Analysis of the ten main challenges facing the marketing industry in 2013 and the effectiveness of social media were by a wide margin the two top issues for Warc's European audience over the last 12 months.

Warc readership statistics have revealed that the Warc Trends Toolkit 2013 was the most sought after research paper of the year for European users while the Seriously Social Warc Trends Report came in a close second.

The former report distilled the smartest new thinking and best practice in marketing into a guide for the year ahead and focused on the ten main issues facing the industry combined with advice on ways to meet them.

Based on approximately 800 recent case studies on Warc that contained a social media element, the social trends report outlined the key issues facing social media marketers, including emerging patterns in channel selection and budgeting.

For more details about the most read papers on Warc in 2013 on other topics, visit our Most Read page.

Coming in third in terms of European page views was original research into the role of  neuroscience in marketing, which examined various techniques for measuring implicit responses to behavioural tests as well as their effectiveness and cost.

Coverage of entries to the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lions awards proved popular and was the fourth most-read paper in Europe.

This analysis, conducted by Warc, found that although social media was the most popular media channel, traditional channels, in particular television and outdoor, were still a key feature of shortlisted campaigns.

Finally, Warc's Innovation Casebook, which included case studies drawn from the Warc Prize for Innovation, made up the top five articles.

It argued that although technological change is creating new opportunities for brands to communicate with consumers, there are also examples of brands that have found innovative solutions that are not tech-based.

Data sourced from Warc