Monthly Archives: February 2023

by | Tuesday, February 28, 2023 · 7:37 am

Top Ads Watched on YouTube in 2022

Advertising surrounds us. And while ads can be annoying when they interrupt our favorite video, people still search online to view compelling ads. Starting a new year is a good time to examine the winning campaigns from last year and evaluate the elements that made them interesting enough that people searched for them on online.

The most compelling advertisements and videos are ones that have a strong story, humor, inspiration, and excitement. They build a bond with the audience, and inspire thoughts and action. It’s not easy to create a short video that engages audiences and inspires them to share the video and view it more than once, so it is worth examining the top advertising videos of 2022.

The winners are:

  1. Amazon – Amazon’s Big Game Commercial: Mind Reader
  2. Clash of Clans – Welcome to CLAN CAPITAL
  3. Hyundai Worldwide – Goal of the Century x BTS
  4. HBO Max – Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts
  5. Apple – Introducing iPhone 14 Pro
  6. Netflix – All of Us are Dead – Official Trailer
  7. Squarespace – Sally’s Seashells Big Game Commercial
  8. BMW USA – Zeus & Hera
  9. Hulu – The Kardashians Official Trailer
  10. LEGO – The Magical World of Disney’s Encanto

Remember, these are the ads that people seek and choose to watch – a marketer’s dream come true! (Note: Ads are determined by an algorithm that factors in organic and paid views, watch time, and audience retention.)

What is your top ad from 2022?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Discuss the importance of branding and brand management. How do the videos fit into branding?
  2. Divide students into teams. Have each team analyze one of the following videos with respect to target market, key message, type of appeal, etc.
  3. Ads are available at: https://www.youtube.com/intl/en_us/ads/news-and-inspiration/ads-leaderboard/youtube-ads-leaderboard-2022-year-end-wrap-up-us/
  4. Have some of the teams view the top global ads and compare with U.S. viewing: https://www.youtube.com/intl/en_us/ads/news-and-inspiration/ads-leaderboard/youtube-ads-leaderboard-2022-year-end-wrap-up-global/
  5. When teams have completed this, have each team show the video and discuss their analysis with the rest of the class.
  6. What are the commonalities between the videos? What are the differences?
  7. What should other companies do to replicate the success?

Source:  YouTube. Ads Leaderboard: 2022 year-end-wrap-up.

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by | Thursday, February 23, 2023 · 7:26 am

Google’s Year of Search for 2022 – “Can I Change…”

Marketers need to constantly scan the environment, particularly how consumers behave; their wants, needs, and habits are critical to effective marketing. Consumer insights give marketers information such as product reviews, recommendations, complaints, competition, and many more valuable data points.

As the new year begins, considering the last year gives us insights and information about behavior. One great source of trends is Google. On average, Google processes 99,000 searches every second for a whopping 8.5 billion search queries per day! These queries give marketers a snapshot of trends around the world and the research gives us a good idea of what people are thinking and wondering about.

A look at 2022 gives us the big themes of rebirth, personal growth, and optimism. In 2022 we searched “how to change myself” and “how to be better.” We searched about how to change jobs, how to improve our relationships, and how to be a better friend. We also searched about how to help each other such as how to help Ukraine, or how to help areas with disasters such as Puerto Rico.

Google tracks searches on an individual country basis (and even cities) as well as globally. Lists are based on search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared to the previous year.

Globally, some of the most searched for topics in 2022 searches about Wordle, election results, Queen Elizabeth, Ukraine, Serena Williams, and Uvalde. Searches are also for local concerns such as gas prices, COVID testing, and voting.

What did you search for in 2022?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Before showing the Google results, poll students as to what they think the top searches were in 2022. Why those topics? Is this the same for different countries?
  2. Next, show the Google site and video of the top searches:  https://about.google/stories/year-in-search/
  3. Show the local searches in different geographies in 2022: https://about.google/stories/local-year-in-search-2022/
  4. Discuss the importance of market research. What are sources that can be used? Why is tracking trends important?
  5. Divide students into teams and have each team examine a different topic or geography. What are the trends from that topic?
  6. How can these trends be used to develop new products and services?
  7. Debrief the exercise by listing the ideas from each team.

Source:  Google. Year in search 2022.

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by | Monday, February 20, 2023 · 9:25 pm

2023: Super Bowl LVII

Winter may be cold, but the Super Bowl game always pumps up the heat! The Super Bowl has become one of the premier venues for marketers. The thrills, the chills, the excitement and surprises – and that’s just the advertisements!

At a cost of a $7 million (same as last year) for 30 seconds of air time, the Super Bowl is also the most expensive advertising placement of any event or show. Add to the air time the costs of designing and producing ads, plus the integration into other marketing tactics, and a company can easily spend upwards of $8 million on a single day.

Love them or hate them, Super Bowl advertisements have become a talking point before, during, and after the game. More than 50 brands took out ads designed to help them stand out to consumers, some with high-profile athletes and celebrities such as Serena Williams, Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Silverstone, Melissa McCarthy, and more.

This year an audience of 113 million adults in the U.S. tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a 38-35 win in the last few minutes. Even more viewers tuned in to Rihanna’s half-time performance which drew roughly 118.7 million viewers across TV and digital platforms, making Rihanna the second-most watched Super Bowl halftime performance  since Katy Perry in 2015.

This year’s game was also the most-streamed Super Bowl in history with 7 million streams (up 18% from last year). An additional 882,000 viewers watched the Spanish broadcast on FOX as well. On average, more than 77% of U.S. households tuned in for the big game.

Commercials were all over the place with top ads being The Farmer’s Dog, NFL Run with it (featuring Diana Flores), Amazon’s Saving Sawyer,  and Dunkin’ Drive Thru.

Which ad is your favorite this year?  

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show one of the Web sites that have all the Super Bowl ads: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/Ad-Meter/2023/02/13/best-2023-super-bowl-commercials-voted-usa-today-ad-meter/11247208002/
  2. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a Super Bowl ad to analyze and present in class.
  3. What is the target market, key message, and offer from the ad?
  4. How does the ad integrate with a company’s other promotions?
  5. Are the messages integrated with a company’s Web site and social media?
  6. As a class, after each commercial have students assign one to five stars for the advertisements. Which advertisement won the class vote?

Source:  Ad Week; Fox Sports; New York Times; Nielsen Research; Wall Street Journal; other news sources

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