It is hard to measure how much creativity drives results in campaigns, but recent research from marketing information analysts WARC on the health of creativity, claims that 38% of the world’s most creative ideas are also effective.
Key findings
- Lead media: Ideas awarded both creatively and for effectiveness are almost twice as likely to lead with TV as any other channel
- Creative strategy: Emotion is used in more than half of the ideas
- Campaign objective: They focus their objectives on brand building
- Hard metrics: Measurement is focused on sales, PR and social media
- Sector: They are most likely to come from the retail sector
Discussing the connection between creativity and results, Amy Rodgers, managing editor, research and rankings at WARC, says: “The link between creativity and effectiveness is a much-discussed subject, and although there is compelling evidence that creativity is a key driver of increased effectiveness, the link is difficult to measure.
"We wanted to use the wealth of awards data that powers our WARC Rankings, to put a number on how often awarded creativity results in effectiveness. The result? 38% of the best creative ideas over the past four years were also awarded for their effectiveness. As concern mounts over the focus on short-termism negatively impacting creative effectiveness, we’ll continue to measure this conversion, giving the industry a benchmark to work from in efforts to measure the effectiveness of creative work.”
5 characteristics of the 126 most creative and effective ideas
The WARC Rankings Creative 100, has just been released and the world’s most creative campaigns and agencies are listed below.
Top 10 world's most awarded campaigns for creativity
Rank |
Campaign title |
Brand |
Agency |
Points |
1 |
The Whopper Detour |
Burger King |
FCB New York |
271.9 |
2 |
Viva La Vulva |
Bodyform/Libresse |
AMV BBDO London |
227.7 |
3 |
Dream Crazy |
Nike |
Wieden+Kennedy Portland |
223.3 |
4 |
The Truth Is Worth It |
The New York Times |
Droga5 New York |
198.8 |
5 |
Changing the Game |
Xbox |
McCann New York |
159.4 |
6 |
Broadway the Rainbow |
Skittles |
DDB Chicago |
114.1 |
7 |
StorySign |
Huawei |
FCB Inferno London |
107.4 |
8 |
Keeping Fortnite Fresh |
Wendy's |
VMLY&R Kansas City |
100.3 |
9 |
ThisAbles |
IKEA |
McCann Tel Aviv |
100 |
10 |
Safety Hub |
NRMA Insurance |
CHE Proximity Melbourne |
87.7 |
Top 10 world's most awarded agencies for creativity
Rank |
Agency |
Location |
Points |
1 |
McCann |
New York, USA |
376.6 |
2 |
Droga5 |
New York, USA |
375.8 |
3 |
Wieden+Kennedy |
Portland, USA |
297.4 |
4 |
AMV BBDO |
London, UK |
234.6 |
5 |
Impact BBDO |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
222.5 |
6 |
adam&eveDDB |
London, UK |
221.2 |
7 |
Publicis |
Milan, Italy |
211.3 |
8 |
FCB |
New York, USA |
200.0 |
9 |
Africa |
São Paulo, Brazil |
196.3 |
10 |
McCann |
London, UK |
181.0 |
Top 10 world's most awarded networks for creativity
Rank |
Network |
Points |
1 |
BBDO Worldwide |
1316.5 |
2 |
DDB Worldwide |
1113.5 |
3 |
McCann Worldgroup |
1068.4 |
4 |
TBWA Worldwide |
853.8 |
5 |
Ogilvy |
707.1 |
6 |
FCB |
637.8 |
7 |
Wieden+Kennedy |
457.5 |
8 |
Droga5 |
429.5 |
9 |
Publicis Worldwide |
418.9 |
10 |
VMLY&R |
405.3 |
Top 10 world's most awarded holding companies for creativity
Rank |
Holding company |
Points |
1 |
Omnicom Group |
3367.1 |
2 |
Interpublic Group |
2067.5 |
3 |
WPP |
1964.8 |
4 |
Publicis Groupe |
833.8 |
5 |
Accenture |
512.3 |
6 |
Dentsu |
483.1 |
7 |
Havas Group |
225 |
8 |
MDC Partners |
198.2 |
9 |
Hakuhodo DY Group |
160.8 |
10 |
BlueFocus |
10.6 |
Top 10 world's most awarded brands for creativity
Rank |
Brand |
Product Category |
Points |
1 |
Burger King |
Retail |
490.7 |
2 |
Nike |
Clothing & Accessories |
338.1 |
3 |
Xbox |
Technology & Electronics |
257.8 |
4 |
IKEA |
Retail |
211.1 |
5 |
Bodyform/Libresse |
Toiletries & Cosmetics |
200.0 |
6 |
The New York Times |
Media & Publishing |
198.8 |
7 |
Apple |
Technology & Electronics |
198.0 |
8 |
Volkswagen |
Automotive |
179.7 |
9 |
Diesel |
Clothing & Accessories |
146.3 |
10 |
KFC |
Retail |
146.2 |
Methodology
For the Health of Creativity study, WARC analysed the results of the award shows tracked between 2015 and 2018 for creativity, media and effectiveness.
WARC’s Creative 100 Ranking is produced by combining the results of the industry's most important global and regional creative award shows tracked throughout 2019. The awards tracked are determined by the WARC Rankings Advisory Board and a worldwide industry survey.
For more information, data and to view previous WARC Rankings, the successor to the Gunn Report, go to warc.com/rankings
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