Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia: The man who never got anything back

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

Banking brand Emirates NBD created uplifting branded content to raise awareness and encourage take-up of its Mazeed cashback credit card in Saudi Arabia.

Wendy's: Keeing Fortnite Fresh

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

Wendy's, a quick-service restaurant chain, became a player on online game Fortnite to connect with young diners in the USA and boost its core message of never using frozen beef in its patties.

Aflac: The journey of my special Aflac duck

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

Aflac, an insurance company, expanded the role of its icon, the Aflac Duck, into a philanthropic force to support children with cancer in the USA.

Ping Identity: Chief identity champion

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

Ping Identity, a security company, increased its footprint in the technology and cybersecurity market in the United States.

How anthropomorphized brand spokescharacters affect consumer perceptions and judgments: Is being cute helpful or harmful to brands?

Research Paper • Chun-Tuan Chang, Xing-Yu (Marcos) Chu, and Shih-Ting Kao, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 61, No. 2, 2021, pp. 225-244

This study focuses on anthropomorphized spokescharacters, classifying them into cute or mature looks.

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.

AstraZeneca: Neb adventures

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Customer Experience, 2021

Pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, combated low child asthma treatment completion rates with a child-centred approach in UAE.

United Nations: The penguin and the whale

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

The United Nations partnered with WeChat in telling an animated tale with a tragic ending to Chinese students, to raise awareness of its Sustainable Development Goals and spark discussion of the global agenda facing us all.

Burger King: Ring King

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Shortlisted, Customer Experience, 2021

Fast-food restaurant, Burger King (BK), capitalised on the emerging tech trend of mobile-connected doorbell cameras to gain attention for the brand's Uber Eats partnership on social media in the US.

NRMA Insurance: Every home is worth protecting

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

NRMA Insurance needed to reverse declining home insurance sales and shares in Australia as a premium-priced product in a value-driven category.

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes: Tony The Tiger – From cereal salesman to activist

Case Study • WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Bronze, Brand Purpose, 2021

Cereal brand Kellogg's Frosted Flakes grew sales and household penetration in the US by reimagining its Tony the Tiger brand asset as an activist on a fundraising mission for school sports programmes.

Aldi UK: How Aldi keeps on winning christmas with Kevin the carrot

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

Discount supermarket Aldi ran a multi-year, multi-channel campaign in the United Kingdom to defend sales, share, penetration and loyalty at Christmas.

Gwinnett County Government: Listen To Gwinnett Moms

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, North America, 2021

Gwinnett County Government, a government district in the state of Georgia, encouraged its residents to take preventative measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through a campaign that used real Gwinnett mothers to spread the message.

Charmin: Go Labs Wipes Up at CES

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, North America, 2021

Charmin, a brand of toilet paper, unveiled its RollBot, a toilet paper robot, at CES, the world's largest tech and innovation trade show in the US.

KFC goes TikTok #DoTheColonel

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Gold, EMEA, 2020

KFC, a fast-food brand, raised brand awareness in Germany with a TikTok hashtag challenge.

Cheetos: Rock Scissors Paw

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Bronze, Turkey, 2020

PepsiCo, a food and beverages company, launched a gamified campaign across a range of channels to promote its latest Cheetos product in Turkey.

Yapı Kredi: Yandex Navi & Yapı Kredi Media First

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Bronze, Turkey, 2020

Yapi Kredi, a banking brand, increased the number of mobile app downloads by relaunching the brand's existing character Vadaa.

Characters and logos are the assets with greatest potential for “unique brand ownership”

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Research on WARC, April 2021

Characters, logos and typography are the brand assets with the strongest potential for “unique ownership”, according to a study in the Journal of Brand Management.

Creativity through volatility

Article • WARC Exclusive, April 2021

This report looks at the strategies and approaches of some of the world’s most awarded campaigns for creativity in 2020.

How Warner Bros built digital relevance for Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes

Article • Jo Bowman, Event Reports, ANA Influencer Marketing & Activation Conference, December 2020

Warner Bros., the entertainment company, built digital relevance for its iconic Looney Tunes animation property through a test-and-learn approach to engaging consumers.

Zespri Kiwifruit: Zespri brand relaunch campaign

Case Study • Tangrams Strategy & Effectiveness Awards, Bronze, 2021

Zespri, a kiwifruit exporter, launched a campaign in Japan to encourage consumers to enjoy living a healthy lifestyle easily by eating kiwifruit.

Planters: #RIPeanut

Case Study • SABRE Awards, IN2, North America, Best in Broadcast Media, 2021

Planters, a food processing company, launched a Super Bowl campaign that killed off its brand mascot, Mr Peanut, and saw the rebirth of a new one, Baby Nut, to create brand buzz.

Maximise distinctive assets

Opinion • Peilin Phua and Nicole Hartnett, February 2021

2020's IPA Effectiveness winners show how to make distinctive assets work harder, write Peilin Phua and Nicole Hartnett from The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.

Friesland Campina: Frisian Flag 123 “Catch to Grow” AR Mobile Campaign

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Silver, Indonesia, 2020

Frisian Flag, a dairy product brand, launched an immersive mobile game in Indonesia to increase brand awareness, drive an uplift in brand consideration and spark brand loyalty.

Frisian Flag: Play and Learn with Teman 123

Case Study • MMA Smarties, Bronze, Indonesia, 2020

Frisian Flag, a brand of dairy products, launched a gamified mobile campaign in Indonesia featuring the brand's mascots with the tagline Smart, Tall and Strong to increase brand awareness and engagement and drive an uplift in brand consideration.

Brand character