We wrote fairly extensively about Apple's U.S. advertising travails in 2013, a year in which the OG smartphone maker struggled to impress consumers with messages ranging from an emotional appeal about families to a more practical approach centered on the different things its devices can do.
The television ad tracking firm Ace Metrix has confirmed that indeed, Apple's television ads were bested by rival Samsung last year. However, the firm's year-end study finds that it was actually Amazon's Kindle brand that had the most effective advertising of the major mobile device companies.
Ace Metrix came to this conclusion by ranking the mobile brands based on their average Ace Scores, a composite number Ace Metrix gives to each of the U.S. TV ads it tracks based on what it learns polling consumers about the persuasiveness and watchability of the ad in question. Kindle's ads posted an average Ace Score of 578 compared to Samsung's 558 and Apple's 553.
Here's Ace Metrix's complete rankings of the mobile category. Samsung and Apple were also topped by Windows and LG:
Amazon's triumph in this category is no small victory. According to Ad Age's Data Center, the company spent $147.8 million on U.S. television advertising in 2012, a small fraction of Apple's $575.2 million outlay and the $451.8 million spent by Samsung.
Ace Metrix's report said Kindle won the category because its ads focused on the usability and simplicity of its products. These traits were prominent in its two most popular commercials, which touted Kindle's video tech support feature by showing an attractive woman named "Mayday Amy" coaching flabbergasted men on how to use their devices.
The report confirms Amazon's popularity after YouGov's BrandIndex released a January study finding that the "everything store" was the brand most highly regarded by U.S. consumers in 2013.
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