Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Multimodal perceptual processing of cues in food ads: Do you smell what you see? Visual-induced olfactory imagery and its effects on taste perception and food consumption

Research Paper • Yamen Koubaa and Amira Eleuch, Journal of Advertising Research, Digital First, March 2020

In food advertisements, consumers often get inputs from only a few senses and rely on crossmodal interactions to represent those advertisement features from which they are not getting sensory stimulation.

How do I use creativity to drive effectiveness?

Article • WARC Evidence, March 2020

Details how marketers should be using creativity to drive effectiveness by looking at studies that prove the link between the two and advising on successful creative strategy.

The brand as a visual construct

News • 05 March 2020

The behaviour of the consumer in the real world rarely corresponds with marketers’ predictions, thanks in part to the way the human brain filters the huge amount of information thrown at it daily.

The grand paradox of branding

Article • Itiel E. Dror and Nir Wegrzyn, WARC Exclusive, March 2020

An exploration into the role of brand in driving purchase decisions from a cognitive-neuroscience perspective.

Can your advertisement go abstract without affecting willingness to pay? Product-centered versus lifestyle content in luxury brand print advertisements

Research Paper • Francesco Massara, Daniele Scarpi, and Daniele Porcheddu, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 60, No. 1, 2020, pp. 28-37

Advertising can focus on concrete product attributes or on lifestyle expressions and abstract benefits.

Why do great creative ideas get rejected? The effect of creative ideation processes on external judges’ assessments

Research Paper • Mark Kilgour, Scott Koslow, and Huw O’Connor, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 60, No. 1, 2020, pp. 12-27

One of the most contentious issues in advertising is the evaluation and selection of creative ideas. This selection process is central to the success of agencies and clients, yet it appears difficult for external observers to see the merits of highly creative ideas.

The effects of communicating passion in advertising: How messages like “We Love What We Do!” shape people’s product and brand evaluations

Research Paper • Micael Dahlen, Helge Thorbjørnsen, Jonas Colliander, Sara Rosengren, Alice Gemvik, and Christian Thorwid, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 60, No. 1, 2020, pp. 3-11

In advertising, brands often communicate passion through statements such as, “We love what we do.” This study tests whether such communication of passion positively influences consumers’ product and brand evaluations.

How speech delivery speed impacts audio ads

News • 28 February 2020

Audio ads would benefit from slowing down the delivery of speech instead of attempting to fit in as much information as possible at a rapid rate, according to a paper in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).

Leverage your brand assets more effectively

News • 25 February 2020

Brands assets come in various forms but it is those visual assets owned by the brand itself that are most likely to be strongly linked to ‘effective branded attention’ in creative, new research suggests.

Behind the scenes at WARC Rankings 2020

Opinion • David Tiltman, February 2020

Next week sees the launch of the first of this year’s WARC Rankings. Head of Content David Tiltman explains how the new Advisory Board has shaped their development.

How brand passion can impact consumers

News • 21 February 2020

Brands that communicate passion for their work in ads may generate positive impacts with consumers as a result, according to a study published in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).

Power of you - distinctive brand assets

Article • WARC Exclusive, February 2020

This Ipsos meta-analysis of over 2,000 pieces of video creative examines the relationship between effectiveness and the presence or not of brand assets.

Advertisers, it’s coming home

Opinion • Kate Waters and Jon Evans, February 2020

ITV and System1 are staging a contest offering brands the chance to win a free ad slot during the upcoming Euro 2020 football tournament.

Creativity and how to make you brand advertising more effective

Article • WARC Exclusive, February 2020

Anna Lakomy, general manager of Americas East at System1 Research, talks about the effects of 'left' and 'right' brain advertising, and how to make your creative more effective.

Consumer reactions to animal and human models in print ads: How animals and people in ads influence the purchase-decision journey

Research Paper • Rohit H. Trivedi and Thorsten Teichert, Journal of Advertising Research, Digital First, January 2020

Animals have been used in advertisements for decades, yet little is known about the effects on consumer reactions along the entire purchase-decision process.

What is the role of distinctive brand assets

Article • WARC Evidence, January 2020

Looks at the role of different kinds of brand assets – visual, verbal, auditory – and whether thy help to create shortcuts in consumers’ minds that make brands more memorable and impactful.

Developing brand assets

Article • Dominic Twose, WARC Best Practice, January 2020

This article explores the importance of building strong branding into marketing activity and how to develop brand assets.

There’s lots to like about likeable TV programs

Article • Peter Hammer, Research on WARC, December 2019

Revisits program liking with up-to-date information and tests the effectiveness of advertising in an on-demand TV viewing environment.

Nostalgia: why the desire to escape the present is unlikely to be short-lived

Opinion • Helen Rose, December 2019

UK consumers’ occasionally misguided nostalgia is an opportunity for advertisers, writes Helen Rose, Head of Insight & Analytics at the7stars.

Nostalgia – is it what it used to be?

Article • Research on WARC, December 2019

YouGov and the7stars joined forces to investigate the most fondly remembered parts of culturalhistory – and unpick exactly why the nation looks back on its past with rose-tinted glasses.

The Power of Pledging: Helping Cancer Research unlock the potential of legacies

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

Cancer Research UK, a charity, researched the complex and sensitive topic of wills and put supporters' voices at the core of CRUK's Legacy communication strategy.

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

Research Paper • 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.

Identifying and measuring the Fluent Device

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Winner, MRS Award for Media Research, 2019

System1 Research, the market research company, found that Fluent Devices are effective, and their use is in decline in the UK and US.

#everydayisdifferent: how the Department of Health and Social Care made people care about adult social care

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

The Department of Health and Social Care, a UK government department, launched a multi-methodological research approach which identified key insights that led to the 'Every Day is Different' campaign.

Asahi: Combining cultural insights and AI to solve the “mystery” of modern Japanese-ness

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Winner, Virginia Valentine Award for Cultural Insights, 2019

Asahi Super Dry, a lager brand, combined semiotic analysis and artificial intelligence to create research that identified an exciting new territory for the brand in Japan.

Creativity & research