Earlier this month, WARC, Cannes Lions and Kantar hosted an exclusive event in Sydney for senior brand and marketing leaders: “Decoding Effectiveness: Strategies for Creative Impact”.
The session pulled together the latest thinking, cutting-edge examples of effective marketing, and Australian industry research to demystify what’s actually working in a constantly changing marketing landscape.
Ed Pank, MD, WARC APAC, SVP LIONS Division shared a debrief from the Creative Impact track co-curated by WARC and Lion’s at this year’s festival making the 21st-century case for brand by exploring the crisis of distinctiveness—with Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix Winner Heinz being held up as a textbook example of how to flex your assets—and why it pays to be funny.
Pank also shared the jaw-dropping findings from System1 and eatbigfish where a video of cows eating grass outperformed 50% of the world’s advertising on their “emotional resonance” star rating system, linked to driving business impact.
To further illustrate the wastage, WARC calculated the “Cost Of Dull” advertising in the US to be an estimated 189 billion dollars, equivalent to the GDP of Greece.
Pank asked the audience to chew on this number during the session, asking the audience whether we could, and would, “beat the cow?”
The full Creative Impact Unpacked report can be accessed here for a limited time.
Mark Kennedy, Senior Partner, Consulting at Kantar Australia, then unveiled the key findings from Kantar’s state-of-the-industry report on marketing effectiveness in Australia, where the data showed local players lagging behind global benchmarks when it comes to the perceptions and practices of effective marketing.
“More than ever, confidence and cash are hard to find…marketing now must work harder than ever to get businesses back on track,” he said.
He suggested that confidence, capability and performance were keys to driving trust between marketers and the C-suite, while the disparity in metrics and the “language of marketing” were barriers to be addressed.
A significant takeaway from the event was the proven impact of creative quality on profitability. Kantar’s research demonstrated that ads combining both short-term sales impact and long-term brand-building elements generate significantly higher returns on marketing investment. This reinforces the need for brands to focus on both immediate and future outcomes in their advertising strategies.
Kennedy was joined in a panel discussion by Michiel Tops and Pernod Ricard’s Maddie Jahnke, moderated by WARC’s Managing Editor Asia, Rica Facundo. They shared valuable insights into improving alignment with internal stakeholders, building capability and capacity, and the importance of establishing objectives rather than KPIs.
As Kennedy noted, “If you don’t have an agreed objective, the only tangible thing is the P&L.”
Overall, the WARC, Cannes Lions and Kantar “Decoding Effectiveness” event provided a comprehensive overview of the latest trends and strategies in creative advertising, emphasising the critical balance between short-term performance and long-term brand building to achieve sustained brand and business success.
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