What Makes A Good Ad Good?

Stealth planes. Dropping unidentified pods into fields around the country. Curious witnesses creeping closer for a look. Smoke, a brief glimpse of... something, and the words "drops, 11-6-9." Maybe you think this is a lame commercial (my husband does) and maybe it is. But it has me intrigued. I can't wait to see what is "dropping" today (my guess the new Google phone since the words Google and Verizon appear in the fine print). And isn't interest in the product the biggest indicator of a successful advertisement? Or is it entertainment? Obviously, the best commercials do both - entertain, make you think or laugh or go huh?, and an ad that sticks with you isn't worth it if you only remember because you hated it. There are lots of commercials I think are great, but I can't say that I've ever seen one and thought "I really want that" unless it was something I'd have bought anyway. But there have been commercials that are so awful I have decided to never buy those products (not that I can think of a single example right now, but I know there have been some). So maybe aiming for the entertainment angle is not necessarily worth it for advertisers - go big and go risky and you may just alienate more potential customers than you gain.