Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about creativity and effectiveness

Article • WARC Best Practice, June 2020

Explores current thought and reading on the connection between creativity and effectiveness, a relationship for which there is compelling evidence, especially in terms of creating brand fame: a driver of long-term performance.

Scoot: Go Yellow! Escape the Ordinary

Case Study • Fiona Huang, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Scoot, the low-cost airline, championed its signature yellow brand colour and its fun, sassy spirit to build brand visibility and preference in Singapore.

Lexus: Find Your Unbeaten Path

Case Study • Terence Ling, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Luxury vehicle brand Lexus ran a data-driven campaign for its UX crossover SUV that used personalised test drives to engage adventurous urbanites in Hong Kong.

Coca-Cola: Coke2Home

Case Study • Harshvardhan Sahni, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Soft drink giant Coca-Cola used a home delivery service in a behaviour-changing sponsorship campaign for the ICC World Cup in India.

Zomato: How Zomato won the game before the game

Case Study • Tushar Handa, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Food delivery app Zomato ran a gamified, multi-channel campaign targeting young male cricket fans in India to drive sales, user acquisition, engagement and regional penetration.

Fevikwik: Fix it or forfeit it

Case Study • Divya Agarwal, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Adhesive brand Fevikwik used TV, digital and social media to drive behaviour change and increase brand scores on salience, likeability, and brand appeal in India.

Harpic: Overcoming India's Toilet Divide

Case Study • Jitender Dabas, Kush Anand, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Toilet-cleaner brand Harpic used a multi-channel campaign to encourage behaviour change and unlock demand for the brand in rural India.

Tang: Tang Gets It Done

Case Study • Maan Bernardino-Dominguez, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Powdered drink brand Tang employed a TV, radio and digital strategy to target relaxed parents in order to rebuild perceived value and protect its user base in the Philippines.

Singtel: Only True Fans Get It

Case Study • Amanda Lim, Jacob Wright, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Telco Singtel took to trolling to boost take-up of its services in Singapore.

Fortis Hospitals: Honor the Donor

Case Study • Saumya Tyagi, Ankit Singh, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Fortis, the chain of hospitals, launched the first ever organ donor symbol to tackle the cultural taboo against organ donation in India.

McDonald's: Put the 'BIG' back in 'BIG MAC'

Case Study • Sarthak Ranka, Kunal Roy, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

McDonald's Malaysia targeted Gen Z with a social media campaign to reverse the Big Mac's long-term decline by increasing brand love and sales.

Pantene: Break-Up Salon

Case Study • Owen Smith, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Hair care brand Pantene leveraged China's Singles' Day shopping event to get consumers' attention with their Breakup Salon brand experience.

UCash & Shwapno: Project AgroBanking

Case Study • Bitop Das Gupta, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Banking brand United Commercial Bank used video, on-ground activity and OOH to launch a platform that enabled farmers in Bangladesh to sell excess produce at a fair rate to retail chain Shwapno.

Times of India: Out & Proud – India Comes Out of The Closet

Case Study • Saad Khan, Trinolda Colaco, Jason Samuel, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

The Times of India newspaper sparked a nationwide movement to normalise LGBTQ rights with a special Out and Proud classifieds section in India.

McDonald's: The Surprise Chicken Expert

Case Study • Garron Chiu, Peter Rodenbeck, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Quick service restaurant brand McDonald's coupled the element of surprise with a smart multimedia strategy to drive mass awareness and trial in Hong Kong.

Nikkei: "Are You Starting to See It?"

Case Study • Yutaka Tsuda, Kei Okubo, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Financial newspaper The Nikkei took a multi-pronged approach to attract a new young audience in Japan's highly competitive media landscape.

P/S: The Adventure With King Leo and Friends

Case Study • Sang Lam, Anish Appukuttan, Soumya Ranjan Panda, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Toothpaste brand P/S harnessed the power of AI to encourage kids to brush their teeth, increasing consumption and boosting growth in Vietnam.

Quantifying the advertising-creativity assessments of consumers versus advertising professionals: Does it matter whom you ask?

Research Paper • Erik Modig and Micael Dahlen, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 60, No. 3, 2020, pp. 324-336

Research has shown the importance of advertising professionals' creativity assessments in achieving desired consumer responses.

Donner Sang Compter: Blood Unity

Article • AME Awards, AME Awards, Platinum, 2020

Donner Sang Compter, a brand that links potential blood donors with patients, innovated an outdated and irrelevant sect-driven ritual in Islam and made it relevant to modern day to encourage blood donations in Lebanon.

A masterclass in creative effectiveness

Opinion • WARC, August 2020

Welcome to our masterclass in creative effectiveness: a weekly series that will guide you through The Creative Effectiveness Ladder.

NTUC Income Content Amplification

Case Study • Case Studies on WARC, 2019

Insurance provider NTUC Income used native ads to drive consumers to its content marketing pages and build loyalty in Singapore.

Deep RiverRock: The Recycled Logo

Case Study • SABRE Awards, In2 EMEA, Best in Identity Branding, Gold, 2020

Deep RiverRock, a brand of water, removed its logo from its bottle and replaced it with 100% Recycled Bottle to promote its commitment to sustainability in a bold way in Ireland.

Back to basics: Ten marketing principles to pivot to the long-term

Article • Lee Roth, WARC Best Practice, July 2020

It’s no secret that short-term thinking in the marketing industry has led to a decline in effectiveness.

How creativity drives advertising effectiveness

Article • Research on WARC, July 2020

The crisis in creative effectiveness has been played out during the first several months of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

Pepsi: #Summergram

Case Study • Case Studies on WARC, 2019

Carbonated drinks giant Pepsi ran a multichannel campaign to increase sales in the US.