Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about creativity and effectiveness

Article • WARC Best Practice, June 2020

Explores current thought and reading on the connection between creativity and effectiveness, a relationship for which there is compelling evidence, especially in terms of creating brand fame: a driver of long-term performance.

Emirates NBD: Inspire What's Next

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Tala Arakji, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Private bank Emirates NBD grew brand favourability and sales with an awareness campaign in the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Telecom Company: What are we allowing?

Case Study • Dana Alkutoubi, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Saudi telco STC's hard-hitting multi-channel approach showed parents the reality of online threats to their children while greatly increasing uptake of its child-safety app.

Beit Al Baraka: Making this place their home

Case Study • Emile Atallah, Tahaab Rais, Carl Bou Abdallah, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Lebanese NGO Beit Al Baraka launched an innovative payment card to help underprivileged elderly in a way that would empower them and preserve their dignity.

Puck: Making meal-time fun time

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

Spreadable cheese brand Puck used an edutainment strategy to increase sales in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Etisalat Misr: Hekaya – Family Talk.

Case Study • Dina El Dessouky, Yosr Khalifa, Mustafa Darwish, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Egyptian telco Etisalat crafted a comic campaign to narrow the gap between itself and Vodafone and win customers over to its hybrid offer.

Jawwy: The Ramadan campaign that didn't launch during Ramadan

Case Study • Mario Morby, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Telco Jawwy drove revenue growth and brand awareness with an unconventional Ramadan campaign in Saudi Arabia.

Ahmini: The Uncovered

Case Study • Melek Ourir, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Telco provider Tunisie Telecom harnessed the power of mobile to help bring about social change in Tunisia.

Burger King: Who said men don't cry?

Case Study • Ali Khalil, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

QSR brand Burger King targeted young Saudis with a social media 'trolling' campaign featuring football icon Sami Al-Jaber to drive sales of its new spicy menu across Saudi Arabia.

Puck: Repurposed Meals

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

Puck drove brand engagement and share to increase with a social content series during Ramadan across the Gulf countries.

Emirates NBD: Every Step Counts

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Tala Arakji, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Emirates NBD, a leading UAE bank, launched a reward-based initiative to help people improve both their financial and their physical health.

Donner Sang Compter (DSC): Blood Unity

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

Donner Sang Compter (DSC), an NGO promoting voluntary blood donation, hijacked an outdated tradition to increase awareness of the importance of donating blood in Lebanon.

Jawwy: The Fair Telco Company

Case Study • Mario Morby, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

Mobile telecom brand Jawwy used entertaining video content to resonate with Saudi youth, and achieve positive results in terms of both short-term sales and long-term brand building.

Babyshop: The Gift of Mom

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

Children's retailer Babyshop increased brand affinity through a multi-channel Mother's Day initiative centred around breast cancer in the United Arab Emirates.

Almosafer: As far as we go

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

Travel platform Almosafer reversed declining market share through an emotive Ramadan film in Saudi Arabia.

KFC: Launching Local Chicken

Case Study • Maxime Menant, Remie Abdo, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

QSR brand KFC used a TV, social media and outdoor campaign to publicise its use of fresh Saudi chicken in order to appeal to national pride and boost sales in Saudi Arabia.

Nissan Patrol: Conquer Everywhere

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

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

Burger King: Burjer Kinj

Case Study • Ali Khalil, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2020

QSR brand Burger King created a social media, outdoor and in-restaurant campaign based on the Arabic pronunciation of 'burger' to increase Whopper sales and reignite interest in the brand in Saudi Arabia.

Wieden+Kennedy named North American agency of the decade at Lions Live

News • 25 June 2020

Wieden+Kennedy in Portland has been named as the North American agency of the decade by Cannes Lions, an honour that reflects a body of groundbreaking work delivered by the independent shop.

Tokyo leads Asia’s agencies of the decade

News • 25 June 2020

Tokyo-based agencies claimed the top two spots in Asia in the regional agencies of the decade ranking at Cannes Lions, with third spot going to Bangkok.

BBDO cleans up with LatAm and Pacific agencies of the decade

News • 24 June 2020

Omnicom-owned network BBDO has had two towering agencies named as regional agencies of the decade at Cannes Lions, with Colenso BBDO taking the Pacific regional prize, while AlmapBBDO takes the Latin American gong.

Cannes Lions and WARC reveal secrets to creative effectiveness

News • 23 June 2020

Marketers seeking to maximise the impact of their creative work can now draw on a six-stage framework outlined in “ The Effectiveness Code ”, a new white paper released by Cannes Lions and WARC that is based on the analysis of nearly 5,000 case ...

Why adam&eveDDB is Cannes Lions’ European agency of the decade

News • 23 June 2020

London-based agency adam&eveDDB has been named as the European agency of the decade at Lions Live as a reflection of consistently agenda-setting, memorable and effective work.

The effectiveness code

Article • James Hurman with Peter Field, WARC Exclusive, June 2020

This whitepaper presents the results of a major new study of creative effectiveness which has analysed and compared a total of 4,863 effectiveness award entrants and winners from 2011 through 2019, from every major market in the world.

Ebiquity: Measuring creative effectiveness

News • 17 June 2020

The impact of creativity is measurable, a new report states, but it requires techniques that allow for the fine tuning of assets and campaigns with a view to long-term effects.