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Which track made the ad sing?
Mars Inc. wanted to know how the choice of soundtrack to an ad might affect its impact on the audience – so we ran a small study with an old Twix ad to find out.
We tested the same 30-second Twix ‘Conveyor Belt’ ad, but with two alternative soundtracks. The soundtrack choice was particularly important here, as there was a deliberate pause in the middle of the ad to dramatise the moment when the protagonist bites into the second part of the Twix and featuring voice over wordplay, “Twix – one great bar after another”. This notable pause made it an especially good ad to test.
So, which track had the greater impact?
Track 1: ‘Happy Together’ by the 60s rock band, The Turtles displayed much higher happiness levels throughout the ad.
Track 2: ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ sung by Sinéad O’Connor was less positively received, demonstrating that track 1 was better suited.
Interestingly, the Happiness trace for Track 2 flatlines during the moment where the music pauses and the protagonist takes a bite, whereas the trace for Track 1 shows that the audience enjoyed the tension created by the music being cut just before the chorus.
Track 1: ‘Happy Together’
Track 2: ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’
Mars Inc. were immediately able to discern which version would be more successful. When comparing happiness levels between the two, Track 1 was unequivocally the more popular and effective version scoring 66.6% higher, so better for driving brand favourability and purchase intent than the other track.
Music is an emotive topic and track choices for ad concepts are vulnerable to personal preference and that’s before it gets played in the boardroom. Select your track with confidence so that your video truly rocks.
Track 1 was the more effective version scoring 66.6% higher, so better for driving brand favourability and purchase intent.
Unlocking Success: Vice's creative agency streamlines Coca-Cola's ad campaign, pinpointing high-impact assets within top-performing market.
Unlocking Creative Success: Mars scales creative testing using attention, predictive models, and achieves a 29% ROI with PreView.
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