Commercials airing during the second half of Game 6 of the NBA Finals stunningly lacked emotion, which is why Apple’s ad stole the show.
Excluding movie trailers, we counted 30 commercials that aired during the third and fourth quarters of Game 6. We put each commercial into one of four categories: humor, straightforward, cool, emotion.
We categorized 43% of the commercials as straightforward. They may have included briefs moments related to the other categories, but the ads mostly delivered straightforward facts about their services.
We categorized 27% of the commercials as humorous.
We categorized another 27% of the commercials as attempting to attach their products or services in an image of being cool.
That leaves 3%, which represents the one commercial that tapped into our emotions. The video in Apple’s ad tapped our emotions by showing, for example, families benefiting and learning from their products. The narration included lines such as “Will it make life better?” and “… enhances each life it touches.”
Why do we consider this stunning? Because using emotion in video is one of the best ways to build a connection between your business and potential customers. And out of 30 commercials in the second half, only one went above and beyond to make that emotional connection.
Critics would have us believe Apple’s best days might be behind them. Competitors are hammering Apple with clever commercials that take shots at the iPad maker. But for one half of basketball, Apple still showed why the company “gets it” and separates itself from the competition.
Here are some other insights:
- We planned on a fifth category: sexy. But we didn’t see any second half commercials we considered truly sexy. KFC aired an ad in which a woman’s mouth is watering over a man who tricks people into believing he can bar-b-cue. But we believe this commercial was truly striving for humor, not turning us on. However, we do recall a very sexy commercial during the first half. Woman were dancing and holding a product that put the I in innuendo. But we can’t remember what company aired the ad. The fact more companies didn’t try sex appeal, especially during a sporting event, surprises us.
- Toyota is the only company that tried two approaches. We put two of its commercials in the straightforward category and two in the cool category.