I spent some time at SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS today and watched twenty or more ads that havent even aired yet. Why are companies releasing their Super Bowl commercials already? For ad geeks and marketers, it’s often the only reason to tune in to the game. If we get them all ahead of time, doesn’t that diffuse the anticipation? Imagine if Apple had ‘leaked’ their 1984 spot early… The media buyers must have some data I don’t know about.
I decided to score Honda’s “Matthew’s Day Off” commercial, using my Creative Success Meter. It was hard to remain objective because there were already two metrics attached to the ad: the number of YouTube views (over six-and-a-half million), as well as reader rankings (8.5/10). I tried to ignore these numbers as much as possible and go for a consistant, well thought out score based on the creative success of the ad. Remember, creative success is not the same thing as commercial success. Sometimes very uncreative things can make mountains of money (The Smurfs grossed over 142 Million dollars at the box office). By creative success I mean how well-made, connected, and original the project is.
First, here’s the commercial: Honda CR-V “Matthew’s Day Off” (6,600,000 views)
Here are the results of applying the Creative Success Meter to this ad:
This is a simple, familiar idea that resonates with its audience of 30 & 40 somethings who loved John Hughes movies and still want to be cool for driving a mini-van-like-cross-over vehicle. Everyone that likes it will want to share it with their friends, the same friends that they probably watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with in the first place. I gave it bonus marks for the resonance: they hit their demographic sweet spot with a hard, shallow nostalgic kick. But is it smart like the original movie? Nope. Is it well-crafted like a John Hughes movie, with witty edits and perfect timing? Not even close. It’s not an original idea to spoof an 80s movie, and it’s certainly not a flexible one, it can only work once in this format. Did it challenge the audience? No. Was it magical? For some people it will be, which would pull this score up to a 6. I really wanted to love it, and I laughed at most of the references the first time, but I couldn’t get passed the craftsmanship. I felt like Broderick wasn’t trying very hard, and the editing was lazy. The magic wasn’t there for me.
But the spot is doing phenomenally well online. Millions of hits, discussions, shares, and I’m sure some of them are even checking out the car. But I can explain. Remember when I said that something could be familiar and shallow; that the connection didn’t have to be deep to resonate? This is one of those examples. This commercial will not stand the test of time, like the 1984 spot by Ridley Scott, but it has it’s place right now.
If you look closely at the Creative Success Meter attributes, they are grouped into 3 main sections: yellow for Action, blue for Connection, and pink for Deviation. These represent the three main elements of creativity. Action is about quantity, about turning practice into experience. If something scores high in the Action column, it means it is exceptionally well made, well thought out, and easy to understand. Deviation is about uniqueness, about experimenting until you find the right expression. If something scores high in the Deviation column, it means it is highly original, works in all sorts of situations, and makes you think in ways you’ve never thought before. In the case of Matthew’s Day Off, all three of the Connection column were checked off, plus an extra bonus. Connection is about using associations to creating meaning and understanding. This commercial does that very well, on a superficial level, and thus will be popular and enjoyed for a few more weeks before it fades away.
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