Magazine: Emotionally the most effective retail commercials in 2020 – Based on Synetiq’s regular neuromarketing testing of television commercials

Guest author:
Petra Várhelyi
marketing manager
Synetiq

There were creative retail television commercials in 2020 too. Promotion campaigns, family Christmases, Black Friday messages – all of these were featured and the food was fresh, the prices were low and people were happy. CSR messages and saying thank you to store workers were also important. The TOP 10 emotionally most effective commercials were the following:

1. Lidl – 35s – Greengrocer of the year

2. Árukereső.hu – 30s – Christmas gift to your girlfriend

3. Ofotért – 20s – People with glasses from the last 70 years

4. SPAR – 35s – It is good for you

5. Auchan – 30s – Feri Rákóczi and the Christmas carp

6. Ikea – 16s – Enjoy the time you spend at home

7. Penny – 30s – Berlinger Haus

8. ALDI – 15s – Grilling

9. Alza.hu – 20s – Laid back days with Alza

10. Auchan – 20s – Promotion of the week

1. Lidl – 35s – Greengrocer of the year

Information placed in the middle easily got in focus

In 2020 Lidl was named greengrocer of the year and the commercial built around this fact was able to capture the attention of 18-59 year old viewers very well. The characters in the commercial, the many smiles, the positive messages and the linear plot that was funny as well managed to keep viewers’ attention level high until the end of the commercial, even during the introduction of the products in promotion. Although placing the promotional prices in the bottom right corner didn’t attract the viewer gaze as much as it should have, cutting back to the shopping lady at the end was positive. The narration was in harmony with the images, so it strengthened viewer engagement further.

2. Árukereső.hu – 30s – Christmas gift to your girlfriend

The narration „compare the prices” was in harmony with the visuals

Árukereső.hu’s Christmas-themed commercial uses various stories to show viewers what, where and for how much they should buy Christmas gifts. The couple appearing at the beginning of the commercial was able to grab the attention of viewers, but it generated few emotional reactions. Later the story and the narration managed to engage viewers and kept their attention level high. Although the animation was less engaging, viewer attention returned by the end of the commercial, thanks to the ‘compare the prices’ message and the harmony between narration and visuals.

3. Ofotért – 20s – People with glasses from the last 70 years

Placing the glasses in the middle led viewers’ gaze, and aroused frustration

This Ofotért advertisement is a good example of shooting a commercial that is funny, easy to identify with, emotion generating and engaging at the same time. The story proves Ofotért’s 70 years of experience by showing how well they know the different personality types. Although the beginning of the plot didn’t generate many emotions, later the ‘wow factor’ arrived. At the end of the commercial both the call-to-action and the mentioning of the brand name resulted in a positive reaction from 18-59 years old viewers.

Tips from Synetiq

Why did these 3 commercials work so well?

1. A packshot that is built up well: although the packshot at the end of the commercial is only a small part of the whole advertisement, it is one of the most important elements. Besides strengthening the brand, the whole plot is a preparation to the packshot. If this process is successful and viewer attention is maintained until the end of the commercial, these crucial 2-3 seconds must be very effective.
2. Visual and verbal in harmony: for those stories where the narration and the images are in harmony, viewer understanding is much better. It doesn’t mean that every scene needs to be commented on, but it is definitely worth paying attention to synchronising visual and verbal elements.
3. Well-led focus: if important elements turn up at different places as the scenes are changing, viewers have to find the focus again and again, which makes understanding the commercial more difficult. The commercial must lead the eyes well, putting important elements at places similar to the focal point of the precious scene.

A guide to the emotion curves

Engagement (yellow): it shows the level of attention and involvement

Approach (white): it indicates the emotional impact (the viewer likes it/doesn’t like it)

Excitement (orange): the level of excitement must be interpreted in combination with the two other curves.

More information: www.synetiq.net. //

How the ranking was made

In 2020 Synetiq analysed more than 150 commercials from the retail category, using its neuromarketing methodology. The ranking was created based on the following indexes: the average normalised results of the answers given to the three main conscious questions, the attention generated by the commercial and its ability to produce emotions. Since the non-conscious results analyse a 6 times bigger sample due to the segmentation than other neuro companies do, Synetiq put greater emphasis on these when compiling the list. //