Every week, Amárach and Future Proof Insights share exclusive findings from their PRIZM+ ad testing service showcasing best practice creative advertising in Ireland.
From the very first frame of Sidena’s 30-second ad, the audience is pulled into an unusually playful exploration of erectile dysfunction—flipping a typically taboo topic into something disarmingly relatable.
The ad opens with a man in a dressing gown, gazing downward towards the lens with a furrowed brow.
It's a shot that immediately captures and resonates as it feels “ultra-personal”.
While it’s not immediately clear what he’s looking at, but the camera angle, looking up at his expression, primes viewers for curiosity and quiet tension.
Engagement remains above average, with cognitive load low and memorisation high showing that the audience intrigued and encoding information efficiently, confusion and curiosity are the levers for the effective information encoding.
It opens with a series of men peering downward with worried expressions.
The repetition builds suspense, but the twist lands quickly: one man breaks into a smile as music reaches fever pitch, and brain responses follow suit.
We see peaks in emotion, alongside high memorisation which drives the overall Impact of the piece.
Viewers don’t just get the joke—they feel the shift.
As the ad builds, so does the emotional undercurrent.
We’re introduced to two more men, all sharing a similar downcast glance.
The repetition creates suspense—and then the payoff lands.
The third man’s face lights up with an unmistakable grin just as a euphoric swell of music kicks in.
At that exact moment, viewers’ brains follow suit. Emotion lifts. Engagement peaks.
And—critically—desire begins to climb. The audience isn’t just watching a man smile; they’re feeling it with him.
The story circles back to the first two characters, both now glowing with joy and gentle relief.
EEG data shows viewers riding a steady wave of approach motivation.
This is more than liking—it’s leaning in.
But the real magic moment comes when one of the men is joined by his partner. They share a glance that feels both silly and sincere, and here, across our respondents, there’s a subtle but meaningful spike in memorisation.
Her entrance and their interaction provide emotional resolution—and for many viewers, it locks in the story.
Throughout the ad, cognitive load stays within the sweet spot—hovering in the 50–70 range—indicating the message is clear and digestible.
A brief lift in processing demand occurs mid-way through, likely as viewers stitch together the unfolding punchline.
But it never tips into overload, nor does it drop low enough to suggest boredom or disengagement.
The rhythm is well-managed, like a joke told just right.
The final scene—Sidena’s pack shot paired with the voiceover “Things are looking up”—delivers one last neuro win. Memorisation metrics peak, emotional tone remains elevated, and viewers’ eyes are clearly drawn to both the branding and the cheeky tagline, as shown in the heatmaps.
This is the ad’s branding bullseye: high emotion, low load, strong impact.
So—did Sidena stick the landing? Despite its impact as a piece of entertainment, research found that recall of the brand name was notably weak.
While viewers responded positively to the humour and storytelling, very few were able to accurately remember the brand who created the advertisement.
The challenge here is that the audience has been so captivated by the viewing experience that the brand has got lost in the wash.
The end screen and brand reveal are too distant from the emotional peak and conclusion, meaning that the brand isn't framed as the solution to the problem.
Changing that final scene to anchor the brand in the “conceptual close” would significantly improve these results into longer term brand recall.
The creative runs the risk of falling into the trap of driving the category but not the brand.
For more insights from PRIZM+ on how neuroscience drives advertising impact, visit: https://www.futureproofinsights.ie/prizm-plus/
