Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Refreshing rewards: How HEINEKEN USA reduced reliance on third-party data

Article • Sam Ngo, WARC Exclusive, July 2021

Beer brand HEINEKEN devised a strategy to gather first-party customer data.

Societal issues: How brands can respond to and align with them

Article • Mukta Lad, Event Reports, Marketing Influence 360 Conference, April 2021

With the majority of millennials willing to switch to brands that champion a cause, especially one they believe in, representatives of Google, Tencent and Unilever share how brands can respond to and align with societal issues.

Home Centre: A dad's job

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Anna Sadykova, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2021

Home furniture retailer, Home Centre, bravely tackled a cultural taboo to transform conventional Father's Day communications in the Middle East.

Burger King: The Doppelganger

Case Study • Ali Khalil, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2021

QSR brand Burger King called on a cast of celebrity doppelgangers to launch its repackaged value items and increase sales in Saudi Arabia.

Almosafer: Stories of Mecca

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2021

Online travel-booking platform Almosafer harnessed the power of UGC in Saudi Arabia to boost post-lockdown bookings.

Loto Libanais: Dream Number

Case Study • Noor Hassanein, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2021

Lottery operator Loto Libanais literally changed the game to reignite engagement and increase ticket sales in Lebanon.

Aldi: Like brands 2011-2020

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

Aldi, a supermarket chain, increased brand love and penetration in the UK by launching a campaign spanning several years that applauded its competition rather than knocking them.

German Rail: No need to fly

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

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

Kraft-Heinz: Bagelgate

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

Philadelphia, a soft cheese brand, launched a social campaign against Apple's new bagel emoji that saw it promote its own version featuring Philadelphia cheese as a filling to increase sales among millennials.

Black & Abroad: Go Back to Africa

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

Black and Abroad, a travel company, turned the racial slur 'Go back to Africa' into an uplifting call to action with its campaign Go Back to Africa.

Chevrolet: The electric helper

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

Chevrolet, an automobile brand, launched its campaign Electric Helper in Mexico during a fuel shortage in Mexico City to keep consumers informed about the situation in real time.

KMSZ (Bone Marrow Donation Center): Life Lolli

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

KMSZ, a bone marrow donation centre, encouraged younger people to become donors in Germany with the Life Lolli.

Brands on Reddit can benefit, if they make themselves welcome at the party

Article • Jenny Nicholson, WARC Exclusive, June 2021

Looks at Reddit, the social media platform, and how brands can better engage with its audiences.

Henderson's Relish: Rebrand

Case Study • Design Effectiveness Awards, Design Effectiveness Awards, Silver, 2021

Henderson's Relish, a condiment brand, increased sales in the UK by redesigning its bottle packaging to better stand out and providing a key product descriptor to help consumers understand how best to enjoy it.

Tesco Bank: Customer Service Transformation

Case Study • Design Effectiveness Awards, Design Effectiveness Awards, Bronze, 2021

Tesco Bank, a financial services brand, redesigned customer services by using design thinking in the UK.

Castle Fine Art: Website

Case Study • Design Effectiveness Awards, Design Effectiveness Awards, Bronze, 2021

Castle Fine Art, a retail gallery group, increased e-commerce by redesigning the brand's website.

DTC and the disruptor: The marketing advantage for China’s brands

Article • Arnold Ma , WARC Exclusive, Spotlight China, June 2021

The importance of direct-to-consumer or DTC marketing in China is growing, but Qumin’s Arnold Ma says cutting out e-commerce platforms completely is risky.

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.

Why are Chinese consumers and VCs alike opening their wallets to DTC Disrupters?

Opinion • Jenny Chan 陈詠欣, June 2021

Yet another millennial-targeting, direct-to-consumer disrupter wannabe with cult-like followings…? Don’t brush them off. Legacy companies are taking notes as DTC brands seem to be outsmarting, outpacing, and outmaneuvering them. Jenny Chan, WARC’s China Editor, ruminates about their moves in this Spotlight series.

Brand in action: How NaiTangPai made it big with bras

Opinion • WARC, June 2021

NaiTangPai’s Michael Zhang shares how he tapped a niche segment in China’s lingerie business to develop a brand that thrives on customer-centric values.

Seismic: Helping a US unicorn spread its EMEA wings

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Entrant, Business-to-Business, 2021

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, a full-service tech PR and marketing agency, helped Seismic, a United States leader in sales and marketing enablement technology, to implement a tailored multi-region content and media relations strategy across the UK, France and Germany.

Can advertisers overcome consumer qualms with virtual reality? Increasing operational transparency through self-guided 360-degree tours

Research Paper • Nathalie Spielmann and Ulrich R. Orth, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2021, pp. 147-163

Perceived lack of authenticity and inferences of manipulative intent by an advertiser can impede an advertisement’s intended effect.

Consumers’ response to format in native advertising vs. editorial: The interaction between format similarity and format novelty

Research Paper • Yoori Hwang and Se-Hoon Jeong , Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2021, pp. 212-224

The key characteristic of native advertising is that it simulates the format of the editorial content.

JetBlue: AirSMR

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Collaboration & Culture, 2021

US airline JetBlue literally cut through the negative noise to achieve standout at the most cluttered time of the year.

Sipsmith: Scaling up and sustaining it

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Sustained Growth, 2021

British craft gin Sipsmith invested in a distinctive mass-media campaign to reverse declining sales, grow share and attract new drinkers.

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