Walmart, Target Garner Top Spots in ABX Advertising Rankings for August

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. landed the top spot in television advertising effectiveness for August with its “Lean on me Hurricane Harvey” television ad, according to the ABX Advertising Benchmark Index. Other top scorers in ad effectiveness for the month included Target Corp., Kohl’s Inc. and CVS Crest.

The top retailers ran 651 new ads in August 2017, which was a higher volume of ads compared to past months. For the second month in a row, the highest overall ABX Index score was for Walmart at 140 and the lowest was Target at 55. The firm’s consumer panel rates the marketing of each ad on 15 variables and the ABX Index score measures overall ad effectiveness with a score of 100 equaling “average effectiveness.” The categories Awareness — or brand linkage — and Message scores are determined by audience impact, which is measured by the Reputation and Call to Action categories.

“Most effective” ads in August included Walmart, whose television ad for Hurricane Harvey came in at 162 percent for Message and Reputation, while its Gender Equality Index scores for all sexes and intent to act or “Call to Action” were above average by 50 percent to 100 percent. The ad ranks in the top 1 percent of 125,000 ABX-tested ads.

Kohl’s ranked number one in radio for its “Right now at Kohl’s Friends and Family, take an extra 20 percent off” ad, which was played back-to-back to make a 60-second spot. Its high Reputation score of plus-52 percent was above the norm; its Talk about it score, plus-77 percent; and its Intent to Recommend or Contact Company score was up plus-62 percent.

In the digital space, Target’s “Target School List Assist” was ranked number one, as “the digital animated spot itself is bright, fun and extremely easy to understand,” according to the report. Its Reputation score is plus-108 percent; Message at plus-33 percent; Intent to Recommend at plus-87 percent; Talk about it, plus-70 percent; and Go to the Web to learn more, plus-67 percent.

In print advertising, Kohl’s secured the number-one spot with its “We’re here for you with the best brand and savings” advertisement.

Aimed at Millennials, the print ad garnered clear Message scores at plus-25 percent; high Reputation scores at plus-49 percent; Intended Action at plus-41 percent above the norm and plus-38 percent for Intent to Purchase.

For Free-Standing Inserts, CVS earned the number-one spot via its “Best Whitening and Enamel Repair” ad. Its Message score was plus-30 percent above the norm; Reputation, plus-55; and Action, plus-37. The ad had the highest Intent to Purchase at 139 percent above average.

No outdoor advertisements were seen this month, the company said.

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