BT ad UK’s most memorable from a London 2012 sponsor – Nielsen
Pictured: BT’s Hola was the most memorable and third most liked
A BT ad showing a group of Spanish girls visiting a neighbour’s flat to use their broadband while in London for the Olympic Games was the most memorable Olympic-themed TV ad in the UK from an official sponsor during 2012, according to new figures from Nielsen.
Nielsen said the ‘Hola’ ad was 36pc more likely to be remembered than the average Olympic-themed TV ad from an Olympic sponsor.
The BT ad was narrowly ahead of McDonald’s free Olympic glass giveaway, which was 32pc more memorable than the average Olympic sponsor’s ad. Third was Visa’s ad with Usain Bolt racing a man across London to the Olympic Stadium. Part of its ‘Flow Faster’ campaign, this ad was 30pc more memorable than average.
Nielsen’s recall, or memorability, score is based on the percentage of TV viewers who can recall within 24 hours the storyline of an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of their TV viewing. Every new ad aired on ITV1, Channel 4, Five and Sky 1 in the evenings from 1 January 2012 up to the end of the Olympics was covered.
In fourth place was Fairy’s ‘20,000 dishes’, featuring a child growing up into an athlete as he runs along tables of plates (23pc more memorable), and a Cadbury ad showing Crème Eggs bursting inside the Olympic stadium (21pc).
“Many of the sponsors gave their ads an Olympic theme by making Olympic athletes or Olympic venues central to their creative,” said Nielsen VP of advertising effectiveness for Europe, Darren Moore. “The most memorable ad, from BT, instead, integrates an Olympic-themed storyline into its already-recognisable series of ads featuring a group of flat-sharing friends.”
The most liked TV ad, meanwhile, was Samsung’s ‘Everyone’s Olympic Games‘ with David Beckham, which was 35pc more liked than the average Olympic-themed ad from an official sponsor during 2012. This was followed by Procter & Gamble’s ‘Kids’ ad, which showed Olympic athletes portrayed as children and was 30pc more liked than the average ad.
In a tie for third place were BT’s ‘Hola’ and Omega’s ‘Start me up’ (both 25pc more liked than average). Omega’s ad featured a number of Olympic athletes including Britain’s Jessica Ennis. Visa’s Usain Bolt ad completed the top five (20pc).
“Capturing the excitement of the Olympics was clearly the best way to create ads that people really liked,” said Moore. “Samsung, P&G and Omega managed to fuse this excitement with emotive imagery to really connect with TV viewers. In addition, using popular icons is a tried and trusted method of achieving advertising effectiveness, and Samsung’s use of David Beckham has helped it to the likeability gold medal.”