Leading auto makers assembled at the New York International Auto Show for Nielsen’s annual Automotive Advertising Awards on April 4th. Nielsen’s winner for most effective auto advertisement was Chevrolet.

Executive Vice President of Nielsen Global Automotive, Ian Beavis, also presented awards to Acura, Ford, Lexus, and Toyota.

Kevin Mayer, Director of Global Chevrolet Marketing, says “it is very exciting to win Nielsen’s best in show award.”

Ian Beavis said it won because it was, “a very emotional ad — clearly cut through — appealed to people on an emotional level — but it had a message of frankly, Chevy being part of the fabric of life.”

Beavis went on to say that he believes the quality of advertising has gone up and that there is more variety. What he finds troubling about advertising is that “cut throughs are at about 20%” which means that people do not remember 80% of all the ads out there correctly.

Effective advertising does not usually come naturally and requires considerable effort and strategic placement of brand icons.

Mayer stressed that it is important for companies to be consistent in their message and the way media strategies are employed. He added that Chevy listens to their viewers to determine what their winning concepts are.

Beavis hopes that Nielsen will continue to teach the automotive industry how to make quality ads through their collaboration.

AOL is also partnering with Nielsen in their attempt to mirror TV advertising.