HOW MARKETING WITH CREATIVITY LEADS TO MUCH GREATER EFFECTIVENESS.
WHY THIS PAPER?
Let’s get straight to the point: budgets are under pressure and the ‘Perfect Storm’ shows no signs of subsiding. Every advertiser is looking for the best way to invest their budgets to achieve results. The possibilities are endless but funding is not. There are more media, touchpoints and target groups than ever before, making it even more difficult to choose.
And there is no shortage of data. Everything can be measured. Preferably with the best possible forecast in advance, we are all searching for the optimal way to allocate marketing budgets. In this quest for efficiency it is easy to get lost. These sometimes time-consuming efficiencies often only affect the figures after the decimal point.
There’s nothing wrong with efficiency but we can do better.
We must do better.
By adding creative thinking to our marketing approach, we achieve greater effectiveness. This has been proven. And it impacts the figures before the decimal point.
So what’s holding us back? A lack of belief, perhaps? A feeling that we have to venture into the unknown too often? Too much of a ‘no guts, no glory’ mentality?
More than enough reasons for us to take stock and make a passionate case for creativity in marketing because over the past decades, extensive research has been conducted into the effectiveness of creativity.
This paper strives to put creativity back on the agenda, where it belongs. We aim to inspire the conversation between communication agencies and their clients and guide them in creating even more value together.
With reassuring research laid out and actionable tips from seasoned strategists, you can start immediately. Happy reading.
Petra De Roos – Managing Director ACC
THE MAN OF HALF AND HALF WHO
MADE IT ALL.
This is John Wanamaker. With the bow tie and the gaze of an early 20th-century1 entrepreneur, he was one of the first to believe in the power of marketing and advertising. Wanamaker was a pioneer of large department stores in the U.S. and built an ironclad reputation with marketing innovations such as fixed pricing and the money-back guaran tee. He also pioneered the first full-page advertisements in newspapers and employed a full-time copywriter. Thanks to his belief in advertising, he managed to double the revenue of his department stores every year. Yet, despite his success, this early believer in advertising lamented one thing:
“Half my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half.”
Would he be able to answer that question today?
WOULD JOHN WANAMAKER KNOW THE ANSWER TODAY?
John Wanamaker is still alive. There are still Presley believers, so why not? Mr. John reads in the annual Marketing Challenges Survey by WARC from 2022 2 that:
• Two-thirds of the marketers surveyed often or always have difficulty demonstrating the importance of marketing within their company.
• 40% find it hard to defend the value of creativity in the boardroom.
“See,” says Wanamaker, and he gives his copywriter another instruction. “Oh right, I suppose they call that a briefing nowadays,” he corrects himself.
Are we no further along a century later?
Yes, we are. Today, marketers have access to streams, seas, oceans of data. Companies can measure at any moment who is buying what and in what quantity. The increasingly digital media mix provides live insights into which messages reach which segments of the target audience on which touchpoints.
But. Many opportunities are still being missed. And just like in football, the team that doesn’t capitalise on opportunities often ends up paying the price.
That’s why this little book exists. It guides you through the world of advertising and marketing and demonstrates how both have everything to gain by becoming best friends with creativity.
Because. Marketing x Creativity = Effectiveness².
How does that formula work and how can you start applying it today? You’ll find out in 7 recommendations from experienced strategists. But let’s start at the beginning. What are we getting wrong in the MC=E² formula today?
So much data, yet so little creative effectiveness?
Fortunately, the days when marketers could only guess what was happening with their budgets are behind us. We now live in an era of data abundance, a golden age of knowledge and insight. Thanks to groundbreaking research by experts like Peter Field, Les Binet, and Orlando Wood3, we now have a deep understanding of the drivers behind effective communication. Effective communication, such as that which dismantles prejudice, changes habits or improves price perception. Despite all this knowledge, which should lead to more effective campaigns, we still struggle with the data paradox: more data leads to less effective campaigns.
We measure, analyse and optimise relentlessly, driven by the pressure to show immediate results. Yes, with sufficient media pressure and smart targeting, we can always demonstrate some financial impact.
But what is the broader effect of all these campaigns?
Are we building loyalty and sustainable brand growth? Or are we so focused on the here and now that we lose sight of the
Take a look at the Effie Awards, the benchmark for marketing effectiveness. In 2023, there was a record number of 28 entries - 28 cases that convincingly demonstrated their ability to achieve above-average effects within a complex context. However, their success stands in stark contrast to the thousands of campaigns that settle for average impact.
Each year around 5 billion euros are invested in advertising in Belgium. To put that in perspective: it’s the amount budgeted to construct metro line 3 in Brussels. We should expect a greater return from such substantial annual investments in advertising in
It’s time for a shift. Let’s break through the data paradox. Let’s not settle for the false sense of security that this abundance of
Let’s use data to see further, to find real human insights, to forge new paths. And let’s coalesce all these choices into a truly effective strategy. This is where creativity comes into play. It’s not just about justifying spending; it’s about maximising impact.
That is the true ambition of creatively effective marketing.
Dominique Poncin, Head of Strategy, AKQA Brussels
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD OF MARKETING?
This year, marketers worldwide will spend more than 900 billion euros on advertising 4 . Unfortunately, the lion’s share will be completely wasted on work that remains unseen.
Advertising is not being noticed or is simply ignored.
• Over 66% of display ads and 58% of TV ads are not seen or are just ignored5
• Most consumers find advertising to be something annoying that they want to eliminate, rather than something they want to engage with.
• As a result, people shield themselves: they install ad blockers, pay for ad-free subscriptions or fast-forward through commercials.
A hyperfocus on media.
Over the past twenty years, a new belief has been gaining more and more traction: “If we target the right person at the right time, we have a chance of solid returns.” The result? A hyperfocus on media, which has become the single largest investment. Of course, media investments are important but expecting them to be the sole key to success is overly optimistic.
Mediocrity instead of creativity.
Marketers have long known that the money pours in when media and creativity go hand in hand. Yet mediocre and uninspired brand messages continue to be widespread:
• 48% of all measured ad responses in B2C communication are neutral. That figure rises to 78% for B2B communication 6 .
• In 1990, 31% of people found ads as good as the programmes they interrupted. By 2016, that figure had dropped to just 14%7.
• In 2023, 61% of people said that companies and brands no longer do anything original 8 .
This is why we need to go back to the basics of what we do.
BACK TO BASICS.
We want to inspire people to take action.
We need to take a look in the mirror and have the courage to point the finger at ourselves. Perhaps we are missing the boat and losing touch with the people we want to reach. Perhaps we lack the courage and conviction to approach people differently. Perhaps we need to reinvent ourselves as marketers, advertisers or companies.
Marketers, people and bubbles.
Whether you’re an advertiser or working in a communication agency, you’re always a person first. And people tend to live in their own bubble. It’s not easy to break out of them. More even, research shows that professionals who pride themselves on studying and knowing their target audiences might actually be the most out of touch9. Consider this:
Uses social media weekly
Aims to advance to the top of their role
Eats or drinks out monthly
Takes a vacation in Belgium
Has a minority background
Is 25-35 years old
Don’t just think, know and connect.
Looking at these numbers it’s no wonder that our intuitive assumptions often miss the mark. Marketers are disconnected from the mainstream. Or put less flatteringly: they are alienated from the reality of others. Being in a bubble means you can see others but not truly hear them. That’s dangerous. Because marketing is always about people. You can only capture their attention if you truly understand them. So you need to take an interest in them. Listen to them. Connect with them. Moreover, the values and truths of real people in the real world are the perfect fuel for the powerful engine that is creativity.
Let’s unleash all our creativity.
Creativity begins where you let go of reality and embrace the reality of imagination, writes Guillaume Van der Stighelen. This is where ideas are born: harnessing the power of your imagination to create something that becomes useful in the real world. This requires a certain openness. After all, ideas aren’t something you simply have; they come to you. And if you’re driven, you’re more likely to tap into something new that wasn’t there before, something that delivers results or solves a problem. This sounds promising but is it also reflected in what we actually do?
• Creativity: yes, but...
An impressive 82% of marketers worldwide recognise creativity as a superpower. Some 28% consider it essential for business success10. However, marketing leaders admit that creative strategy, ideas and courage are not where they should be today. Advertisers blame risk aversion, short-term focus, too many decision-makers and budget cuts - not a lack of talent or belief in the creativity of agencies.
• Belgium lags behind.
Here in Belgium, we are less enthusiastic: only 59% of our marketers view creativity as the superpower of marketing10. Why is there such a big difference compared to the rest of the world? Have we had bad experiences with creativity? Are we too pragmatic to value creativity in the boardroom? Are we too focused on short-term, straightforward sales communication instead of investing in long-term creative brand campaigns?
• What’s holding back the creative superpower?
Is it a lack of courage? That would be an unfair explanation. There’s an abundance of research that offers marketers the evidence and tools to engage in the creative debate internally. Is this evidence not reaching them? Or is creative strategy and creativity a black box for many marketing professionals?
As you can see, there are plenty of questions. It’s time to search for answers.
NUMEROUS STUDIES PROVE THAT CREATIVITY LEADS TO EFFECTIVENESS
Source:
WHERE CREATIVITY IS LOST ALONG THE WAY.
If so many studies prove that creativity truly works, there must be stumbling blocks on the road to achieving it. And indeed, there are.
We get distracted.
Today, with enough media pressure, you can show some financial impact for any campaign. Data, right? Those oceans of data give us a false sense of security. They lead us away from creativity.
We allow ourselves to be restrained.
Creativity is perhaps the only variable that marketers have complete control over. Budget and media usage are limited and often require compromise but a creative idea cannot be restrained if you truly believe in it.
We simply overlook it.
Creativity enables brands to do things their competitors haven’t done, can’t do or don’t dare to do. This certainly has commercial value. Over 30 years of scientific research on the effectiveness of communication clearly shows that creativity multiplies the profitability of advertising by a factor of 12. That’s not 12% but a staggering 1200%11
In Belgium it is overlooked even more.
Neglecting creativity is costing Belgian companies a fortune. With the same budget, emotional and creative communication yields 6.1 times more market share growth than rational, mediocre communication12. Or: rational, mediocre communication only achieves the same business effect by increasing your ESOV media budget by 145%12. Nevertheless, we’re not true believers in Belgium. While 82% of marketers worldwide believe creativity is a superpower, only a disquieting 59% of their Belgian peers agree.10
So let’s turn this problem into a solution.
CREATIVE MARKETING ACCORDING TO Quick & Happiness Brussels.
The unbreakable Belgian brand against all odds.
The Quick brand was in poor shape when it changed ownership in 2016. It lacked differentiation, personality and, most importantly... new customers. Moreover, it faced increasing pressure from the growing media firepower of arch rivals McDonald’s and newcomer Burger King.
Instead of engaging in a media budget arms race, Quick made a series of radical creative choices and consistently upheld them over the years in terms of storytelling, product innovation and community building. In everything Quick undertakes, it celebrates Belgian taste in a distinctly Belgian way.
This creative approach paid off. By the end of 2022, Quick boasted the most differentiated brand image in its category thanks to sustained creative investments in its Belgian identity. Year after year, Quick has increased both the number of visits (tickets) and the average ticket value, resulting in a revenue growth of no less than 62% over eight years. In short, this is a textbook example of creative effectiveness, awarded with a Gold Effie in 2023.
82%
MARKETERS
“I wouldn’t have lasted 35 years in this industry without creative effectiveness. That’s what drives, motivates and brings joy. We marketers have a clear mission: to build successful brands. This is only possible when all the pieces of the puzzle fit: starting with profound insight, determining the right strategy and maintaining it, and bringing it to life with a brilliant campaign and an efficient touchpoint plan.
All these pieces go hand in hand and require creativity. To me, that means not settling for just any insight, daring to challenge strategies, staying curious and exploring new ideas, thinking outside the box, not clinging to familiar processes and models, being bold enough to test and refine, never standing still, embracing technology, fighting for ideas, and engaging stakeholders in the narrative... So everyone in our field must be creative, not just the creatives.
Creativity is not the province of the happy few; it’s also a skill that can be nurtured in the many. And that’s a good thing, because our profession, in all its aspects, cannot thrive without it.”
Caroline Vervaeke, Director Effie Belgium
CREATIVITY A LUXURY?
A NECESSITY? A MUST!
James Hurman analysed over 30 years of innovative marketing and commercial success. Highly creative campaigns stand out in three key areas:
1. Originality: Ideas that have never been seen before.
2. Engagement: Ideas that provoke an emotional response or inspire people to interact with or share them.
3. Execution: Ideas that are crafted with high quality and expertise.
James Hurman’s vision can be likened to our three-stage rocket: getting noticed, generating positive emotions and linking those emotions to the brand.
CREATIVITY: THE PROBLEM? CREATIVITY: THE SOLUTION.
Creativity. To some, it’s a nice-to-have, a bonus if you can manage it. To others, it’s an obligation, something that simply comes with the territory. But let’s be clear: creativity is a must. And it functions like a three-stage rocket:
1. Creativity captivates sufficient attention.
Creativity has the power to get noticed. That’s the first stage.
• 85% of all communication fails to exceed the minimum 2.5 seconds of attention needed to be stored in memory, which is known as crossing the attention-memory threshold.13
• Creative communication, on average, generates twice as much attention as non-creative communication, consistently crossing the ‘attention-memorythreshold’14 .
2. Creativity evokes positive emotions.
Now that creativity has captured attention, it must put it to good use. This is the second stage: evoking positive emotions.
• Communication that elicits emotional responses receives more intense attention, deeper processing, and better memory encoding and recall.
• Campaigns that emotionally engage people report a significant increase in profit nearly twice as often15 . Brands that generate strong positive feelings are more likely to see an increase in market penetration and market share, and reduced price sensitivity16 .
3. Creativity changes (buying) behaviour by linking emotions to the brand.
The creative execuion must also link positive emotions to the brand - this is the third stage.
• Brands with strong distinctive characteristics are 50% more likely to come to mind when consumers are shopping within the category.
• Such brands grow 115% faster in value.
This three-stage rocket demonstrates how creativity is not just an option but a crucial driver of effective communication and brand growth17 .
THE CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LADDER
A hierarchy of the six main types of effects that creative marketing produces, from least to most commercially impactful.
ENDURING ICON
COMMERCIAL TRIUMPH
Create sustained sales success
BRAND BUILDER
Improve brand health
SALES SPIKE
Create short-term, temporary sales growth
BEHAVIOUR BREAKTHROUGH
Change consumer behaviour
INFLUENTIAL IDEA
Over-achieve on campaign metrics
Create long-term brand and sales growth 01 02 03 04 05 06
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LADDER
HIGH TIME FOR CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS
“Creative Effectiveness helps marketers and agencies break free from entrenched mindsets that hinder effectiveness.” If creativity yields better results than mediocrity, then we must act accordingly. That’s why we raise the bar: we choose and strive for a campaign that delivers significantly more impact than an average campaign with the same budget. We call this Creative Effectiveness. Effectiveness is not the same as efficiency. The latter is about ’doing things right’, whereas effectiveness is about ‘doing the right things’. The result of efficiency is usually found in the decimal places, while the impact of effectiveness is typically seen in the numbers before the decimal point.
1. Creativity is an inexhaustible source of effectiveness.
Creativity is not bound by limitations. It may require a bit more effort, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more money. It is a resource that can be continually tapped into to achieve effective results.
2. Creative Effectiveness approaches campaigns as a whole.
Often, there are separate teams for long-term brand building and for short-term sales performance. However, this division can lead to fragmented responsibilities: one team focuses on business KPIs and the other on brand KPIs. Creative Effectiveness views campaigns as a whole in which brand building efforts also drive sales and vice versa.
3. Creative Effectiveness is achievable for everyone.
Many agencies and marketers labour under the misconception that creative effectiveness is reserved only for major campaigns or a select group of Effie winners. In reality, Creative Effectiveness is highly attainable. The Creative Effectiveness Ladder model (developed by WARC and Cannes Lions) identifies a KPI framework for every type of campaign – from short-term sales promotions to multi-year brand campaigns – to demonstrate impact at various levels.
Creative Effectiveness is not a distant ideal but a practical approach that lies within the reach of every marketer and agency.
CREATIVE MARKETING ACCORDING TO Delhaize & TBWA
Little lion, little price.
In 2022, soaring inflation led Belgians to increasingly prioritise price over quality. Delhaize resisted the temptation to join the discount race, choosing instead to emphasise affordability without compromising its image as a quality food retailer.
The creative marketing strategy was built around the brand promise ‘In Tune with Life’ to demonstrate Delhaize’s affordability in everyday life. A selection of 500 high-rotation products formed the basis for a communication platform that stayed true to Delhaize’s brand codes while still standing out amidst the noisy promotional campaigns of the industry competition.
The ‘Little Lions’ became a striking new brand asset that not only caught attention in the campaigns but also in Delhaize’s stores and digital sales channels. This innovative creative approach proved to be highly effective. Not only did Delhaize’s price perception and consideration rise dramatically, but the Little Lions also increased the number of store visits, with customers spending more per visit. A creatively effective case that also impressed the Effie jury, as evidenced by the Gold Effie awarded in 2023.
Creativity needs to go hand in hand with authenticity and commitment.
I have always believed that creativity is the driving force behind innovation and flexibility in so many areas of life. This is just one of the reasons why I chose to make my career in marketing. Ultimately, when it comes to resolving complex problems and making positive changes, creativity is vital; marketing professionals can effect significant change by making creativity part of their daily activities. However, there need to be some rules! For me, we need to operate within an ethical framework.
I firmly believe that to establish a solid relationship of trust with consumers and stakeholders, creativity needs to go hand in hand with authenticity and commitment. As a marketing professional, I’m a keen proponent of BAM’s Meaningful Marketing Model. For me, this trust rests on 4 key principles:
1. Giving your word, and delivering on what has been agreed, across all channels.
2. Being creative and authentic whilst maintaining confidentiality through data protection, and keeping communications transparent.
3. Building authentic communities around our brands.
4. Ensuring that new marketing tools align with our values.
Within the Meaningful Marketing Framework, trust comes alongside 5 other core values. It all works together, naturally. These solid values are my key to practical, creative marketing. How does that sound to you?
Fleur Parnet, CEO BAM
What footballer Antonin Panenka teaches us.
Effectiveness requires calculation. Creativity requires a willingness to take risks.
‘Calculated risk’ sounds pretty good. It’s something you can take pride in. That Panenka penalty you scored? Calculated risk.
Managed to make it to the meeting on time despite stopping for coffee on the way? Calculated risk.
Putting the most popular candidate at the bottom of the electoral list? Calculated risk.
It sounds bold, clever even, when you can say you took a calculated risk. But “Creative Effectiveness”? Just saying it can be exhausting.
In reality, calculated risk means you’ve thought it through carefully and decided to take the risk because you know it can pay off in spades. That risky penalty can mentally break your opponent. Thanks to that coffee you’ll be extra lucid at the meeting. And thanks to the popular candidate, your party may win an additional seat.
Creativity demands risk. Without risk, creativity is like a plane without wings: just a regular bus.
As a leader, to make it truly work you must be willing to invest as much in the risk part as in the calculation part. For every hour spent optimising a campaign, a media plan or market research, an additional hour should be devoted to sharpening the creative aspect. And sharpening means making it more original, more precise, more remarkable.
Is that easy? No. Is it an exact science? Again, no. But it is the only way for a brand to stand out in an expanding sea of uniformity. And it is the only way for a leader in our field to make a difference.
Because let’s face it, who would still talk about Antonin Panenka if he hadn’t taken the risk in the 1976 European Championship final to beat West Germany with an outrageous penalty and win Czechoslovakia its only title ever?
Exactly. His explanation: “I knew that if I missed, I might end up in the uranium mines. But I knew that if it worked, we would earn eternal glory.” In other words: a calculated risk.
Tom Theys, Executive Vice President Global Strategy, FCB Global
HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE GREATER CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS?
7
recommendations from experienced strategists.
We have a choice: either we continue to justify every penny we spend, or we take charge and convince the executive board of what we call Creative Effectiveness. “We can achieve disproportionately more impact with the same budget - short-term in sales and long-term in brand strength, which in turn drives future sales. This applies to existing demand as well as new opportunities and markets.” Here are seven valuable insights from seasoned strategists on how to integrate Creative Effectiveness into your company.
Create a culture of creativity.
Creativity isn’t the cherry on the cake; it’s the main ingredient. A company must reward creativity rather than shy away from it.
This requires dedication and patience, buy-in from top management and long-term partnerships with your creative agencies as this is the only way to build trust and a shared vision. These steps will set you on the right path.
And what if you put Creative Effectiveness on the executive agenda? Explicitly link creativity to effectiveness and back it up with solid data. You can also let creativity promote itself: make your point with a compelling story or start with an intriguing title.
Always
communicate from your brand’s core.
Do you need to throw everything overboard to be creative? No, you don’t. Keep communicating consistently from a solid brand foundation: the unwavering principle of “This is what our brand stands for.”
Consistency can boost your investment up to five times by maximising recognition. A new ad typically needs 33%21 more budget to perform as well as earlier ones. According to Mark Ritson, marketers themselves invented the concept of wearout18 . Many studies show that consumers don’t tire of strong concepts and ads as easily as we think.
Creativity as the most powerful tool in business.
We often discuss bravery and courage in the context of creativity. Bravery has always been key in crafting some of the most exceptional brand concepts. (This also shows in the countless LinkedIn posts we see.)
However, do we all truly grasp what this means?
The essence is how to bring creative bravery into our everyday mindset—not just for creatives and strategists, but also for brands and marketeers. It takes a combination of amazing people, incredible clients, and the common pursuit of thinking differently and committing to a single principle: creativity as the most powerful tool in business.
This can be challenging, though, as unconventional or bold ideas often face tougher approval processes. Making a good team also means understanding the most difficult task isn’t necessarily for those generating the ideas, but for those who approve them. Marketeers risk their careers to make a difference. While reusing existing ideas might guarantee a steady profit, creativity should be recognized as a serious tool to boost a business.
How can we make it easier for agencies and clients to overcome the perceived risk that comes with a great idea? It takes courage to fundamentally challenge the assumptions or market of today, but it marks the most well-known and most effective brand ideas. Doing things differently is the essence of creativity. Even in the consistency of a decades-long brand positioning, you can surprise with refreshing executions.
At Creative Belgium, we love to recognize and celebrate short and long-term campaigns that prove to be successful and whose fundament of their achieved success is creative excellence. Brands standing up for what they believe in. Valuing principles over products. Jupiler’s “The Crashed Glass” dares to break the mood and put road safety in the spotlight. Not only is passenger safety Volvo’s hallmark, but now its brand name invokes the environment as well. Vanden Borre asks questions about our throw-away society and promotes repair culture. Our work can make a difference. We should continue on this path.
Even if the market has seemed to be in crisis for some years now, there are brave brands out there, as well as powerful makers. We still see stunning work and a great deal of resilience. And that shouldn’t stop.
Therefore: Let’s be brave little Belgium.
Love,
Isabel Van den Broeck, Managing Director Creative Belgium
Planet Earth to Planet Marketing: “Do you still copy?”
Creativity has a superpower when used correctly. That is what we call effective creativity.
However, the problem is that marketers (and their agencies, to be fair) often live on their own planet. This leads to mishits when they rely on intuition (that infamous gut feeling, you know?).
Apple’s recent ‘Crush!’ campaign for the iPad Pro is a good case in point. The campaign features an industrial press crushing various items, including musical instruments, until only an iPad remains. On Planet Marketing, no one anticipated the fear this would evoke among many artists about the future of their profession.
So how can a brand become so tone deaf to societal concerns, resulting in significant backlash?
This ‘disconnect’ often stems from a lack of curiosity and a lack of insight in human nature. Marketers too often reduce people to mere ‘consumers’. Or worse, to invented target groups with catchy names that don’t align with people’s actual lives. Have you ever seen a Culture Vulture struggle with a tax return? A Self-Actualiser picking his nose behind the wheel? An Urban Adventurer debating
Marketers need to escape their fantasy planet and embrace creativity that respects the reality of actual people.
Escaping that planet means letting reality pervade our businesses. This starts by assembling a team that truly reflects the diversity of our society. However, diversity alone isn’t enough to be fully in touch with reality. There will still be times when even a diverse market-
Therefore, it also means we must find new ways to observe reality. Marketers must obsessively focus on understanding real people. Since reality doesn’t unfold within a 10-meter radius of your desk, genuine curiosity about people is crucial. This curiosity should be supported and validated by data, collected through the implementation of innovative technology (data scraping, AI data aggregation, social listening, etc.) and disciplines that are sometimes overlooked, such as anthropology, ethnography and
In short, only those marketers who heed Planet Earth’s call and build a bridge to the real world will gain access to the most valuable
Lend an ear.
Annie M.G. Schmidt already said it in ‘The Marshal Who Listened In’: you need to know what people are saying about you. Fortunately, you don’t have to twist your ear off like that marshal. There are plenty of social listening tools that can help you capture what’s being said about your company and brand. This provides a wealth of information. Pay special attention to negative reviews and comments, as they come from people who care about your brand in some way. After all, they’re investing their time and energy to post about it.
Connect with real people.
This ties in with the previous point, but goes a step further. We must be curious, almost obsessively so, in our efforts to understand real people. So get out there and talk to people, listen to what occupies their minds. Share a coffee.
Tuning in and connecting with people is different from analysing lifeless personas, research tables or target groups. It’s about putting yourself in the shoes of the individuals who will soon be viewing - or skipping - your message in their feed.
Stay close to what touches people. Look at the most successful advertisements. Follow strong storytelling and selling, infused with positive emotions. Use humour, the element of surprise and basic simplicity. If there’s a shock effect, ensure it draws positive attention or follows a problem-solving scenario. Nothing human should be foreign to us. Draw inspiration from what anthropologists, ethnographers and semioticians have to say.
Diversity and inclusion make you creative and effective.
Reality is diverse and our field should reflect that. This means we need to recruit diversely and inclusively. When companies become more diverse and inclusive, they help steer society in that direction as well. Diversity also fosters ideas that extend beyond our rigid, culturally determined frameworks. From a business perspective, equality, diversity and inclusion are common sense.
Every new study or report provides compelling evidence to this effect. McKinsey’s 2023 report showed that companies with the highest gender diversity on their boards are 27% more likely to financially outperform those with the least diversity19 . Similarly, boards with significant ethnic diversity are 13% more likely to outperform those with little or no ethnic diversity19
Don’t be dull, because dull is expensive.
In their research, Peter Field, Jon Evans and Adam Morgan conclude that being dull as a brand comes at an extraordinary cost12. They demonstrated that a dull campaign in the UK needs an additional €10 million in media investment to be as effective as a creative one. In the US, the amounts are even more staggering.
The foundation for their analysis was laid by 57,000 U.S. TV commercials tested since 2017. The researchers then linked emotional responses to market share. The conclusion was the same: dullness doesn’t pay off, especially when a competitor comes up with something creative. In fact, dull TV commercials would cost advertisers an additional €212 billion to achieve the same market share growth as the most impactful ads12. This is particularly crucial in saturated categories, where one disruptor is enough to shake up the market.
* these are emotional ads that succesfully inspire people to share or talk about them.
Peter Field
Source: IPA effectiveness databank, 1998-2022 cases, N=249, 215
Time to present everyone the bill.
We’ve put together an entire paper filled with research on why creativity is so vital for a marketing team and an organisation. And yet, we can’t ignore the fact that the majority of the campaigns we launch are pretty dull. They don’t stand out - they go in one ear and out the other.
This is understandable when you consider how many people have a say in what brand communication ultimately gets approved. Everyone has an opinion about marketing - the sales manager, the purchasing manager, the manager’s manager and, of course, the CEO. A campaign often requires the same level of compromise as your average coalition agreement.
Maybe it’s time for us and everyone else involved to present the bill. That would make us all a bit more cautious – and rightly so. It costs a fortune to run a campaign that, in itself, draws little attention. Peter Field, Jon Evans and Adam Morgan have proven that being dull as a brand comes at an extreme cost.
Dull campaigns can be just as impactful but it requires a significantly larger media investment to make that happen.
Field, Evans and Morgan’s research shows that a dull or bland campaign in the UK only becomes as effective as a creative one when an additional €10 million is spent on media.
Numbers of that magnitude are sure to grab the attention at board meetings. A topic like ’€10 million budget increase’ is less likely to be dropped from the agenda than ’Brand Campaign H2’ or ’Creative Platform Validation.’
And so, creativity helps to sell itself - or, more accurately, to pay for itself.
So, marketers, we know what we need to do: instead of being backed into a corner in terms of communication, we need to show how we, too, can have a direct impact on those bottom line figures.
Sofie Verstreken, Chief Strategy Officer, BBDO Group Belgium
CREATIVE MARKETING ACCORDING TO Volvo & AKQA Brussels
The street is our showroom.
While the digitalisation of the automotive market is driving many brands towards automated and impersonal marketing, Volvo sees a unique opportunity to use marketing creativity to strengthen the emotional bond with its customers.
The creative marketing approach of ’The street is our showroom’ starts with a clever local insight: outside of Sweden, Belgium has the highest concentration of Volvos on the road. With the innovative ‘Street Configurator’ application, every parked Volvo becomes an interactive showroom model. In this concept, technology is creatively employed to bring the brand experience closer to the consumer.
The result? A textbook example of creative effectiveness, awarded with a Gold Effie in 2023. Volvo achieved a revenue increase of 31% compared to the previous year with the same budget. Moreover, this approach ensures sustainable growth in brand value and interest over the long term.
VIEW THE FULL CASE HERE.
Knowing = Measuring + Interpreting.
It’s challenging to measure the exact impact of a creative campaign versus a non-creative campaign or no communication at all. Many variables can influence the outcome. So should we stop measuring altogether? Absolutely not! The best things in life - love, happiness - are probably the hardest to measure. Otherwise every marriage on Married at First Sight would end in happily ever after. Data and technology have disrupted the industry. Fast data has become massively and partly freely available due to digitalisation, pushing aside the more complex and expensive small data. That’s unfortunate. Small data, along with the power of human knowledge and interpretation, remains essential. Data alone is just raw input that needs clarification. Moreover, there’s a risk that technology becomes an end in itself rather than a means to an end. Finding the right balance is - and will perhaps remain - one of the toughest challenges in marketing. That’s why it is such an exciting field.
Dare to think big.
Wanting the best but thinking small: how long will our history keep haunting us? The toll of focusing on craftsmanship was that we forgot to dream big.
Being critical has become second nature to us. Are we not creative in Belgium, or are we simply too hard on ourselves? It’s probably a combination of both.
Thinking small creates a peculiar relationship with money. Watching every penny. Avoiding risk, which is part of the inherent potential of advertising.
Let me be clear: the day all risk is removed from advertising is the day we celebrate uniformity, predictability and mediocrity. All-out failure!
Gut-feeling thinking would sometimes benefit from more logical reasoning. We must continuously refine our knowledge because our world is changing at an ever-increasing rate.
And while there’s no silver bullet for setting up a perfect and transparent measurement plan, that doesn’t mean we don’t need one. The problem won’t lie in testing before, during and after, but rather in how we approach it: with a small-minded or big-minded mentality.
Our goal should be to create, connected and fuelled by human insight, and driven by bold creativity that resonates. Applying knowledge and learning in loops.
One thing is certain: we need to emancipate. We must break free. Think differently. New entrepreneurship requires courage and a drive for innovation, but also knowledge.
We must collectively invest in more and better understanding. We need to cast off the overly critical attitude that holds us back and embrace initiatives that propel us forward.
If we want our Belgian mentality to be more of a blessing than a curse, we must adapt and use our craftsmanship as the engine to think big.
It’s high time to look in the mirror! Stop nitpicking when it comes to measuring and knowing. Don’t let critical cynicism be the excuse for inaction.
We must have greater belief in our own abilities and do what’s necessary. Before it’s too late.
Bart De Pauw, Chief Business Intelligence Officer, Group M, EMEA/Belgium
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
CREATIVITY IS THE BIGGEST ROI MULTPLIER WITHIN OUR CONTROL
POTENTIAL MULTIPLIERS OF ADVERTISING PROFITABILITY - (2023)
Source: The Drivers of Profitability, 2023, Paul Dyson- accelero, ROI multiplier = area of the circle
CREATIVE MARKETING ACCORDING TO Special Olympics Belgium & LDV United.
The road to sustained success.
Special Olympics Belgium (SOB) is a small organisation. Offering inclusive sports on a large scale is unfeasible on their own so SOB relies on regular sports clubs to provide opportunities. For years, the average growth in special athletes was a modest 2%. In 2016, the new SOB management set an ambitious goal: a 60% increase in athletes over five years, from 12,500 to 20,000 by 2020.
With the five-year creative strategy ‘Challenge the Strongest and You Become Stronger’, SOB tapped into a universal sports emotion that connects people. This strategy led to a campaign in 2016 to open new clubs, in 2018 to attract sponsorships, and in 2020 to recruit more special athletes.
This case exceeded the ambitious 2020 goal of +60% growth, achieving a total of 21,000 athletes, or +68% growth. The campaign’s creative effectiveness went even further, securing 41 new sponsors and recruiting 11,696 special athletes. The consistently effective creative strategy was awarded the Grand Sustained Success Effie in 2021.
LET’S START THE CONVERSATION ON THE VALUE OF CREATIVITY.
THE VALUE OF CREATIVITY.
Creative thinking that leads to creative solutions in any field is one of the most powerful tools our industry has to create value for our clients. Turning theory into practice through creativity is something we excel at and it’s often where we make the difference for our clients. However, our clients are not always aware of this value and it can be challenging to raise that awareness. This is why the ACC’s mantra for the coming years is: We are value C.R.E.A.T.O.R.S.
It does take two to tango. Agencies and advertisers need each other to create this value. It’s about having the right conversations within a genuine, close partnership. A great agency is only as good as its client, and vice versa.
We’ve developed a number of conversation starters to help both client and agency teams feel comfortable outside their comfort zones. These can help motivate and train both the more experienced and, in particular, the younger generation to engage in discussions that give creative thinking every chance to shine.
The choice for creativity is more crucial than ever, and it’s never easy. But then again, if it were easy, everyone would do it, right?
Karen Corrigan, Chairperson ACC
CONVERSATION STARTERS:
When do we get cake?
What are our KPIs and how will we measure them? When can we consider our creative efforts a success?
Who are we working for?
Who is our customer? What problem can we solve for them? Who should want our message, service, or product, and why? Where is the sweet spot to make that connection?
How do I foster a creative culture in my company?
Is there buy-in from senior management that creativity is essential? Do we share a common language allowing us to assess creativity more objectively? Do we evaluate creative content from other brands together? Are we open to new ideas? Do I allow external specialists to assess my work in terms of creativity?
How can I build a successful creative team?
Do I have at least one creative person on my team? Do I have the courage to hire someone more creative than myself? Are my team members’ objectives aligned with creative parameters? Is out-of-the-box thinking encouraged?
How to handle failure?
Do we have a long-term goal in mind? Are our short-term objectives aligned with that long-term goal? Do we celebrate successes? Is there understanding and learning from potential failures?
How do I deal with stepping outside of my comfort zone?
How do you handle discomfort when faced with an (often good) idea that blindsided you and that will require courage to sell (as an agency) and to buy (as a client)?
IN CLOSING.
Marketers/brand builders carry a tremendous responsibility. Along with their internal (Sales, Finance, Supply, etc.) and external stakeholders (creative and media agencies, research firms, etc.), they are held accountable for the profitable growth and maximisation of their company’s profit through effective brand development. Marketing initiatives are continually assessed internally for their potential to contribute to this profitable growth. As a result, marketers often become very internally focused when they should be concentrating externally—keeping consumers at the centre and continuously convincing them of the brand’s value. Every marketer knows that focusing on consumer penetration is the only gateway to maintaining or, better yet, growing market share.
An increasingly competitive and ever-changing market environment is the reality for every brand builder in Belgium. The diversity of communication and sales channels makes effective brand building even more challenging. It is becoming increasingly difficult to capture and retain the attention of ever more critical and fickle consumers, and to continuously convince them of the added value of their brand.
Today’s marketers also live in a world of ‘data abundance,’ allowing them to better measure and evaluate the effectiveness of their brand investments. Facts and rationality easily take precedence in this context. However, in an increasingly competitive and complex marketing reality, creativity can make a genuine difference and contribute to better results. Creativity helps a brand stand out from the competition, thereby securing a competitive advantage. It makes brands recognisable and memorable, contributes to a strong narrative and, consequently, a strong identity. Creativity makes it easier to connect with consumers, ensuring that the brand narrative remains relevant over time.
Therefore, I advocate for more creativity in all our efforts as brand builders.
UBA promotes a creative, innovative and transparent communication ecosystem and supports its members by representing their interests and providing a platform for knowledge exchange. UBA works closely with its partner associations, including the ACC.
Let’s join forces to create campaigns with more effective creativity!
Mira De Maeyer, Chairperson UBA
THANK YOU !
Sofie Verstreken, Tom Theys, Bart De Pauw, Berten Peremans & Dominique Poncin for your input, expertise & opinions. Without you there would be no whitepaper.
Tomas Sweertvaegher, Dennis Snijders, Francesco Cacamese, Dimitri De Lauw, Dieter Deriemaecker, thank you for sharing the knowledge from your archives. Thanks to Vincent D’Halluin for embracing this project from EC APG and for acting as a sounding board, and thanks to Christophe from BBDO for the design. Finally, I would also like to thank Johan-Lou Verwimp for connecting all the dots with the right words to make it work.
SOURCES.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wanamaker
2. Marketing Challenges Survey WARC 2022
3. https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/effectiveness-research-analysis/les-binet-peter-field Orlando Wood – Lemon
4. MAGNA Global Ad Forecasts, June 2024
5. Nielsen AdReaction 2015
6. System1 - US and UK TV advertising
7. Martin Weigel – Escape from Fantasy (2018)
8. WundermanThompson - The Age of Re-Echantment (2023)
9. UBA Belgium – Gebruik Sociale Media Hoger bij Marketeers (2019) UBA Belgium – Onderzoek Wijst uit dat de Marketeer zijn Strategie te vaak in de Spiegel Zoekt (2018) WFA - Global DEI Census Belgium (2023)
10. WFA - Clients and creativity – Belgium (2022)
11. Duncan Southgate and Paul Dyson - Data2Decisions &Accelero - Reviewing the Top 10 Drivers of Advertising Profitability (2023)
12. The extraordinary cost of dull – System1 – Eatbigfish – Jon Evans, Adam Morgan, Peter Field (2022)
13. Tom Roach - Attention’s the problem, creativity’s the answer – as ever (2023)
14. WARC - Higher creativity boosts attention for banner ads (2022)
15. Binet & Field - The long and short of it (2013)
16. Orlando Wood - Lemon. How the advertising brain turned sour (2019)
17. WARC - Best Practice: Developing brand assets (2020)
18. https://www.marketingweek.com/consumers-tired-ads-marketers/
19. Mc Kinsey - Diversity matters even more: The case for holistic impact (2023)
20. IPA effectiveness databank - N=249 (1998-2022)
21. mResponse GroupM ad effectiveness dbase (n = 2500 campaigns)
And Effie Belgium
PANENKA’S GOAL
IPAD CRUSH CAMPAIGN
Prayer for the blessing of MC = E 2
Above all treasure Creativity It surely brings Effectivity
Striking work you shall create And the uninspired eliminate Consciously focus on ROI
Ask “Why not?” instead of “Why”
Sacred cows you shall upend And explore the strangest trends
Do not be afraid to fail In the end you shall prevail
If you believe in Creativity, You shall reap Effective profitability For all eternity. Amen