Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Article • WARC Best Practice, January 2020

Details how marketers can use personalisation effectively, including which media work best and why a two-way conversation with the consumer is essential.

Burberry teams with Tencent for ‘social retail’

News • 03 August 2020

Luxury fashion brand Burberry has partnered with Tencent’s WeChat to combine the physical and social media worlds in a new way; a ‘social retail’ store in Shenzhen is the result.

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.

SAP: The Future of Marketing has Feelings

Case Study • Case Studies on WARC, 2019

German software corporation SAP launched the new category of Experience Management with a campaign that used psychographic targeting to reach its audience of business travellers.

How to deliver personalised content experiences to consumers

Article • Leigh Gammons, WARC Best Practice, July 2020

Best practice advice for brands creating and managing personalised marketing campaigns.

Why cheap, low-quality giveaways are bad for brands: Quality of freebies drives consumer attitudes, but personalization can help

Research Paper • Samuel Stäbler, Journal of Advertising Research, Digital First, July 2020

Companies employ giveaways primarily to create awareness and strengthen their brands. Little academic research has examined the effectiveness of giveaways, however.

In Japan, e-commerce goes beyond the online storefront

News • 07 July 2020

With the strange economic shock unleashed by Covid-19 now starting to materialise, the fortunes of some companies operating in Japan, show how e-commerce is adapting to fill a void left by physical retail.

OMO Sensitive: Tough on Stains. Gentle on Skin.

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Anna Sadykova, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2020

Laundry detergent brand OMO Sensitive adopted a multi-channel approach in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to win share and boost take-up among new mothers.

OMO: The 100 Stains Challenge

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Anna Sadykova, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2020

Laundry detergent brand OMO harnessed the power of data-driven targeting to deliver its stain removal message to mums, increase consideration and boost usage in the Middle East.

Nissan Patrol: Conquer Everywhere

Case Study • Garrett Olexiuk, Bhaskar Bateja, Remie Abdo, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Bronze and Research Excellence Award, 2020

Car manufacturer Nissan Middle East used a multichannel, personalised data-driven strategy to relaunch its Patrol marque in the United Arab Emirates.

Mastercard: Start More First Times

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2020

Financial services corporation Mastercard boosted transactions and brand visibility through a content series in the United Arab Emirates.

Nissan Altima: Bio-Colour

Case Study • Garrett Olexiuk, Bhaskar Bateja, Remie Abdo, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2020

Car manufacturer Nissan Middle East attracted younger buyers to its Altima marque by giving them an opportunity to personalise their car colour based on their DNA, improving the brand's tech credentials and boosting sales in the United Arab Emirates.

Yas Theme Parks: Summer Says Yas!

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Mario Morby, Prabhakar Iyer, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Entrant, 2020

Abu Dhabi resort attraction Yas Island created a multi-channel character-based campaign to improve visitation levels and increase revenues.

Four ways TV content providers can improve user experience

Article • Alex Brownsell, Event Reports, Mediatel Videoscape Europe online conference, June 2020

Understanding TV viewer personas and how these will shape the future of content discovery.

Six new retail formats for the post COVID-19 era

Article • Emma Chiu, WARC COVID-19 Series, June 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended retail, and the post-pandemic era will see several new retail trends emerge.

Humanised experience: using data to create a more authentic brand engagement

Opinion • Kieron McCann, June 2020

A coronavirus-driven lurch to digital means that brands will inevitably increase their focus on data-driven personalisation.

Frito-Lay: Smile with Lay's

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, North America, 2020

Lay's, a crisp brand, promoted joy across the US by releasing limited edition packaging that featured the smiles of real people and encouraging people to take smiling selfies with them.

Helzberg Diamonds: Ordained store associates help customers get hitched at Helzberg

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, North America, 2020

Helzberg Diamonds, a jewellery retailer, created a portal that allowed its associates to get ordained to let the brand host its own wedding ceremonies in order to reach newly engaged couples in the US.

Making a case for retention marketing in China

Research Paper • Elijah Whaley, Parklu, WARC Trends, May 2020

In China, customer acquisition costs (CAC) are outpacing customer lifetime values (LTV) and the reality is, there is little companies can do to reduce CAC online as the gatekeepers (social/e-commerce platforms and KOLs) hold the keys to consumer attention, but Parklu believes a focus on LTV can countervail CAC.

Advertising in 2030: Expert predictions on the future of advertising

Article • Kate Scott-Dawkins and Mark Syal, Research on WARC, May 2020

With so little certainty around what brand marketers should expect over the coming decade, this research sets out to identify the boundaries of expectation and the areas of conventional wisdom and agreement.

Luxury car brands in India go digital in bid to save sales

News • 04 May 2020

Car sales in India have collapsed with even Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest manufacturer, reporting that it did not sell a single unit in the domestic market in April, yet some luxury brands are finding innovative ways to fight back.

Building brand loyalty with Indonesia Gen Z’s desire for continuous gratification

Article • Bening Rara, WARC Exclusive, April 2020

Ogilvy’s Bening Rara highlights the role of continuous gratification in establishing a connection with Indonesia’s promotion-savvy youth.

ŠKODA: Hesitation

Case Study • Pauline Dunas, WARC Awards, Bronze, Effective Social Strategy, 2020

Automotive brand SKODA created a campaign tailored around the specific insights of the local market to challenge erroneous brand perceptions in France.

Amazon Prime Reading: Everyone is an Amazing Book

Case Study • Suzzane Zhang, WARC Awards, Silver, Effective Social Strategy, 2020

Prime Reading, a part of Amazon Prime's subscription-based service, wanted to revive the Chinese people's love of reading and drive purchases from its Prime Reading website.

German Rail: No Need to Fly – Around the World in Germany

Case Study • Isabelle Schnellbuegel, Carla Funk, WARC Awards, Gold, Effective Social Strategy, 2020

Rail operator German Rail created a data-driven social media campaign based on CO2 consumption to publicise its summer promotional tickets and domestic travel in Germany.

Personalisation