The 2011 New York Auto Show has been full of surprises in new car announcements, but as we mentioned earlier this week the auto show has more than just announcements—they also have awards. Nielsen, a respected name in the advertising industry and responsible for rating and measuring the success for advertisements, award their top awards in automotive advertising last week during the 2011 New York Auto Show. The 5th Annual Nielsen Automotive Ad of the Year Awards are made up of several categories including Best Green Ad, Best Sales Event Ad, Luxury Campaign of the Year, Spanish TV Advertiser of the Year and, what can only be compared to a best in show award, Ad of the Year.

2012 Kia Soul

2012 Kia Soul

As you might have guessed from the Title, Kia did well in the awards category by bring home the Ad of the Year for their Hamster commercial spots. It is doubtful that anyone hasn’t seen them at least once and part of the reason is that they have been around for two years. To be specific the Hamsters were introduced to launch the Kia Soul back in 2009. So far there isn’t any sign of their popularity fading. If you are wondering how Nielsen comes to the Ad of the Year conclusion, it is from compiling response data from 2.5 million U.S. viewers, surveyed from 24 different networks. All you had to do to be eligible was have an ad that started running in 2010.

The five major awards went to:

  • Ad of the Year: Kia Soul
  • Best Green Ad: Ford Fiesta
  • Best Sales Event Ad: Ford ‘Swap Your Ride’
  • Luxury Campaign of the Year: Mercedes-Benz SLS ‘Triumphant’
  • Spanish TV Advertiser of the Year: Toyota

 

Check out the winning videos over on our partner site, SocialCarNews.com. Then be sure to come on back to AllSmallCars.com and see the rest of our 2011 New York Auto Show coverage. 

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