James Hurman, Admap columnist and founder of Previously Unavailable, has just posted his annual 'Cases for Creativity' essay. And he draws some interesting conclusions about what is 'working' in marketing.

In 'Cases for Creativity', posted on the Gunn Report, James identifies campaigns in the previous year that have won both Cannes Gold and Effie Gold.

This year there are 12 – listed below. The case studies for eight of these are already on Warc (follow the links to read the full cases).

Based on these cases, James described 2014 as 'The year of share'. "Effectiveness continues to defy media categorisation – but the one thing this diverse group of ideas do have in common is that people saw fit to share them," he commented.

"The wonderful meritocracy of sharing is that you simply can't buy shares. The only way you get them is by doing something truly great. Something that people – normal, ordinary people – find so compelling that they pass it on."

Of course, this finding very much reflects the findings of the Peter Field/Les Binet analysis of IPA cases. They argued that creatively driven 'brand fame' campaigns drove disproportionately large business effects.

It also supports the challenge behind our Warc Prize for Social Strategy. If there is a link between 'buzz' and effectiveness, how do brands go about proving it when setting up metrics for a campaign? The Prize looks for case studies where brands and agencies have made that step – looking beyond the social measures that are so common in the industry and pinning down a commercial impact.

And if you haven't heard it already, the webinar we ran earlier this week on last year's winners of the Warc Prize for Social Strategy contains some great hints and tips on how to meet that challenge.

The 12 cases for creativity for 2014 are as follows:

  1. "A Boy And His Atom" for IBM by Ogilvy & Mather, USA

  2. "Baby&Me" for Evian by BETC Paris, France

  3. "Bentley Burial" for Brazilian Association of Organ Transplants by Leo Burnett Tailor Made, Brazil

  4. "Catch a Million" for DB Breweries by Saatchi & Saatchi, New Zealand

  5. "Dumb Ways to Die" for Metro Trains Melbourne by McCann Melbourne, Australia

  6. "Happy ID for Coca-Cola" by McCann Erickson, Peru

  7. "Mistakes" for New Zealand Transport Agency by Clemenger BBDO Wellington, New Zealand

  8. "Potable Water Generator" for Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología by Mayo Publicidad, Peru

  9. "Share A Coke" for Coca-Cola by Ogilvy & Mather Sydney, Australia

  10. "The 1000 Miles of Luca" for Consejo Publicitario Argentino by TBWA, Argentina

  11. "The Autocomplete Truth" for UN Women by Memac Ogilvy – DXB, United Arab Emirates

  12. "The Unlaunch of the Volkswagen Kombi" for Volkswagen by Almap BBDO, Brazil