10 Most-Liked New Traditional Ads Oct.Nov. 2008

According to data from Nielsen IAG, a Macy’s ad, in which celebrities confirm the existence of Santa Claus for a little girl, was the most liked new “traditional” ad during the four weeks between October 20 and November 16, 2008.

Likeability refers to the percentage of television viewers who report liking an ad “a lot” after viewing it, among those who are able to recall an ad’s brand.

Rank	Brand	Traditional Ad Description	Likeability Index
1	Macy’s	Celebrities read “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus”; little girl deposits a letter in mailbox; Macy’s donates to Make-A-Wish Foundation	190
2	Zales	Celebration Diamond–Man uses yarn to deliver ring to woman in opposite building and posts note saying “Will You?”; Love rocks	163
3	Wal-Mart	With Christmas come traditions; woman talks about dishes for family for Christmas dinner; I can get all of the fresh, healthy ingredients	161
4	Ford	F-150–All-new; engineers are probably the same guys we all cheated off of in science class; can’t get a truck with better mileage	147
5	Hallmark	Recordable Cards with Music–Can you say Merry Christmas?; woman asks son to say it; finally records it in card that Grandma opens	145
6	Disney Parks	Woman stands in line at grocery store; finds gold envelope mixed with coupons; you’re invited Pamela; buy 4 nights, receive 3 nights free	144
7	Target	Christina Aguilera: Keeps Gettin’ Better CD–Aguilera dances, plays superhero within frames of comic strip; only at Target	143
8	Applebee’s	2 For $20 Menu–For the price of a night in, how about a night out?; bucket of chicken knocked out of way; couples shown in restaurant	142
9	Halls	Man in elevator; different people, like pizza delivery guy, come in and crowd him; after taking Halls, everyone is flattened against wall	139
10	Macy’s	Birthday Sale–Woman carries balloons; Save 25-50% on your favorite brands; inspiring oohs, aahs and wows for 150 years	137
Source: The Nielsen Company (October 12, 2008 – November 16, 2008).
Note: Nielsen IAG’s ranking of the Top 10 Most Liked New Traditional Ads includes new executions only. Nielsen IAG’s panel includes viewers ages 13 and older.

A traditional ad’s “likeability score” is the percentage of television viewers who report liking an ad “a lot” (among those who can recall an ad’s brand) after being exposed to it during the normal course of viewing primetime TV on the broadcast networks.

Likeability scores are indexed against the mean score for all new traditional ads during the time period to calculate an ad’s “likeability index.”

A likeability index of 100 indicates average recall. A likeability index of 190, for example, means that an ad was 90% better liked than the average new ad during the four-week time period.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age.