According to data from YouGov BrandIndex, M&M’s, Nintendo, and Budweiser made the biggest gains in Ad Awareness in the US during February 2023.
YouGov’s monthly BrandIndex* analysis indicates that the confectionary brand M&M’s secured the top spot with a rise of 6.0 points in its Ad Awareness score in February.
on January 27 to 33.9% on February 24. In early February, Mars Wrigley unveiled the second phase in its Super Bowl LVII campaign featuring its M&M's brand. In a bid to surprise fans leading up to and during the game, the brand announced that its iconic ‘spokescandies’ would be “taking an indefinite pause” and would be replaced by award-winning actress, musician and producer Maya Rudolph as the star of the brand’s Super Bowl commercial.
The campaign involved Rudolph implementing many changes including renaming the brand as Ma&Ya’s and adding her face to the chocolate candies’ outer shell. Meanwhile, the ‘spokescandies’ “pursued their outside passions” like hosting podcasts, creating music, designing sneakers, hosting a news segment and more. The three-week story arc concluded with the ‘spokescandies’ confirming their official return in the brand’s 2023 Super Bowl commercial.
In second place, Japanese multinational video game company Nintendo saw its Ad Awareness score improve by 5.1 percentage points. Its score rose from a minimum of 19.2% on January 26 to a maximum of 24.3% on February 25. The brand surprised its fans and followers on February 8, 2023, with a twitter announcement of the first Nintendo Direct of the year. Setting the stage for the event the brand notified its followers that the Direct would primarily focus on games slated for the first half of 2023. Later in the month, the brand also announced the date for the world premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s final trailer.
Rounding up the top three Advertisers of the Month for December 2022 is Budweiser. The American-style pale lager brand, part of AB InBev, saw its Ad Awareness score move up 4.9 points, from 18.9% on February 7 to 23.8 % on February 25. Budweiser’s 2023 Super Bowl commercial titled Six Degrees of Bud, narrated by actor Kevin Bacon and featuring hip hop producer Metro Boomin, brings back the brand’s old tagline “This Bud’s for you”. The spot which aired during the NFL’s championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on February 12, aims to appeal to younger drinkers who have embraced craft beers and hard seltzers. For those missing the Clydesdale horses, owing to their blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in the Super Bowl commercial, Budweiser also hosted a special Football and Foals watch party on game-day at the Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, Missouri.
* YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. A brand’s Ad Awareness score is based on the question: “Which of the following consumer brands have you seen an advertisement for in the past two weeks?” Data from surveys of adults aged 18 years and above residing in the US from January 26 to February 25, 2023. Ad Awareness scores are based on a four-week moving average. The change in scores for each brand is calculated by taking the difference between the highest and lowest scoring days within the period. Learn more about BrandIndex.
