Creativity in Advertising: It’s Worth the Effort

May 2012

Testing the Theory

Who doesn’t like creative advertising? Think of Coke’s Chase, Melbourne Metro Trains “Dumb Ways to Die”, XXX Gold and any number of Toyota advertisements over the years.

But despite the existence of measures that also assess the influence of creativity in enhancing advertising effectiveness since the 1960’s and a slew of econometric studies that have shown unequivocally that creativity when combined with other key inputs like relevance to the product/service offer and differentiation is proven to influence a range of brand performance measures such as ability to charge premium prices, short or long term sales and the image of the brand; for many clients the question still remains “Does creative advertising translate into sales?”

In early 2012 Navigate, the Adelaide Advertising and Design Club and the University of Adelaide teamed up to find out. We learned that both creative ads and more conventional ones employing content fit (i.e. credibility, relevant product related messages but less “creative”) can work – but not for any product, and not always in the same way. Initially, we examined about 80 television and online commercials submitted for the 2011 Australian EFFIE awards. Two panels of experts, one focused on creativity and the other on content fit, evaluated the ads in terms of ten criteria (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Five creative and five content related criteria were chosen to assess the ads Criteria for advertising assessment

Source: Navigate, AADC and University of Adelaide

Their assessments were then tested for correlation with advertising recall figures and post-campaign changes in market share. From the range of ads tested, two are described here in more detail. One of the most creative advertisements was Audi’s “Tomorrow has arrived today” spot. In contrast, the “Poetry” commercial for Comfort fabric softener, a classic spot focusing on the rational product features “softness” and “freshness,” achieved a low creativity score, but was ranked very high in terms of content fit (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The ads worked in entirely different ways Criteria for advertising assessment

Source: Navigate, AADC and University of Adelaide

Although both highly creative and content-focused campaigns can be successful in terms of market share gains, there are some notable differences. While successful creative ads often come from the automotive and FMCGs (especially experiential/pleasure giving products such as soft drinks, beer and some personal care products – think Lynx), campaigns that succeed thanks to their content fit were typically created for more functional products that are bought mainly because of their practical benefits – such as detergent, household freshener, kitchen appliances and in this case the fabric softener brand, Comfort.

In our review we also found low performers also tend to come from a particular industry: many of the advertisements deemed “boring losers”– campaigns that were neither creative nor successful – were created for financial institutions. Their often abstract messages frequently led to less exciting and appealing spots.

As a general rule, one could say that the more emotionally charged the product, the more creative the campaign should be. This is especially true for high-involvement products characterised by long life cycles and high purchase prices: cars, watches, jewelry, or high-end consumer electronics.

By contrast, fast-moving everyday products and items with low ticket prices typically derive a high sales benefit from campaigns with a good content fit. Despite these differences, however, our analysis shows that creativity almost always pays off. When we plotted the ads in terms of creativity and post-campaign market share, very few fell into the “exciting loser” category (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Both creativity and content fit contribute to market share and sales success Mapping the advertisements

Source: Navigate, AADC and University of Adelaide

In other words, there are next to no highly creative campaigns that are not successful. Other things being equal, creativity is an advertiser’s best bet. Our study refutes the misconception that advertising is an either/or proposition: innovative or informative, noticeably different or optimally attuned to what consumers need to know. It’s the appropriate mix that determines success. The criteria used in our analysis can help advertisers determine the right proportion of creativity and content fit in a given situation. If they get it right, advertisers will walk away with real returns – and work that leaves a lasting impression.

For more information on how Navigate can help you plan your advertising strategy, see our website at www.navigateconsutling.com.au or contact John Gregg on (+61) 0402 493 278 or at johng@navigateconsulting.com.au