In a world of data, why are we ignoring the big data on creative?
Creativity and effectiveness should not be strange bedfellows. Creatively is often seen as a bit of a folly, whereas the data actually supports creativity as the key driver of effectiveness. Mr Wolf's Tony Singleton explains.
Vegging out on the couch recently, I had the increasingly rare experience of watching a full ad break on TV. Fortunately, it started with a Macpac spot – currently one of the best ads around and kudos to client and The Monkey’s Melbourne; well-cast, perfectly played deadpan humour and with the product/brand central to the concept. However, the fall-off after that was pretty dramatic.
Dull, poorly branded ads, seemingly intent on ignoring basic effectiveness principles and with objectively weak creative and questionable impact. Which got me back to a question I’ve never really understood: If the evidence on creative’s effectiveness is so compelling, why do so many in marketing seemingly ignore it?
Is creative really the dominant lever for effectiveness?
Is this just fluffy creative types claiming that they’re important? Nope. This is hard-nosed business people and organisations all lining up with the same message. And it’s not even a close call.
Paul Dyson (of Accelero Consulting/Data2Decisions), originally in 2014 and updated for 2023, showed that after your existing brand size – which is not something you can just decide – creative quality is the single biggest determinant of advertising profitability. And at a factor of 12, it’s ten times more impactful than your laydown/phasing (just think about how much time is devoted to that!).
Mark Ritson – not exactly shy of calling out bullshit – had a slightly different list in his ’10 Key Factors Driving Advertising Effectiveness’ presentation, but with the same conclusion – after Brand Size, creative quality is the single biggest factor in effectiveness.
A 700% bump in your budget without arguing with the CEO/CFO
The two people who have probably done most to advance our understanding of effectiveness – Les Binet and Peter Field of IPA fame – have consistently found that creative is a key factor in effectiveness. For example, in their ‘The link between creative and effectiveness’ they found that creatively awarded campaigns (their more objective measure of creative quality) were seven times more efficient at driving Market Share growth. That’s like getting a 700% bump in your budget without having to have an argument with the CEO/CFO.
How about global research agency Nielsen? Let’s face it, creatives tend to have a distrustful relationship with researchers. But they found that creative was by far the most important factor in total sales impact.
So, how can we avoid wasting money on uninspiring ads that don’t really work?
I’m sure there’s lots of options, but it seems like the following could help:
- Treat creative like it’s the biggest marketing lever in your control
If you’re in marketing, think about your average week. How much time, energy and resources do you devote to improving your brand’s creative quality? Does that investment reflect that this is the most important element inside your control to improve your marketing effectiveness? If not, work out how to rebalance your time investment.
- Get across the science of marketing effectiveness
During the last 15 years, so many smart people have been unlocking the science and codes of marketing effectiveness. Read/watch everything by Les Binet and Peter Field – they really have devoted a lot of intelligence and shared so much of their findings. Read Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow. Then reread it to make sure you get it (build mental and physical availability, create distinctive brand assets to help with this, prioritise penetration over loyalty, target the point of market entry). And watch a Mark Ritson talk for the science with some added colour.
- Sell the idea of creative’s importance to the rest of your business
So much of what we do in marketing is dependent on getting the rest of the business to buy into our approach – and marketing doesn’t always command the highest respect inside organisations. So get the business across the science of effectiveness and why your wild, wacky creative campaign is actually great business before you expose it to them
- Release your inner challenger
At Mr Wolf, we focus on challenger brands. There’s a huge freedom in challengers because you don’t have the luxury of resources to force your message through. You have to be inventive. And everyone knows that they need cut through creative – it’s not a debate. But you don’t have to be a challenger brand to harness this – work out what you would do if you had way less money available. Then add that to your normal mix.
- If you need it, get some help
You don’t have to do this all yourself – especially if you have less creative experience in your organisation. There are plenty of smart, committed people spread across the agencies and marketing partners in Australia – so reach out and get some help.
Tony Singleton is a managing and strategic partner at Mr Wolf.
Subscribe to the daily newsletter
Because they can’t count past 10 … only kidding.
User ID not verified.
Lucky I kept to 5 point plan ☺︎!
User ID not verified.
Have your say