Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Article • WARC Best Practice, April 2019

Examines behaviours of US millennials, the first digital-native generation, and explains how marketers can best connect with them as a generation that are characterised by diversity and focus on living life to the full in the here and now.

How brands can effectively engage young consumers

Article • Joeri Van den Bergh, WARC Best Practice, June 2018

Discusses key characteristics that can help marketers prioritise strategies to bond with the up-and-coming consumer generations and outlines case studies from across the world of brands that are successfully connecting with NextGen consumers.

How rethinking qualitative research can help brands understand Generation Z

Article • Emily Goldhill, WARC Best Practice, June 2018

Livity, a youth marketing agency, distils what it has learned from over 17 years’ experience about how to effectively research and understand young people.

How to market effectively to Centennials

Article • Mark Inskip, WARC Best Practice, July 2016

This article provides marketers with guidance on how to engage Centennials, young people aged between 0 and 19, who already occupy one third of the global population and who have decidedly different attitudes than their predecessors, Millennials.

How to market effectively to Millennials

Article • Ola Mobolade, WARC Best Practice, May 2016

This article offers best practice advice about how marketers can engage and impress the elusive Millennial demographic.

PepsiCo seeks early-adopter benefits from tapping premium mobile advertising on Quibi

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, CES, January 2020

PepsiCo, the food and beverage company, is seeking to engage on-the-go Millennials with ads shown alongside premium mobile-first content.

What we know about marketing on Snapchat

Article • WARC Best Practice, January 2020

Provides marketers with guidance on how to engage digital natives with visual and compelling content on Snapchat.

'Unkickable' Timberland boots glorifies the idea of unfinished business

Case Study • Jenny Chan, Case Studies on WARC, ROI Festival, October 2019

Timberland built on the past success of its unusual China marketing campaign to promote its boots among young Chinese consumers, with videos that mostly avoided the faces of wearers in favour of shots of the products, and counter-intuitively stressed that the individuality of the boots increases with age.

A guide to Little Red Book (XiaoHongShu)

Article • Lauren Hallanan, Miro Li, and Elaine Wong, Research on WARC, November 2019

This report co-authored by The Meet Group and Double V Consulting specifies what makes Little Red Book (Red for short, or 小红书XiaoHongShu in Chinese) distinct for marketers, how the UGC-heavy platform bounced back from its July 2019 scandal, and how to create the right style of content for it.

Understanding the mobile habits of Indonesia’s Gen Z

News • 17 December 2019

By the end of this year, Gen Z is expected to comprise almost one third of the world’s population, and in Indonesia, the number of active Gen Z users on mobile is rising 25% faster than older active users (aged 25+), according to App Annie.

‘Keep kissing, we can win!’ MAC Cosmetics game-themed lipsticks turn consumers into would-be Chinese heroines

Article • Jenny Chan, Case Studies on WARC, October 2019

MAC (魅可) revised its brand appeal in the China market in an exemplary cross-industry collaboration example by simultaneously tying in with a Tencent-owned game and using celebrity pull to draw in young consumers.

TikTok: Understanding the only global social platform

Article • Riki Li, WARC Exclusive, December 2019

An introductory guide to Chinese social video app TikTok, including how brands can use the platform to engage with ‘fans’ and consumers.

Content strategy insights from the 2019 WARC Awards

News • 10 December 2019

The year’s most effective content strategies build audiences for the long term, feature tangible elements, and tap younger audiences’ desire for self-expression – here’s what you need to know.

Effective Content Strategy Report: Lessons from the 2019 WARC Awards

Article • WARC Exclusive, December 2019

Analysing trends in content strategies with lessons for marketers drawn from the 'Effective Content Strategy' category of the 2019 WARC Awards.

Scrum like the cool kids: Depop’s marketers think like a product team

Article • Sam Peña-Taylor, Event Reports, Festival of Marketing, October 2019

Looks at the growth of youth marketplace Depop – described as a combination of Instagram and eBay.

Department for Education: Fire It Up – Effecting a seismic reframe of apprenticeships

Case Study • MRS Awards, Finalist, Jeremy Bullmore Award for Creative Development Research, 2019

The Department for Education, a UK government department, promoted apprenticeships across the UK by launching a mixed methodology research study that facilitated its campaign.

Clear: Shopper Pulse

Case Study • Abhishek Gupta, Kitty Faustino, Michael Alegre, Carlos Corrales, Martha Gonzalez, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Best Use of Data, 2019

Unilever-owned dandruff shampoo Clear ran a data-led mobile campaign to carve out market share in the Philippines.

Revive: Salted Lemon – Beat the Heat

Case Study • Yen Pham, Khiem Nguyen Danh, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Best Use of Data, 2019

Sports drink Revive employed a targeted campaign based on weather patterns on mobile, TV and social media, to persuade young consumers in Vietnam to try its Salted Lemon flavour and spur market growth in Vietnam.

Sunsilk: Tap Tap Game

Case Study • Tricia Cruz, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Tech, 2019

Sunsilk, one of Unilever's top-selling hair care products in the Philippines, wanted to amplify its marketing efforts with the primary objective of sustaining brand love among 'Sunsilk girls'.

KFC: Colonel KI

Case Study • Benjamin Condit, Yi Liu, Jerry Perez, Sienna Zhang, WARC Media Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Fast-food brand KFC created a results-prediction algorithm, Colonel KI, and placed it in livestreams to deepen its connection to gamers and e-sports in China.

Vans: Not Just One Creator

Case Study • Jessica Perrin, WARC Media Awards, Grand Prix and Personalisation Special Award, Best Use of Data, 2019

Vans, the footwear and clothing brand, used influencers to successfully broaden its appeal among teens and young adults in the US, generating revenue and brand awareness.

McDonald's Singapore: Capacity-Based McDelivery 2.0

Case Study • Elisa Chua, WARC Media Awards, Bronze, Effective Use of Tech, 2019

Fast-food brand McDonald's partnered with food delivery aggregator GrabFood to fulfil demand for additional delivery orders when its McDelivery riders were fully occupied in Singapore.

TRESemmé: Online to offline success

Case Study • Tricia Cruz, Kitty Faustino, Abhishek Gupta, WARC Media Awards, Shortlisted, Best Use of Data, 2019

Hair care brand TRESemmé used polygon mapping and rich-media programmatic to target fashion- and beauty-driven millennial women and launch its Detox and Nourish range in the Philippines.

Pond's: Mineral Clay Facial Foam

Case Study • Eugenia Teo, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Best Use of Data, 2019

To set itself apart in Indonesia's congested skincare market, award-winning skincare product maker Pond's launched a unique clay facial wash.

Pond's X Maudy Ayunda

Case Study • Avitasya Febryani, Fadila Hafsah, Mikhal Anindita, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Best Use of Data, 2019

Skincare brand Pond's took a precision-marketing approach to support an influencer partnership, in a bid to revamp its image to halt declining market share among young women in Indonesia.

Millennials & youth