Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Strategy innovation: Mental models to help strategists embrace Renaissance thinking

Article • Quynh Nguyen, WARC Exclusive, July 2021

Instead of just focusing on the job and embracing departmental or specialist thinking, which is good for carrying out the task at hand, strategists can philosophise about deeper issues underlying businesses and people’s lives, and benefit from Renaissance thinking, says VMLY&R Vietnam’s Quynh Nguyen.

What prehistoric man and social media influencers have in common

Article • Jo Bowman, Event Reports, Nudgestock, June 2021

The rising role of influencers in consumers’ purchase decisions marks a return to a trend that’s actually as old as the earliest humans, the Nudgestock 2021 conference heard.

What brands can learn from how Headspace builds healthy routines

Article • Jo Bowman, Event Reports, Nudgestock, June 2021

The likelihood of affecting long-term behaviour change hinges largely on giving people the feeling very early on that they’re already making progress, according to Headspace.

Post-COVID expectations and behaviours: Gen Z and financial services

Article • Liz Baines, WARC Exclusive, July 2021

The financial lives of Gen Z have been thrown into turmoil by the COVID-19 pandemic.

WARC Talks 360: Rethinking brand for the rise of digital commerce

Article • WARC Webinars, July 2021

A series of webinars that explores the insights from WARC's whitepaper to help marketers plan the most effective approach to communications as they move into digital commerce.

Trygg-Hansa: Beach Mode

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Gold, 2021

Trygg-Hansa, an insurance company, educated parents in Sweden about the danger of their child drowning.

UAnimals: How 7 Photoshopped fields saved hundreds of real ones

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Gold, 2021

UAnimals, a conservation NGO, pressured the Ukrainian parliament to pass a bill to regulate the burning of dry grass.

Visa: #WhereYouShopMatters

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Gold, 2021

Visa, a financial services company, supported small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Middle East during the COVID-19 pandemic with its #WhereYouShopMatters campaign.

True Animal Protein Price Coalition: How Logic Seduced The Dutch To Pay More For Their Meat

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, Gold, 2021

The True Animal Protein Price Coalition (TAPAC), persuaded people in the Netherlands to pay more for meat by positioning a meat tax as 'paying a fair price'.

A science-based approach to understanding imagery

Article • Darren Bridger, Callum Gould, Keith Ewart, Ellie Lucas, Chris Christodoulou, James Digby-Jones, Research on WARC, July 2021

This report shares new research into selecting optimal imagery for campaigns using neuroscience techniques.

AstraZeneca: Neb Adventures

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Moushami Bhattacharya, Prajakta More, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2021

Multinational biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca created compelling animated content to enable the successful administration of essential medication to children in the UAE.

Does brand matter in digital commerce?

Article • WARC Exclusive, July 2021

Part of the WARC series ‘Rethinking brand for the rise of digital commerce’, this report addresses the importance of brand in digital commerce.

KFC Arabia: Shift+K+F+C

Case Study • Rifaat Fakih, Jennifer Fischer, Haikel Ben Hammouda , WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2021

Fast-food brand, KFC, went beyond the norm of giveaways and sponsorships to tap into the gaming culture and lift sales in Saudi Arabia.

Four consumer groups for 2023: “Predictors”, “New Romantics”, “Conductors” and “Impossibles”

Article • Jo Bowman, Event Reports, Lions Live, June 2021

Consumers have been understandably, and indelibly, changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but have coped with it in a variety of different ways.

Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO): Museum for rent

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

The Museum of Modern Art Bogotá (MAMBO), a museum, increased revenues and number of visits through a stunt that saw it being put up for rent in Colombia.

Sickkids Foundation: Sickkids VS

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

SickKids, a paediatric centre, launched its four-year campaign VS in Canada to raise money to build a new SickKids Hospital.

Hindustan Unilever Limited: The Shower

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Hindustan Unilever, a consumer goods company, nudged a nation of 1.3 billion, to become socially responsible towards water.

Pernod Ricard: The time we have left

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Gold, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

Pernod Ricard, an alcoholic beverages company, developed an algorithm that calculated the amount of time people have left with their loved ones and launched a film to promote the liquor Ruavieja in Spain.

SickKids Foundation: SickKids VS Conventional Fundraising

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2021

SickKids Foundation, a Canadian children's health research organisation, repositioned its brand as a fighting ally against disease in a series of campaigns in Canada that successfully increased donations and engagement.

Rethinking brand for the rise of digital commerce

Article • WARC Exclusive, June 2021

This WARC white paper looks at rethinking how the marketing discipline should approach brand, media and performance marketing – and reframe it for a world of digital commerce.

Why smart insight comes via smartphones

Article • Erica Kurowski, WARC Best Practice, June 2021

The rise of personal technology and, in particular, ownership of smart mobile phones has radically changed the way market research can be done.

Using data to inform customer journey planning from a cultural perspective

Article • Virginia Alvarez, WARC Exclusive, June 2021

Brands need to understand how cultural norms and nuances play into people’s purchasing decisions – an influencer of consumer behavior that has, until now, been largely overlooked by marketers.

Brand in action: How BuffX turned candy into its X factor

Opinion • WARC, June 2021

BuffX founder Kang Le shares how his functional food brand achieved rapid e-commerce success with nutritional gummies that target strong consumer need for good sleep and energy as well as good eye, immunity, digestion and liver health.

The impact of influencer congruence on consumer purchase intent

Article • Genevieve Silk, Research on WARC, June, 2021

Finding an adequate match between a brand and influencer is a delicate art that can ultimately impact consumer purchase intent, according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Behavior.

Lifebuoy: Purpose (Blis)

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Bronze, MENA, 2020

Lifebuoy, a soap brand, launched a public service campaign in Egypt to remind people that practising good hand hygiene and using any soap brand can help reduce the spread of infections, while reminding people to stay at home.

Behavioural insight