LONDON, SEATTLE – July 31, 2024 – A Powerade campaign featuring gymnast Simone Biles that reflects on the mental and physical strains of being an Olympic athlete is the most emotionally engaging ad from the Paris Games, according to a new AI ranking by DAIVID.
The new chart, released days after the sporting event started in the French capital, was created by the creative effectiveness platform – which helps advertisers measure and improve the effectiveness of their content at scale – using its new AI-powered solution, DAIVID Self-Serve.
Currently in beta, the company’s new tool uses a model that is trained using millions of consumer data points to predict the emotional and business impact of an ad. With the sporting spectacle in full swing, all of the Paris Olympic ads already released online were uploaded to DAIVID’s platform via its API. Its predictive AI then ranked them based on the likely intensity of positive emotions each ad would generate. Altogether, 47 ads were tested as part of the study.
“The Vault” – the latest iteration of the Coca-Cola-owned brand’s “Pause is Power” campaign, inspired by Biles’s decision to take a break from competing to focus on her mental health during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo – topped the chart, vaulting its way to the top of the podium after generating the most intense positive emotions (53.8%). It also generated an overall Creative Effectiveness Score – a composite metric scored out of 10 that combines the three main drivers of effectiveness: attention, emotions and memory – of 6.8.
In second place in DAIVID’s ranking of the most emotionally engaging ads of the Paris Olympics is Coke’s “It’s Magic When The World Comes Together”, which celebrates human connection, just ahead of “TeamGB TeamTalk”, by UK bank NatWest, in third.
Spots from sportswear brand Athleta and petfood company Nulo make up the rest of the top 5. Ads from Allianz, Corona, Knix and Visa also feature in the top 10. Ads to miss out include Aldi’s “Has Kevin Met His Match” (18th) and Nike’s “Winning Isn’t For Everyone” (19th).
Top 10 most emotionally engaging ads – as predicted by AI
Rank | Brand | Campaign | Positive emotions prediction (%) |
1. | Powerade | “Pause Is Power – The Vault” | 53.8% |
2. | Coca-Cola | “It’s Magic When The World Comes Together” | 53.6% |
3. | NatWest | “Team GB Team Talk To Inspire The Nation” | 52.8% |
4. | Athleta | “Power of She” | 51.9% |
5. | Nulo Pet Food | “Every Dream They Hold” | 51.8% |
6. | Allianz | “Everybody Needs Someone To Lean On” | 51.6% |
7. | Corona | “For Every Golden Moment” | 50.7% |
8. | IOC | “The Paralympic Dream” | 50.6% |
9. | Knix | “Sport Your Period” | 50.1% |
10. | Visa | “Can Adam Peaty make music with his swimming?” | 49.9% |
DAIVID CEO and founder Ian Forrester said: “Powerade is a worthy gold medal winner and a powerful reminder for brands of the power of doing something different. While many sports commercials are high-octane and action-packed, with win-at-all-costs messaging, ‘The Vault’ is a notable departure. It’s much slower-paced, reflective and shows a more human side to sport.”
Using a combination of computer vision, computer listening, facial coding, eye tracking, survey data and machine learning, DAIVID’s Self-Serve Solution enables advertisers to evaluate, quantify and improve the effectiveness of their creative at scale without the need for audience panels. This includes a second-by-second breakdown of their expected emotions, how much attention the ad is likely to generate and its expected impact on various brand and business metrics.
The new tool also gives advertisers unique insights into how they can make their ad campaigns perform much better. DAIVID’s predictive algorithm, which is continually updated to predict how people will respond to the visual and audio stimuli within the ad, has been developed by the company’s team of data scientists, led by Kantar’s former Chief Scientist Mitch Eggers.
Forrester added: “In today’s always-on ad landscape, DAIVID Self-Service is the perfect solution for marketers looking to cut through the content chaos. It is a sophisticated algorithm that predicts ad effectiveness, enabling advertisers to measure the emotional impact of their content across any platform at scale.”
To find out more about DAIVID Self-Serve – available across multiple formats and channels, including display and video – email, webringthewhy@daivid.co