Super Bowl ad brand recall declining—what brands can do to make commercials more memorable

Super Bowl advertising averaged $7 million dollars for a 30-second commercial this year, but a new report finds that almost 20% of viewers who saw the ads were not able to remember the brand the ad was promoting. The report, from System1, a research firm that measures advertising effectiveness, found that the strength of brand recognition for Super Bowl ads has declined. The average percentage of consumers that recall a brand from a Super Bowl ad has dropped from 85% of viewers in 2020 to 83% in 2023. By comparison, the brand recall score for everyday U.S. ads in 2020—81%—rose to 85% this year. “Almost 20% of viewers leave Super Bowl ads not being able to recall what brand the ad was for. This is causing serious wastage,” said Steve Olenski, senior VP of engagement at System1. “Can you explain your creative idea without mentioning your brand, service or product? If the answer is yes, that’s a red flag.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The reason for the drop in recall? Super Bowl ads aren’t showing brands’ logos and characters fast enough and do not leave viewers with a positive feeling, according to the report. “One impacts the other,” said Andrew Tindall, global partnerships director at System1. “Super Bowl ads are part of the show, so ad agencies sometimes think that putting a brand early will turn people off. But instead, they often pay more attention if they recognize the brand early on. And if they end on a positive emotion, that builds a positive connection to the brand subconsciously.” Brands that did this well this year were Disney, M&M’s and T-Mobile, according to the report. Amazon, Jeep, Michelob Ultra, Paramount+, the Farmer’s Dog, Bud Light and PopCorners rounded out the top 10. Even though ads for Tubi and Squarespace were popular with ad industry executives, they didn’t resonate with average viewers and were the lowest-scoring ads in the System1 report. See all the 2023 Super Bowl ads “It’s always good to step back from an ad and take the view of the average viewer,” said Tindall. “If it doesn’t resonate with them, what’s the point?” To get brand recall and sentiment, System1 conducted a creative analysis of all 308 Super Bowl ads that aired between 2020 and 2023. It also analyzed its global database of 150,000 national regular U.S. and U.K. ads. The research included surveying 46,200 people in the U.S. over the last four years on how both everyday and Super Bowl ads made them feel, what the ad was for and at what point in the commercial they could identify the brand. To boost brand recall in Super Bowl ads, System1 recommends using brand characters, such as Samuel Adams’ “Your Cousin from Boston” or the Geico gecko; or slogans, such as Snickers’ “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” “My test for this would be to ask if the ad still makes sense if you remove the character or slogan,” Tindall said. He pointed to Snickers’ classic 2010 Super Bowl ad that showed a man turning into Betty White while playing football. When she’s tackled, she’s told to eat a Snickers, and turns back into the man. “You need that ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ slogan for the ad to work. And having consumers fill that in for themselves can help them remember it,” Tindall said. Disney’s use of many Disney characters in its 2023 Super Bowl ad helped it earn the report’s top spot. The ad promoted the entertainment giant’s 100th anniversary. “Disney has been doing this for 100 years, so they were able to squeeze that equity, those cultural references and nostalgia all into 90 seconds,” Tindall said. The report also pointed to M&M’s 2023 Super Bowl advertising as a case study on using brand characters. The campaign began with the brand pretending to replace its mascots with Maya Rudolph—and the in-game ad showed her pitching Ma&Ya’s chocolate-covered clams. That ad got a low rating and elicited a negative emotional response, according to the report. But when the original M&M’s characters reappeared in a 15-second ad just after the game, it received System1’s second-highest rating of the 2023 Super Bowl ads. Football marketing news Tracking Super Bowl, NFL and college brand moves Read more here The report also found that ads featuring brand mascots or slogans consistently scored higher than ads highlighting musicians, actors or athletes. Remarkably, just 10% of Super Bowl ads over the past four years leaned on brand characters or slogans. Outside of making sure the brand is needed to explain the creative, or featuring brand mascots or logos early, System1 outlined other tips for upping brand recall in Super Bowl ads. One was effective story arcs, such as a surprising twist at the end, especially if the ad builds negative emotions that are resolved with a positive twist: See Kia’s 2022 ad “Robo Dog” or Amazon’s “Saving Sawyer” from this year. Speaking of dogs, canines and babies help boost brand recall and strong positive emotions. System1 points to Huggies 2021 ad as an example. Another successful tactic is tapping into current cultural references. PopCorners achieved this with its “Breaking Bad” spot. But marketers should avoid leaning too heavily into memes, TikTok trends or general “Gen-Z-ification,” according to Jon Evans, chief customer officer at System1. If using celebrities, remember who they resonate with. The report highlights Doritos 2020 Cool Ranch ad that starred Lil Nas X, Sam Elliott and Billy Ray Cyrus, which spoke across demographics and ages. Even if viewers didn’t know any of these celebrities, they got that the creative was inspired by Western films. Brands can also harness the cultural power of sports by showing sports being played and the emotions they create. Even better, they should highlight diverse communities around sports. The report pointed to Secret deodorant’s 2020 ad featuring a female kicker on the football team.

Super Bowl ad brand recall declining—what brands can do to make commercials more memorable

Featured Stories