These were the best scoring Super Bowl commercials according to neuromarketers

'Best scoring' does not automatically mean the most successful. The researchers based the scores on the degree of excitement. Did the commercial succeed in touching the viewer emotionally? Although the effectiveness of a commercial is of course also determined by other factors, the creation of emotional impact for Super Bowl commercials is often the main goal.

Nr. 1: Tide Ad - “It’s Yet Another Tide Ad”

This Tide campaign is a virtuoso as it succeeds at imprinting the audience with the brand and nudges viewers to think about Tide in ads that had nothing to do with Tide through the power of association. It proclaims that Tide stands for clean clothes and that every time viewers see clean clothes, they are seeing advertising for Tide. This is as if they were able to crystallize a distinctive brand asset on the spot. . Moreover, in a crowded ad field with ads of unusually long length (the Alexa ad was 90 seconds), Tide succeeded in winning against all the other ads on arousal with a 15 second ad. Additionally, it should be mentioned that two of the other Tide campaign ads placed in the top twenty ranking 7th and 12th respectively. What a campaign! Brilliant.

Nr 2: NFL - “Touchdown Celebrations to Come” - “Dirty Dancing Spoof”

If the Tide ad levitated to #1 because of strategic acumen and humor, the NFL ad was #2 due likely to pure heart and humor. It also had the additional secret weapon which is leveraging a well-beloved song. Advertisers cannot underestimate the power of music to uplift, grab attention and make consumers feel more open to messaging. Add to this, well-loved familiar NFL players, self-effacing behavior (guys dancing with each other) and an incredible leap that defies both gravity and perceived strength and we have a “touchdown” in the world of ads. Watching these guys dance was pure entertainment and the resulting scores indicated an audience emotional payoff.

 Nr 3: M&M’s - “Human”

Somehow it just seems entirely credible that if ever there was a person turned into an M&M that the M&M associated person would naturally be Danny DeVito. The charm of this casting along with the empathy we feel for him now being freed from the desire to be devoured makes for great, almost fairy tale, story-telling. And yet, his fate is to be hit by a truck. The literal whammy of the last five seconds in this already arousing ad is what drives it to biometric Super Score greatness. No other SB ad achieved as high a peak in the last five seconds as “Human.”

Nr 4. Ameritrade -  “All Night Long”

Here is another ad that cleverly leverages insight into how the brain works. We want to complete things. We are conditioned to have closure on associations and right answers. We get stirred up wanting resolution because the neurons are firing—Lionel Ritchie = “All Night Long.” Advertising and marketing strategists have to appreciate the choice of song that nails the key message that at Ameritrade you can even trade “all night long” and is hugely popular, recognizable and evergreen. Yes, it is a celebrity and music ad, but paying for both doesn’t guarantee results. What made this ad work so well we believe is the seamless integration of the right message association and the brain teaser of incompletion.

 Nr 5. Universal Movie Trailer - Skyscraper

One could argue that an ad for a Duane Johnson movie trailer excerpt for 45 seconds of bullets, flying, flames blazing and leaps off a tall building into free fall has an unfair advantage in a competitive Super Bowl ad comparison. But hey! That’s reality. And in the media world, everything competes with everything for share of attention and connection. This ad is a prime example of maximizing assets to tell an exciting story that holds excitement and builds to a climax. “Skyscraper” had a high average arousal, a high max peak and strong excitement at the end. Moreover, its mission is to sell excitement as the KPI for the film, so its positioning was on the line.