The most shared Super Bowl ad ever
Take one guess what's the most shared Super Bowl commercial of all time.
"Mean Joe Green" for Coke? Nope. Apple's "1984" classic? Nope. The Clydesdale's bowing in respect to the 9/11 victims? Almost, but not quite.
The most shared Super Bowl spot of all time is Volkswagen's 2011 spot, "The Force " created by the ad agency Deutsch LA.
That's the one with the kid, dressed like Darth Vader, who is shocked when he thinks he's successfully used "the force" to start his father's VW Passat when, in fact, his dad has quietly used the car's keyless remote to start it.
This according to research from the video ad technology specialist, Unruly. The technology company ranks videos by the number of shares they attract across Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere as opposed to the number of views.
This, Unruly says, is the true measure of a brand's viral success, ranking branded content by the volume of active pass-on rather than the more passive metric of video consumption
VW's commercial, has attracted 5,279, 772 online shares across social media, reports Unruly, in the new study released this week.
The irony: VW is not advertising in the 2015 Super Bowl. With 30-second slots to this year''s NBC broadcast fetching up to $4.5 million, many auto advertisers — and others — are thinking twice.
These days, the real success of a Super Bowl ad is not just measured by how many folks watch it during the game or like it in consumer polls, but how much it is shared in social media before, during and after the game.
Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser brand claims three of the top four most shared Super Bowl ads of all time, Its tribute to the victims of 9/11 from Super Bowl 2002 (#2), featuring its famous Clydesdale horses, is the beer company's most shared Super Bowl ad to date, attracting 3,480,685 million shares. The video trends every year around the anniversary of September 11, reports Unruly.
Its next most shared ad is "Brotherhood" (#3), about a horse and breeder who reunite unexpectedly at a parade, which was the most shared commercial from the 2013 Super Bowl. The most popular ad from last year's Super Bowl, Budweiser's "Puppy Love", is in fourth position after attracting more than 2 million shares.