Sam’s Club started its holiday advertising with a different type of commercial: a short film starring Kevin Hart. In the 2:20 “movie trailer,” Hart must rush to Sam’s Club after his holiday party ends up much bigger than expected. Much to his dismay, his daughter’s boyfriend tags along and asks for her hand in marriage. In the ad, Hart and the boyfriend make a run to Sam’s Club, and use the retailer’s Scan & Go feature instead of a traditional checkout.
iSpot’s survey-based Creative Assessment examined consumer responses to “Merry Like This,” and found that the short film easily engaged and held viewer Attention*. The two-minute spot ranked in discount store advertising’s 100th percentile on Likeability*, Information*, and Change*, while the :30 product-focused ad also outperformed category norms.
Hart convincingly spurred viewers to Positive Purchase Intent*, with six in ten viewers of the film reporting increased consideration vs. about one in two for the more product-focused Sam’s Club ads. The 2:20 film saw viewers of all ages very much focused on Hart throughout the entire runtime:
Although longer than most ads today, “Merry Like This” easily sparked Curiosity*, while the Ingenious* and Funny* narrative entertained viewers. Despite some thinking (and hoping) an actual Kevin Hart holiday film was being released, the ad still conveyed the message of Scan and Go at Sam’s Club effectively.
Meanwhile, visuals of the variety of available items at Sam’s Club in the :30 and :15 “Merry Like This” (without Hart) stood out at disproportionate rates vs. other discount store ads over the past 90 days.
“I definitely enjoyed the ad, it was engaging, funny, surprising, and debuted scan and go options for checking out with Sam’s club without interupting the story line to do so. Definitely an A+”
Female 21-35
“I liked that this ad included Kevin Hart and looked like a holiday movie trailer instead of a Sam’s Club commercial.”
Male 36-49
Generally speaking, I like the ad. But I did think it was for a movie and not a brand or product until the end. I kind of feel like I missed the point because I misread the intent, but overall I found it entertaining and memorable.”
Female 36-49
With TV advertising cluttered during the holidays, it’s a good time for brands to really get creative and break through the noise, whether that’s with a heartfelt message like Etsy or by harnessing humor and fun visuals like Philadelphia. Want to learn more about a brand or industry’s holiday TV creative performance? Get in touch with iSpot!
Glossary:
- Attention: measures the extent to which survey respondents find a video ad attention-grabbing.
- Likeability: measure the extent to which survey respondents like a video ad.
- Information: measure the extent to which survey respondents find a video ad informative.
- Change: measure the extent to which survey respondents sensed the company is moving in a new direction.
- Curiosity, Ingenious and Funny are 3 of the 57 emotional metrics iSpot Creative Assessment measures for every TV and video ad.
- Positive Purchase Intent: The percent of Creative Assessment survey respondents that reported an increased desire to purchase or visit a given brand or product after watching an ad.