Survey: Clydesdales Spot Best of Bowl Bunch

Consumers dug the plus-size horse, but had no taste for Subway or Rudd-Rogen

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/4/2013 4:08:02 PM

The Budweiser Clydesdales spot was the most engaging commercial in the 2013 Super Bowl, according to a real-time survey conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates and React Labs that measured consumer engagement. Filling out the top five were Kia's "Babylandia", SodaStream, Dodge/Ram's "Farmer" and one from E-Trade.

Nearly 400 consumers ages 17 to 67 were polled using mobile technology that measured their "engagement, attitudinal reaction and activation," according to the survey's authors, throughout the Super Bowl broadcast. The React Labs technology enables users to react to an event moment by moment.

The Clydesdale spot, which shows a rancher nurturing the horse from birth until maturity, followed by an emotional reunion between the two years later, was easily the top performer in the study. "The strong emotional connection, driven by a strong musical track, clearly drew in our respondents," it read.

"This real-time engagement gave us a terrific window into consumer engagement with the biggest television event of the year," says Bill Day, executive director at Magid Associates. "Our panelists gave us great information about which ads they liked, and which ads made them want to engage with the brands."

The bottom five spots were, in order, Subway's "Februhuh"; Samsung's "Next Big Thing," which starred Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen; GoDaddy.com's "Perfect Match"; Subway's "Jared" and Wonderful Pistachios' "Gangnam" spot, featuring the Korean performer Psy.

"Subway's blooper driven 'Februhuh' spot missed the mark with consumers, eliciting high levels of 'blah' and 'dislike' reactions across our sample," read the survey. "Samsung's late-game 'Next Big Thing' spot never quite gained any real traction with our panel, leaving consumers confused and drifting through the end of the spot. Neither of these spots showed any strong effect on driving new sales for either of their brands."

Spots aside, Beyoncé's halftime performance drew a mixed reaction. "Consumers responded well to the Destiny's Child reunion, but they appeared put off by the over-the-top graphics and the more extreme staging elements," said the survey.