EDO, the TV outcomes company, released today the most effective ads of 2023 across English- and Spanish-language media. The company analyzed hundreds of thousands of national TV creatives from yesteryear to identify the trends driving behavioral outcomes, such as search activity, website visits, or app downloads, which are highly predictive of future sales.
Multiple studies show a definitive link between strong ad creative and brand performance. According to Nielsen, creativity drives 56% of a campaign’s sales ROI.
“The top creatives of 2023 were authentic and often entertaining – whether they authentically integrated a celebrity spokesperson like LeBron James with GMC, or landed a perfect comedic moment like Credit Karma,” said Laura Grover, SVP and Head of Client Solutions at EDO. “The best ads motivate consumers’ real-world behavior, and the best creative measurement enables modern marketers to connect these behaviors to tangible business outcomes.”
MOST EFFECTIVE ADS ON ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA, 2023 (full ranking here)
- Automotive (Luxury): Polestar, Added Structures :30, +686% more effective than the Automotive (Luxury) average.
- Automotive (Non-Luxury): GMC, Hummer EV - Try Something Different ft. LeBron James :30, +592% more effective than the Automotive (Non-Luxury) average.
- Banking & Finance: Credit Karma Psychic :15, +657% more effective than the Banking & Finance average.
- CPG Food & Beverage: Magic Spoon, Not Too Old for Cereal :15s, +5,238% more effective than the CPG Food & Beverage average.
- CPG Personal Care: Il Makiage, Covers Everything - Free 14-Day Trial :15, +1,978% more effective than the CPG Personal Care average.
- Alcohol: Casamigos, Our Casa Is Your Casa :15, +1,089% more effective than the Alcohol average.
- Insurance: USAA, Serve ft. Rob Gronkowski :15, +588% more effective than the Insurance average.
- Movies (Theatrical): Barbie :15s (Warner Bros. Pictures), +209% more effective than the Movies (Theatrical) average.
- Pharma Rx: Quviviq, You Wouldn't Believe ft. Taye Diggs :90, +920% more effective than the Pharma Rx average.
- Restaurants (QSR): Panda Express, However You Panda :30, +399% more effective than the QSR average.
- Retail: Fabletics, The Only Pant for Men :30,+846% more effective than the Retail average.
- Wireless Telecom: Mint Mobile, Record Deflation featuring Ryan Reynolds :30, +809% more effective than the Wireless Telecom average.
EDO also analyzed the most effective ads that aired across Spanish-language TV (SLTV) in 2023. Ads that ran on SLTV in 2023 were 29% more effective at driving ad engagement than 2022, and 34% more effective than 2021, indicating that the Spanish-language media environment is making double-digit gains in ad effectiveness annually.
MOST EFFECTIVE ADS ON SPANISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA, 2023 (full ranking here)
- Automotive (Luxury): *Audi, 2024 Q8 e-tron - No Solo :30, +69% more effective than the Automotive (Luxury) average.
- Automotive (Non-Luxury): Honda, Accord and CR-V - Hybrid x2 :30, 93% more effective than the Automotive (Non-Luxury) average.
- Banking & Finance: Credit Karma, Karma Guarantee - Barber Shop :15, +764% more effective than the Banking & Finance average.
- CPG (Food & Beverage): Dr. Pepper, The One You Deserve :30, +956% more effective than the CPG Food & Beverage average.
- CPG (Personal Care): Nutrafol’s Men - Hair Health :15 more effective than the CPG Personal Care average.
- Alcohol: Bailey’s, Caroling ft. Hannah Waddingham :15, 340% more effective than the Alcohol average.
- Insurance: *Allstate, Parking Garage (Slow Music) :30, +83% more effective than the Insurance average.
- Movies (Theatrical): Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures) :15, +157% more effective than the Movies (Theatrical) average.
- Pharma Rx: *Shingrix, A La Culebrilla No Le Importa :60, +156% more effective than the Pharma Rx average.
- Restaurants (QSR): *Taco Bell, Crew - Grilled Chicken Burritos :15, +136% more effective than the QSR average.
- Retail: *Walmart, Members Save On - Being that Grandma :15, +419% more effective than the Retail average.
- Wireless Telecom: T-Mobile, Ski Shop feat. Zoe Saldana (4 iPhone 15s) :15, +235% more effective than the Wireless Telecom average.
*Half of the top-performing ads per category were specifically created or altered for a Spanish-speaking audience, proving the importance of tailoring creative to drive greater engagement and synergy between creative content and programming.
Creative performance will continue to remain a top priority for advertisers and their agencies in 2024. Last year, EDO first launched Creative Rotation Optimization, enabling advertisers to optimally reallocate in-flight creative weight with no additional media spend or changes required to their media footprint. In 2024, EDO will introduce enhanced creative analysis tools to empower brand advertisers to make smarter creative decisions — including which promotional offers or celebrities would support a boost in ROI for the brand, and trends in creative wear-in and wear-out to drive TV ROI.
Want to know which creatives are working for your brand? Connect with us at hello@edo.com.
Methodology:
Data in this report corresponds with EDO's proprietary engagement rate metric, which measures how likely consumers are to engage with a TV ad after exposure and normalizes audience size and ad duration to enable direct comparisons in engagement among creatives.
Top creatives across English-language media were benchmarked against each industry’s average ad performance on English-language or Spanish-language media from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
EDO’s expansive database captures every historical, in-market, and future campaign, enabling competitive benchmarks and views by network, program, daypart, creative, duration, and more. At EDO, we validate savvy media buying and effective messaging with the market’s most trustworthy predictive outcomes data.