The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness - thinkTV · Source: IPA Databank, 2008-2018 creatively awarded cases-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% ESOV (SOV minus SOM) Average SOM d Awarded Cases 2008-18

The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness

The view from Mark Ritson

The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness2

Source: Mark Ritson

Crisis? What crisis?

Pre 2008 Recent years

Not all creatively awarded campaigns have become less effective

Badcreativepractice

Goodcreativepractice


Creative awards judges are

picking more and more of

the ‘wrong’ campaigns

So average effectiveness

levels have fallen sharply

The new fashion in creativity: Burger King USA


Source: Cannes creative effectiveness Lions 2019

Creativity delivers its lowest effectiveness in 24 years

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9

2.0

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

Avera

ge n

um

ber

of

very

larg

e

busi

ness

eff

ects

report

ed

6 years ending

The declining effectiveness of creatively awarded campaigns


Source: IPA Databank, 1998-2018 creatively awarded cases

Creativity is misused for short-term goals

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

% c

ase

s sh

ort

term

6 years ending

Creatively awarded


Source: IPA Databank, 1998-2018 for-profit cases

Creativity has been hijacked for activation

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

% R

eport

ing v

ery

larg

e

acti

vati

on f

x.

6 years ending

Creatively awarded cases



Sale

s u

plif

t o

ver

bas

e

Time

Why short-termism is so destructive


Source: Binet & Field 2013

Short term effects dominate ~6 months

Sales activation

Tactical behavioural prompts

Short-term sales uplifts

No enhancement of pricing power

Brand building

Strategic emotional associations

Long-term sales growth

Strengthened pricing power

Creativity has little or no impact Creativity boosts strongly

You need brand and activation

0.8

1.5

2.0

2.4

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Low Brand, Low Activation Low Brand, High Activation High Brand, Low Activation High Brand, High Activation

Num

ber

of

very

larg

e b

usi

ness

fx

Balance of brand and activation effects

Source: IPA Databank, 1998-2016 for-profit cases, based on scale of activation effects and number of brand effects


Brand is the key to pricing power

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

0 1 2 3+

% R

eport

ing v

ery

larg

e

pri

ce s

ensi

tivit

y r

educti

on

Number of very large brand effects recorded



Warren Buffet on pricing

“The single most important

decision in evaluating a

business is pricing power.”

– Warren Buffet, investor/philanthropist


Short-termism leads to imbalance & ineffectiveness

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9

2.0

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

Num

ber

of

very

larg

e b

usi

ness

fx

.

% c

ase

s sh

ort

-term

6 years ending

% short-term

Effectiveness



0

0.5

1

1.5

2

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Numberofbusinesseffectsreported

%Budgetallocatedtobrandbuilding

The Sweet Spot for Effectiveness


Peak at 62% brand

20% loss of effectiveness

Brand remains strong

56% loss of effectiveness

Brand weakens


Short-termism is getting more destructive

55 57 6376

45 43 3724

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

98 to 10 00 to 12 02 to 14 04 to 16

Opti

mum

budget

split

%

Period

The sweet spot is shifting to brand

Activation

Brand


Source: IPA Databank, 1998-2016 cases From ‘Effectiveness in Context’, Binet & Field 2018

The creative efficiency vanishing act

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

Rati

o o

f aw

ard

ed :

non-a

ward

ed

SO

V E

ffic

iency

12 years ending

The creative efficiency multiplier



Creative good practice has beenoverwhelmed by creative bad practice - the difference is huge.

The gulf between good and bad creative practice


Source: IPA Databank, 2008-2018 creatively awarded long-term cases

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

High performers Low performers

Num

ber

of

very

larg

e

busi

ness

eff

ects

report

ed

8x Effectiveness

The gulf between good and bad creative practice


Source: IPA Databank, 2008-2018 creatively awarded long-term cases

0.0%

0.2%

0.4%

0.6%

0.8%

1.0%

1.2%

1.4%

1.6%


Avera

ge r

eport

ed

annual SO

M g

row

th

5x Market share growth

Urgent action on creative practice is a no-brainer



0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%


% r

eport

ing v

ery

larg

e p

ricin

g e

ffects

Pricing power

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%


% r

eport

ing v

ery

larg

e p

rofi

t gro

wth

Profit impacts

What does good practice for creative effectiveness look like?

It’s not about budget or size



-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

ESOV (SOV minus SOM) Average SOM

Avera

ge E

SO

V a

nd S

OM

report

ed

Awarded Cases 2008-18

High performers over-achieve in similar contexts to low performers


Bad practice is rooted in short-termism…



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


% c

ase

s sh

ort

term

High performers are much less likely to be short-term cases

…and short-term goals



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


% R

eport

ing v

ery

larg

e

acti

vati

on e

ffects

Low performers go for short-term sales

…and shifting budget away from brand building



7768

2332

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100


Actu

al budget

split

%

Low performers divert too much budget to activation

Activation

Brand

Tight targeting is bad creative practice



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Decision makers Everyone

Cam

paig

n t

arg

eti

ng %

Primary targeting

High performers are less likely to employ targeted approaches


Underuse of brand building media is bad practice



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Linear TV OOH Online video Online non-video

Share

of

budget

allocate

d t

o m

edia

%

Media

High performers make more use of proven brand building media


Creative fashion and Mars UK


Source: IPA Skittles & Maltesers 2018 case studies, Snickers 2016 case study

Judges love this… They quite like this… And they’ve gone cold on this

Increasing returnsShort Long

We need more long-term creativity: Tide USA


Source: Cannes creative effectiveness Lions 2019

A plea for sanity

We must stop the slide to creative ineffectiveness

Above all, stop encouraging disposable creativity,

tactical ideas and media usage focussed on

short-term effects

Reward strategic ideas that are in market long enough

to transform brands

We need different classes for short-term and long-term

campaigns: award separate prizes for creativity that

was sustained in market over the long term (6m+)


Thank you

Documents

The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness - thinkTV · Source: IPA Databank, 2008-2018 creatively awarded cases-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% ESOV (SOV minus SOM) Average SOM d Awarded Cases 2008-18