Wednesdata: May’s most prolific TV advertisers
Welcome to the next instalment of Tuesdata, temporarily rebranded as Wednesdata just for the week, thanks to the public holiday pushing the Start the Week podcast back to yesterday.
We’re back with the latest Canda TV spend statistics, this time looking at the month of May, which included the final weeks of the federal election campaign trail.
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Back to the Canda statistics. In terms of spend, it was the political parties that ruled the charts. However, it wasn’t the United Australia Party that took out the top spot despite reports that Clive Palmer would spend around $70m on advertising during the campaign.
While the spend figure rankings are by individual campaigns rather than the party’s spend as a whole, inside the top 50, the UAP only featured four times at number seven, 23, 29 and 40.
By comparison, the Labor party also featured four times in at five, six, 22 and 44, while it could be said the Liberal party got what it paid for, only having two spots in the top 50 and suffering a significant defeat at the polls.
Both spots were in the top 10 at number two and nine, but were the 15 and 30 second versions of the same campaign.
Of the top 50 spots, 12 of them were political in nature.
May’s top TV spenders
The advertisers who Canda estimates spent the most with the free to air TV networks last month.
1. Australia Electoral Commission: How to vote correctly
The Australian Electoral Commission beat out all of the parties in both spend and ad length. Its 60 second ad was played 1,473 times. The lowest amount of spots in the top five despite being in the top position, it shows that the AEC invested heavily in prime time spots across primary channels.
Data shows it had more primary channel spots compared to secondary in all markets aside from SA, while the peak and off-peak placement was closely matched. In WA the AEC actually favoured peak slots.
Creatively it delivered the message on how to vote on Australia’s extraordinarily complicated ballot papers in a relatively simplistic manner using clay animations, although the fact it had to use a 60 second spot speaks volumes.
2. Australian Liberal Party: There’s a hole in your budget, dear Labor
The Liberals pushed hard with this campaign, with both the 15 and 30 second versions making it into the top 10 by spend. The tune also made it on to radio as well and became the unofficial party anthem for the election campaign along with the catch cry ‘It won’t be easy under Albanese’.
It also released a ‘club remix’ on YouTube.
Pointing out Labor’s flaws as opposed to pushing the Liberal’s credentials became a theme for the party. The Labor party took an each-way bet, starting off with pushing its credentials and making Anthony Albanese more likeable before pointing out the Liberal’s flaws.
Unfortunately for the ALP, its strategy didn’t work, despite a heavy push towards peak and primary channel placement on this, their favoured TV campaign.
Commentary on YouTube was less than flattering, with one lamenting that “It’s kind of funny how even though your party leader is an ad man, your ads are abysmal.”
3. Uber Eats: Tonight I’ll be eating (The Irwins and Paris Hilton)
The next instalment of the hugely successful ‘Tonight I’ll be eating…’ series from Special Group which has previously featured stars like Mark Hamill, Patrick Stewart, Hamish and Andy, Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Krygios, Cardi B, Sascha Baron Cohen and more. The series has become somewhat of the ‘must star in’ for celebrities around the world.
This iteration creates another crazy pairing of The Irwins and Paris Hilton at Australia Zoo, culminating in a python eating one of Paris Hilton’s chihuahuas, with Hilton then mangling the use of the word ‘crikey’.
4. Australian Pork: Pulled pork sliders
This latest campaign is part of the ‘Quickie’ initiative from Australian Pork, positioning pork as an easy meal.
Australian Pork continues the use of the ‘Get some pork on your fork’ catch phrase which is now well over a decade old. Created by Monty Noble while he was at The Brand Shop, Australian Pork moved with Noble as his foundation client when he started up Noble Brands Worldwide in 2012.
It also suggests pork cooked right is a highly instagrammable meal if the young woman in the spot is to be believed.
Influencers are a significant part of Australian Pork’s strategy having launched PorkStar to leverage “influential high end chefs, media and food professionals to change and drive the perception, value and preference of pork.”
5. Australian Labor Party: That’s not my job
Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison could be forgiven for having recurring nightmares about Hawaii. It was his trip to the US holiday spot during the disastrous ‘black summer’ Australian bushfires of 2019/20 that inspired this spot.
His departure to Hawaii while Australia burned resulted in the now infamous line in response to media questions on why he left Australia at such a crucial time. “I don’t hold a hose, mate,” he said. It was followed by the now arguably more infamous and repeatedly used (by Morrison himself) quote, “That’s not my job.”
Labor leans on the latter quote while using footage of a firefighter’s refusal to shake his hand when he offers it to him. As far as creating the impression that the then-Prime Minister was un-Australian, Labor was all but handed the campaign on a plate.
May’s highest rotation ads
The TV ads that ran the most
1. Mattel Barbie: Cutie Reveal
Barbie dresses up in animal costumes. Mattel has managed to take what most would consider to be an uncomfortable job (dressing up as an animal) and market it as a must-have Barbie figure.
The simple but obvious strategy of hitting off-peak hard to coincide with kids TV is proven in the fact that no region recorded more than 28 prime-time plays across a week, and even then, it was the Perth secondary channels.
2. Nurofen: Meltlets
Only just missing out on the top spot, Nurofen’s Meltlets campaign is standard fare for the brand. Person is injured, takes Nurofen, feels better. But this time, no water required.
Part of Reckitt Health Australia, Nurofen uses Momentum Creative and Zenith.
The campaign hit all regions relatively equally, favouring secondary channels.
3. Napisan Vanish: Clothes live longer with Vanish
Another Reckitt brand and the only 30 second spot to feature in this month’s top five. The campaign leans on the green opportunity Napisan Vanish can provide, but not in terms of the product’s ingredients.
Using Napisan Vanish helps remove tough stains which means you can keep your clothes longer rather than throwing them into landfill.
Melbourne and Brisbane were the focus markets with the first week of the campaign in Melbourne recording more peak plays than off-peak.
4. Australian Labor Party: That’s not my job
The campaign makes it into the most-played list for May as well, curiously, without airing in Perth.
It clearly didn’t matter with Perth turning red after the election with a 5.2% swing to Labor’s Patrick Gorman.
5. Pine O Cleen: Washing machine cleaner
Reckitt gets another brand on the most-played list, this time with cleaning brand Pine O Cleen and its washing machine cleaner that kills 99.9% of germs.
Reckitt’s investment which broadly followed the rest of the spots in this list (off peak and secondary heavy) had two outliers, with peak being favoured on secondary channels in both Sydney and Perth.
No surprises, just drops, on the Unmade Index
It will come as no shock to anyone who has even a brief interest in the markets that the Unmade Index has dropped further, this time almost 6%.
The Index now sits at a new all-time low of 610 with HT&E and Seven West Media leading the falls, dropping nearly 10% each. It means SWM now has a market cap under $600m.
Yesterday Wall St entered a bear market (a drop in the equity market of 20% from the most recent all-time high). CNBC reported that there have been 14 bear markets since World War II.
It led all sectors on the ASX finishing the day lower.
Two down, two to go
Half way through the working week already thanks to the public holiday, it’s time to leave you to get on with your Wednesday.
If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear it. You can contact Unmade on letters@unmade.media.
My colleague Tim Burrowes will be back with more tomorrow.
Stay well,
Damian
