s World Record Jump – 8.1 million views, 294,046 shares (4,177 comments)
10. Volkswagen: Black Beetle – 6.3 million views, 212,290 shares (2,371 comments)

Source: The data was compiled from Unruly Media’s Viral Video Chart at 15:00 (GMT) on 15 December 2011. The Viral Video Chart is the world’s largest, most comprehensive database of online social videos, and measures views and social shares based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2 million blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

I could wax lyrically about the high-quality production values in our Top 10, their clever use of aspirational memes and how effective they are in conveying the personality of the brands they represent, but there’s an elephant in the room.

Nissan Brazil’s ad for the Frontier pickup, Pôneis Malditos, is not like other video ads. According to the Portuguese Blog the ad uses a play on words ‘do you have horse-power or ponies?’ A song then taunts the presumably-macho target customer with a chorus line that I’ll leave you to translate for yourself, ‘pônei maldito, pônei maldito’, since it’s definitely NSFW.

There’s a twist at the end where the cute little pony tells you not to close the video, followed by its evil twin who tells you that if you don’t share the video with 10 people, you’ll get the pony’s song stuck in your head forever. So it is basically the advertising equivalent of chain-mail spam. Such questionable tactics are unlikely to succeed more than once, so we’ll treat it as an anomaly in our 2011 list.

The remaining ads in our Top 10 illustrate the trend towards creating re-usable memes, enabling their brands to reuse the characters and storylines in other media campaigns and thereby reinforce the identity to which customers establish a relationship with. In last week’s interview with Ken Block of DC Shoes, he spoke about the value of building ‘personality’ into a viral video and we can see this type of character-based ad dominating the charts.

Top 5 Automotive Brands in 2011

If you’re anything like me, then you’ll not be satisfied with a Top 10 list of the most shared social media ads, you’ll want to know which car maker has really grasped the nettle and made social video a mainstay in their marketing plans.

Last year we singled out MINI, Ford and Kia for consistently performing above the pack, producing videos that were funny, entertaining and highly shareable.

But while humour is useful in generating strong viewing figures, like the sugary high of a Pina Colada the positive sentiment can quickly decline. Brands are now moving towards more epic ads, as spoken about recently by Unruly COO Sarah Wood, “More brands are realizing the potential of social video to build a high-impact, long-term emotional connection with their audience.”

This move towards a more sustainable level of engagement has raised the bar for what it takes to capture the audience’s interest, but in turn, people are sharing more videos with others in their social groups. In 2011, the top 20 ads across all sectors generated 25 million shares, a near five-fold increase from 2010 levels. However, the ratio of views to shares from 2011 to 2010 is even more interesting: In 2010, one in 39 people who viewed video content went on to share it online. In 2011, the ratio rose to 10 to one.

In comparing the Top 5 Automotive Brands we’ve yet again used data provided by Unruly Media’s Viral Video Chart, and we’ve then selected from campaigns within the Top 200 that ran during 2011.

There are several conclusions that spring to mind when looking through the above list. Firstly we know that the position of the first 3 brands is heavily influenced by big-impact campaigns which already feature strongly in our overall Top 10. However that should in no way detract from their significance, even if it does raise questions about their repeatability.

The one exception is Kia, which truly owns the Hamster meme, in much the same way as comparethemarket.com built a successful connection with its audience using a bunch of Meerkats. Kia’s ‘Black Sheep’ ad was the most successful automotive ad of 2010 and they’ve shown the ability to sustain the character’s impact.

Nielsen Automotive Advertising Awards voted the campaign the “Automotive Ad of the Year” in 2010, attributing a sales increase of 10% purely due to the halo effect it brought the brand.

Audi and BMW delivered the highest number of campaigns within our overall Top 200, although none reached the giddy heights of those from Kia and Nissan.

Audi’s top campaign was for the A8 (Big Game Commercial: Release the Hounds), which as with Volkswagen, benefitted from the Super Bowl TV viewing figures during February.

BMW’s strongest performance came from an unlikely source; a pair of ads produced by BMW Canada to promote the 1 Series M Coupe – both generated millions of views (3.0 million for Part 1 and 1.7 million for Part 2) and together generated more than half a million social shares.

They were certainly epic and ticked all the boxes for what makes a successful automotive ad. As an added bonus, not a single child or small cuddly animal was exploited to achieve their success, so perhaps there we should recognise them as a moral victor in the category of ‘Purist Car Ads’.

We would also like to acknowledge BMW’s success in maintaining a consistently high level of performance throughout the year, they were the only brand to reach 1 million views in 7 separate videos, with Volkswagen and Kia being next most consistent with 4 videos each.

Volkswagen were in a different league to the others during 2011. Principally because of their record breaking Mini Darth Vader ad (The Force), but they also achieved the highest overall shares per view of 8.63%, narrowly beating Kia with 8.43%. To add some context, before all this success goes to Volkswagen’s head, Gymkhana 4 achieved a shares per view performing of 16.7% making it by far the most effective automotive ad in terms of engagement.

We were in two minds whether to attribute any credit to Ford for Ken Block’s Gymkhana 4 video. Whilst Gymkhana 4′s primary goal is to promote DC Shoes’ clothing and apparel, Ford are a key partner in the campaign and have cleverly used Ken and his Hybrid Function Hoon Vehicle (H.F.H.V) to increase adoption of the Ford Fiesta through the parallel campaign, 43 Fiestas Challenge.

But if we stand back and take stock of the most effective Automotive social video campaigns of 2011, we see top-quality production values, the use of engaging characters and increasingly dramatic storylines.

One consequence of these attributes is that successful video ads are no longer cut down versions of their TV counterparts, but instead bespoke short films lasting anywhere between 2 and 9 minutes – the feature ad. The sales message, if there is one, is firmly hidden away and replaced by entertaining content and a viewing experience that encourages sharing and social conversation.

For 2012, this trend is set to continue, with the most successful brands being those who best understand their audience and embrace their role as entertainers and content providers. Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments below, or on Twitter.

The 27-year-old Frenchman and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia (31) are joining the Volkswagen Motorsport squad effective immediately and will spend the next 12 months shaping development of the Polo R WRC for Volkswagen’s 2013 entry in the World Rally Championship.

Ogier, who finished the 2011 WRC in third place for Citroen, was Junior WRC Champion in 2008 and hotly tipped to usurp his more illustrious team mate, Sebastien Loeb.

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, who will drive the Volkswagen Polo R WRC in 2013.

‘Volkswagen is the number one in Europe and will soon be number one in the world,’ said an exuberant Sébastien Ogier on his arrival in Hanover. ‘I’m sure that they’re going to compete with the goal of clinching the WRC title, and I’m happy to be part of this from the outset.’

And co-driver Julien Ingrassia stresses with self-confidence: ‘We’re looking forward to a team with a fighting spirit and the determination to win. Anything’s possible!’

‘I am very happy about Sébastian Ogier and Julien Ingrassia joining us,’ says Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management for the Development Division. ‘Both of them are important pieces of the puzzle on our way towards building a successful team in the World Rally Championship. It is also a mark of confidence for our team if such a strong pairing opts for a new team in the WRC that is still in the process of being developed.’

Motorsport Director Kris Nissen adds: “We are proud that such a successful and quick duo as Sébastian Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia have decided to join Volkswagen. The aim of putting a competitive Polo R WRC on the road for them as quickly as possible will additionally drive our team. We look forward to working with them and are hoping for many victories and titles in the future.’

Two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz was instrumental in the contractual negotiations with Ogier and Ingrassia. Sainz who has thus far led development of the Polo R WRC, will stay on as expert adviser to the Volkswagen team. “For me, Sébastien is one of the world’s three best drivers,” praises the two-time World Rally Champion (1990, 1992) and 2010 Dakar winner.

While the familiar outline of the latest Beetle is still clear, the R Concept adds the kind of muscled enhancements that seem entirely appropriate in image-conscious California.

The front and rear bumpers are completely redesigned, and are a generous 30 mm wider than standard. Three chunky air intakes in a black high-gloss finish dominate the front; the central one to provide air to the radiator, and the side two to aid cooling of the brakes. Additional engine cooling is provided by vents on either side of the top of the bonnet.

Along the sides flashes of gloss black give the Beetle R a distinctive look: it can be found on the door mirror caps (just as on the Golf R and Scirocco R), the door handles, the 15 mm wider side sills and also on the roof.

The rear wings are also 15 mm wider than standard, helping them to flow purposefully into the wider rear bumper, which houses not only a diffuser, but also a quartet of exhaust pipes – two either side. Above this sits a large spoiler with a gloss black finish on top and body-coloured finish beneath.

The wheels are five-spoke Talladega alloys, which will be familiar to drivers of the Golf R or Scirocco R, though in this instance they measure 20 inches in diameter. Behind these sit the signature blue-painted brake callipers of Volkswagen’s R models.

Inside, both driver and front passenger are held snugly in hard-shell racing seats covered in black Nappa leather offset by grippy grey nubuck panels, whilst the same upholstery adorns the individual rear seats. The seat seams and piping are in Volkswagen R’s trademark blue colour, while the dashboard is accented with high gloss black.

The instrument panel highlights the Beetle R’s sporting intent: the tachometer is in the middle (and the speedometer to the side), while atop the dashboard are three auxiliary instruments: an oil temperature gauge, chronometer and turbo boost pressure indicator, all with distinctive blue needles.

As for the engine, well this car is only a concept for now, but the Beetle R’s production siblings, the Golf R and Scirocco R, use a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged unit providing up to 266 bhp.

So, will the Beetle R become anything more than a ‘concept’? Well what do you think?