System1 Reveals Which Cannes Shortlisted Film Ads the Public Likes Best

System1, the creative effectiveness platform, today revealed the public’s most-liked Cannes shortlisted Film ads. System1 tested the US and UK nominees with its Test Your Ad platform, which measures viewers’ emotional responses to creative to predict its commercial impact.

The National Lottery took home the top spot for its 2022 Christmas ad, which System1 supported with pre-testing. Others on the list include Popcorners’ debut Super Bowl ad and inclusive creative from Apple and P&G launched around International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month respectively.

The list is ranked according to System1’s Star Rating, a predictive and validated metric from 1.0 to 5.9 that demonstrates an ad’s potential to drive long-term market share growth. Ads that entertain and elicit positive emotions like happiness and surprise achieve a higher Star Rating than those that don’t make people feel anything or focus too strongly on negative emotions like fear or sadness.

The top 10 ads are:

1. The National Lottery – 'A Christmas Love Story' (5.7-Stars)

2. McDonald’s – 'Raise Your Arches' (4.7-Stars)

3. Coca-Cola – 'Masterpiece' (4.5-Stars)

4. Popcorners – 'Breaking Good' (3.9-Stars)

5. Apple – 'The Greatest' (3.8-Stars)

6. John Lewis – 'For All Life’s Moments' (3.5-Stars)

7. Procter & Gamble – 'The Name' (3.5-Stars)

8. Marmite – 'Baby Scan' (3.3-Stars)

9. Apple – 'Action Mode' (3.3-Stars)

10. John Lewis – 'The Beginner' (3.3-Stars)

“It’s great to see a campaign that System1 supported at the top of the list with a near-perfect score, as well as other ads that apply best practices from our research, like the McDonald’s spot leveraging its distinctive assets and ads bringing the experiences of under-represented groups into the spotlight,” said Jon Evans, chief customer officer at System1. “Many of this year’s Cannes shortlisted ads are both creative and well-liked – the perfect inspiration for brands looking to make commercially effective work.”

To learn more about Test Your Ad, visit here.