Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Oh Henry!, Pizza Pizza and Wingstop: making money from the munchies

Opinion • Chiara Manco, January 2020

As cannabis is made legal in more countries, WARC’s Chiara Manco highlights three food brands that have targeted users effectively.

Tourism Québec: It’s Better Together

Case Study • Hearts & Science Montreal, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Best Use of Data, 2019

Canadian tourist board Tourisme Québec used an SEM strategy to increase Québec's visibility on search engines and grow interest in the state as a tourist destination.

Tim Hortons: The Away Game

Case Study • WARC Media Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Tim Hortons, the restaurant chain, leveraged a favourite pastime - hockey - with The Away Game campaign to revive love for the brand in Canada.

Volkswagen: Jump on the Wagen

Case Study • Annelise Donahue, WARC Media Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

When the USA failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, auto brand Volkswagen switched tactics, implementing a multi-channel campaign to drive awareness, opinion and consideration among football-loving Americans.

Can-Am Ryker: A ride like no other

Case Study • Touché!, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Channel Integration, 2019

Vehicle brand BRP took an unconventional approach to publicise the launch of its latest model to a younger target audience, teaming up with pop culture icons to increase awareness and drive trial.

GSK: Abreva - Reaching a Younger Audience through Mobile Video

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Silver, X (Global), 2019

Abreva, a cold sore medicine brand, launched an optimised digital video campaign on YouTube to successfully increase purchase intent among younger consumers in North America.

McDonald's Trick. Treat. Win! Campaign

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Silver, North America, 2019

Fast-food brand McDonald’s created an in-app promotion, based on scannable QR codes, to drive sales and engagement by leveraging Halloween in the US.

T-Mobile Tuesdays

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Gold, North America, 2019

Mobile operator T-Mobile’s multichannel activation, spearheaded by a Super Bowl ad, launched its partnership with fast-food brand Taco Bell, as part of a customer reward programme in the US.

Making sound decisions: How the strategic use of sound is the next frontier in effective marketing

Research Paper • Joe Sauer, Lauren McGuire and Nic Thomas, ESOMAR, Congress, 2019

Nissan, the car manufacturer, tested the use of sound to create an iconic 'sound experience' that would promote the brand identity of its electric vehicle portfolio in Asia, Europe and North America.

Canadian Down Syndrome Society: Endangered Syndrome

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Gold, Creative Strategy Lion, 2019

The Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS), a non-profit organization, created the Endangered Syndrome video campaign in North America to get people with Down syndrome put on the endangered species list.

Brand Purpose and Cinema

Research Paper • Doug Pulick, Sarah Barasch, Jennifer Friedlander and Fiona Blades, ARF Experiential Learning, AUDIENCExSCIENCE, April 2019

Using a new global study, NCM, a wholesaler, and ScreenVision, a media company, put cinema under the spotlight and compared its performance with all other media channels, from TV to digital.

Alibaba deepens its North American B2B offer

News • 25 July 2019

Alibaba has opened access to its B2B marketplace to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in North America, alongside new features to support the onboarding and marketing efforts of new suppliers, or sellers, on the site.

Forum: Do millennials differ in terms of survey participation?

Research Paper • Oriol J. Bosch, Melanie Revilla and Ezequiel Paura, International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 61, No. 4, 2019, pp. 359-365

Millennials have been the focus of quite some research because of their differences with older cohorts.

Coca-Cola: Share A Coke 1,000 Name Celebration

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Coca-Cola, the soft drinks brand, improved awareness of the increased numbers of names featured on its packaging by creating a unique song for every name.

Apple: The Rock X Siri — Dominate The Day

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Apple, a technology brand, created a short film on YouTube that showed Siri organisation Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's busy schedule to encourage users across China, Japan, Germany, the UK and the US to re-engage with Siri.

Four obstacles podcasting must tackle to take its seat at media’s top table

Article • Tom Webster, Admap, June 2019

Highlights four key obstacles in podcasting, derived from findings of the flagship study of consumer media and technology habits by Edison Research.

North America's best campaigns and companies 2019

Rankings • Rankings Articles, April 2019

Explore WARC’s pick of the North American campaigns, and agencies working on campaigns in the region, that performed best over the past year.

Casey House: Healing House

Case Study • SABRE Awards, North America, Multicultural Marketing, Gold, 2019

Casey House, a hospital specializing in HIV/AIDS, changed perceptions of HIV sufferers among the general public in the US and Canada by launching a HIV+ spa that offered treatments from people living with the disease.

Procter & Gamble: Always Fights to #EndPeriodPoverty

Case Study • SABRE Awards, North America, Corporate Social Responsibility, Gold, 2019

Always, the sanitary products brand, launched a campaign in the US and Canada to end period poverty among young girls, which resulted in 15 million pad donations.

5 Gum: Regrets to Fight Regrets

Case Study • Allison Arling-Giorgi, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Content Strategy, 2019

Confectionery brand 5 Gum used meaningful social media videos to appeal to young people emotionally and increase sales in the US.

2019's Best of the Best in North America and Latin America

News • 23 April 2019

BBDO New York and MediaCom Mexico City top the agency rankings in two new WARC Best of the Best reports which showcase the best campaigns and companies in North America and Latin America across creativity, effectiveness and media excellence.

Crocs: Snapchat Lens

Case Study • Megan Mills, Charlotte Robertson, Melanie Mahaffey, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Crocs, the casual footwear company, targeted millennials by capitalising on social media trends to build brand recognition in the US.

Burger King: Turning their tweets against them

Case Study • Jane Dorsett , Ellie Gogan-Tilstone, Jimmy George, WARC Awards, Silver, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Fast-food brand Burger King used social media to hijack a rival's product announcement and boost sales of its Spicy Nuggets in the US.

JetBlue: Get Packing!

Case Study • Jane Dorsett , Ellie Gogan-Tilstone, Lindsay Cardinale, WARC Awards, Silver, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Airline and travel company JetBlue, created a board game to stand out and become the first choice airline during the holiday season in the US.

Flanders Fields 14-18: The Mud Soldier

Case Study • Jakub Hodbod, Sander Janssen, Julie Frederickx, WARC Awards, Silver, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Flanders Fields used a social-by-design idea, amplified through effective paid social tactics, to reverse falling visits to the Flemish WWI battlefields.