Align, build and embed to drive a culture of creative effectiveness

A framework, launched today by WARC, LIONS and ANA, identifies the three levels a brand organization, regardless of sector or size, needs to develop to deliver a culture of creative effectiveness.

Why it matters

A new white paper, Building a Culture of Creative Effectiveness*, addresses how marketing leaders can build a culture where creative communications can be used to drive commercial outcomes and support the broader business agenda; and where creativity can be applied to build brands capable of sustained growth and resistant to margin erosion.

Introducing the ABE framework 

The framework is based on in-depth research and analysis of “performer” brands in WARC’s Rankings database, campaigns which have proven to be both creatively excellent and highly effective. WARC also analysed a “control” group of brands, to compare and contrast with the performer group and provide a balanced data set.

• Align: Agree vision for creative effectiveness with C-suite, and align on key performance metrics.
• Build: Build consistent operational systems and processes for creative effectiveness, using a common language.
• Embed: Share systems and beliefs with agency partners, and disperse the creative effectiveness agenda globally through the entire brand organization and beyond.
• Each layer in the ABE framework is made of two building blocks (six in all) that more specifically lay out the requirements for developing a culture of creative effectiveness.

Takeaways

• Without an institutionalised approach to creative effectiveness that is deeply embedded into the day to day of frontline marketers, brands are at the mercy of economic headwinds and unpredictable CEO belief systems.
• The journey towards creative effectiveness can begin with any of the building blocks and is rarely linear. Different brands will have different starting points and take different paths.
• The key to gaining alignment with the C-suite is to be able to speak in the language that they do, i.e. relate the creative effectiveness agenda to business metrics such as sales, profitability and shareholder value.

Key quote

“The more we research effectiveness, the clearer it becomes that it is a ‘team sport’, built on the efforts of multiple teams working together. It thrives when there is an aligned approach within the client organization, then a true partnership between a client and its agencies and other vendors. In short, culture is key” – David Tiltman, SVP Content at WARC.

*Building a culture of creative effectiveness is available to WARC clients. A sample of the white paper can be downloaded here.

You can also hear a discussion of the white paper this morning, as part of the Creative Impact content stream at Cannes Lions:  Creative Impact Unpacked: Building a Culture of Creative Effectiveness