by Mandy & Jon (@mandyldewaal). We don’t know who you are. We don’t know what you want. But if you are looking for to read a new column on global advertising, we can tell you we don’t have money to pay you to do this. But what we do have is a very particular set of skills. Skills we have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make us a nightmare for people like you…
Woah!
Hang on a moment. That’s all Liam Neeson. You know Neeson. Irish actor. Once went out with Helen Mirren. Sixty-something action hero. Been acting since he was 11. Neeson of Schindler’s List and the biopic Michael Collins and Les Misérables and Star Wars. But let’s not go near The Grey, no ways. [Neeson — what the hell were you thinking?]
Big mover
It turns out that Neeson is Hollywood’s big mover. After that incredibly threatening monologue from Taken [“I don’t know who you are…”] small wonder big Li can sell ice to Eskimos.
Data from global research firm, Nielsen, shows that the man who was Bad Cop/Good Cop in The Lego Movie is not only the most likeable celebrity endorser, but is most likely to help brands move their products.
Great news for Supercell Games, the makers of Clash of Clans, which used Neeson in its television commercial which premiered this year during the US Super Bowl — that advertising blockbuster event. Super Bowl XLIX crashed the record books by achieving a staggering 114.4m viewers.
Smashed and crashed
The multi-millions watched as raging barbarians and great giants smashed and crashed each other until Neeson’s opponent — BigBuffetBoy85 — trounced the acting legend’s clan, which of course made AngryNeeson52 spit out: “I don’t know you, BigBuffetBoy85, but if you think you can humiliate me and take my gold…” Ah yes. You know exactly where this ad’s going next, now don’t you?
This is a fall-on-the-floor funny production, but we’re not plot spoilers, so watch the ad yourself. At the very least it is guaranteed to raise a modest chuckle. But don’t believe us — since it first went live earlier this year, this ad has ratcheted up over 54m views on YouTube.
AngryNeeson52 got a 78% likeability score for this commercial. In case you’re wondering which bankable stars follow Neeson in Nielsen’s quarterly survey, here’s the short list: Pierce Brosnan took place second with a 75% likability rating. He was followed by Matthew McConaughey (74% likability).
Money well spent?
VentureBeat reckons that Supercell Games spent some US$9m to air the ad during the Super Bowl. Was that money well spent?
In late January, days before the Super Bowl, Clash of Clans came in as the No. 38th most downloaded app on iPhone, according to market-tracking firm App Annie,” VentureBeat reports. “On Feb. 1, the day of the football game, Clash of Clans shot up the charts to No. 29. By Groundhog Day [Feb. 2], it was No. 24.”
By the end of May 2015, Android Headlines reports that the app was “the number one game among all apps/games in App Annie’s top app matrix in the grossing list for 80 of 101 countries it analyzes.” Clash of Clans, writes Android Headlines, was making US$5m a day.
And on that golden goose, this is Jon Pienaar and Mandy de Waal signing off. We’re MarkLives.com’s new Global Ad Geeks. Read us. Because if you don’t… We will look for you… We will find you… And we will read this column to you out loud.
Read more:
- Liam Neeson Can Move Product, Win You Over in AdAge.
- Liam Neeson has a very particular set of product-endorsing skills in Fortune.
- SoftBank raises stake in ‘Clash of Clans’ developer Supercell in com.
Mandy de Waal and Jon Pienaar are writers, and are the co-founders of Jo!Ma Media — a company that creates kief content.
Roll credits!
[Thanks to GreatAds — that collection of fine ad campaigns — for this list]:
Title: “Revenge” :60
Client: Supercell
Ad agency: Barton F. Graf 9000
Chief creative officer/founder: Gerry Graf
Executive creative director/partner: Scott Vitrone
Executive creative director/partner: Ian Reichenthal
Copywriter/art director: Ross Fletcher
Copywriter/art director: Mark Bielik
Head of production: Josh Morse
Account director: Kate Faux
Account supervisor: Michael Andreozzi
Business affairs director: Jennifer Pannent
Production company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
President: David Zander
Executive producer: Scott Howard
Producer: Kate Sutherland
Psyop
Director: Fletcher Moules,
Animation director: Dan Vislocky
Managing director: Neysa Horsburgh
Executive producer: Amanda Miller
Producer: Lucy Clark
VFX supervisor: Shannon Alexander
Editorial: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Gavin Cutler
Assistant editor: Pamela Petruski
Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
Music: Butter.
Owner/CCO: Andrew Sherman
Executive producer: Ian Jefferies
Producer: Ryan Faucett
Mix: Heard City
Audio engineer: Philip Loeb
Sound design: Brian Emrich
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