In the advertising and marketing industries, the debate has raged for decades. Do high levels of creativity make advertising more effective? Or is creativity just irresponsible folly practiced by creative people looking to win their next award? The arguments of both advocates and cynics have until now been based on conjecture and anecdotal evidence. The Case for Creativity brings the debate to a conclusion, telling the story of two decades of international research into the link between creativity and business results.

1. Two decades’ evidence of the link between
imaginative marketing and commercial success
December 2012

2. Is more creative advertising more e!ective advertising?
This presentation is a summary of the "ndings of "fteen studies comparing the
e!ectiveness of more creative and less creative advertising, agencies and companies
The studies were conducted in North America, UK, Europe, Asia & Australasia,
and span two decades from 1990 to 2010
They were conducted by university academics, industry researchers, the IPA and
McKinsey & Company
They all reach the same conclusion, and there are no known studies that con#ict
with that conclusion
The studies are discussed in more detail in the book ‘The Case for Creativity’
by James Hurman

3. More creative advertising is more e!ective advertising
In 1996 and 2002, while at Leo Burnett, Donald Gunn
twice produced his ‘Do Award Winning Commercials Percentage of advertising campaigns shown to
Sell?’ study. produce a business result
In both cases he collected the case histories of the 400 most
awarded recent campaigns in the world, along with
quanti"ed evidence of their business results.
He found that 86.5% and 82% of those awarded campaigns,
respectively, had met or exceeded their clients objectives.
This is an improvement on advertising in general, which is
84%! 70%!
shown to generate a sales result around 70% of the time.
Proving not only that creatively awarded advertising tends
to be e!ective, but also that it tends to be more e!ective Creatively awarded Advertising in
than advertising in general. advertising general
SOURCE: Gunn, ‘Do Award Winning Commercials Sell?’ 1996, 2002; Jones, ‘When Ads Work’, 1995; McDonald, 'How frequently should you advertise?', 1996; Brandes, 'How advertising works in Germany', 1996!

4. More creative advertising is more e!ective advertising
In 2010, Peter Field, an independent contractor to the
UK’s IPA, studied the 257 IPA E!ectiveness Award Average points of market share growth per 10 points
winning campaigns since 2000. of excess share of voice
He contrasted the campaigns that had won a major
creative award against those that hadn’t, and measured
their relative e!ectiveness.
His "rst "nding was that the creatively awarded
campaigns were eleven times more e$cient at
generating a market share increase.
5.7! 0.5!
Creatively awarded Non-creatively awarded
advertising advertising
SOURCE: Field, ‘The Link Between Creativity and Effectiveness’, 2010

5. More creative advertising is more e!ective advertising
Peter’s second "nding was
that the creatively awarded E$ciency of creatively awarded campaigns vs non-awarded campaigns
campaigns were much more
certain to achieve that result.
The less creative campaigns
were not only less e$cient,
but also less predictable than
the creatively awarded ones.
This suggests a departure
from the conventional
wisdom that a more creative
approach is a ‘riskier’ one.
SOURCE: Field, ‘The Link Between Creativity and Effectiveness’, 2010

6. More creative advertising is more e!ective advertising
Peter’s third "nding was that
Advertising E!ectiveness Success Rate: creatively- vs non-creatively awarded
the creatively awarded
campaigns achieved a higher
‘E!ectiveness Success Rate’
than the non-awarded
campaigns.
This is a measure of achieving
‘very large business e!ects’, ie,
signi"cant improvements in
market share, penetration,
pro"tability, etc.
75%! 59%! 88%! 80%!
The creatively awarded
campaigns were shown to be
10% more e!ective on a high
spend, and 27% more e!ective Awarded Non-awarded Awarded Non-awarded
on a low spend.
LOW ESOV SPEND <6% HIGH ESOV SPEND >6%
SOURCE: Field, ‘The Link Between Creativity and Effectiveness’, 2010

7. More creative advertising is more effective advertising
Peter’s fourth finding was that as the campaigns got
more creatively awarded (i.e. achieved a higher Gunn The most creatively-awarded campaigns are also
Report score for achieving greater quality and the most e!ective
quantity of awards) they got more effective.
Campaigns that produced a higher number of very
large business effects (i.e., significant improvements in
market share, penetration, profitability, etc) also had a
higher Gunn Report score.
AVERAGE AVERAGE
GUNN GUNN
REPORT REPORT
SCORE! SCORE!
2.0! 3.1!
Low ( 0-1) High (2+)
Number of Very Large Business E!ects
SOURCE: Field, ‘The Link Between Creativity and Effectiveness’, 2010

8. More creative agencies are more e!ective agencies
In 2011, the 16 UK and US agencies that had featured in the
Gunn Report top 50 more than twice between 2006 and 2010 E!ectiveness awards won per $US1B billed
were compared with the 16 largest and most successful, but
less creatively awarded agencies, from the same markets.
The ‘most creative’ group included the likes of BBDO, DDB,
TBWA, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Goodby Silverstein &
Partners and Wieden+Kennedy.
The ‘less creative’ group included JWT, Ogilvy, Grey, Y&R
and Publicis.
The study found that the ‘most creative’ agencies won, on 13.7! 5.4!
average, many more e!ectiveness awards, despite being
smaller than the ‘less creative’ agencies.
Most Creative Less Creative
The ‘most creative’ agencies were shown to be over two and a Agencies Agencies
half times more e!ective than the ‘less creative’ agencies.
SOURCE: Hurman, ‘The Case for Creativity’, 2011

9. More creative companies are more successful companies
An analysis of the Cannes Advertisers of the Year of
the 2000’s reveals that each had experienced a record Annual stock value growth of Cannes Advertisers of
period of stock market growth at the time of receiving the Year 2000-2009 vs S&P500 annual average
that award.
While the Cannes Advertisers of the Year experienced,
on average, 41% stock value growth in the year they
won the award, the S&P500 experienced a fraction of
that growth at 0.5%.
Further analysis reveals that in each case, the
companies had been going through a period of greater
focus on creativity and innovation throughout their
business, of which award winning advertising and 41%! 0.5%!
stock market success were symptomatic.
Cannes Advertisers S&P500
of the Year
SOURCE: Hurman, ‘The Case for Creativity’, 2011

10. How does creativity work?
The many academic and industry studies of creativity in advertising not only prove a
more creative approach to be a more e!ective one.
They also give us insight into how creativity works – how creativity increases the
e!ectiveness of advertising…

11. How does creativity work?
Creativity’s "rst e!ect is that it makes advertising more
likely to stand out and be noticed.
Five academic studies between 1991 and 2005 show that
increased levels of creativity promote increased and
more intense attention to advertising.
SOURCE: Pick, Sweeney & Clay, 1991; McQuarrie & Mick, 1992; Stewart & Furse, 2000; Pieters, Warlop & Wedel, 2002; Till & Baack, 2005.

12. How does creativity work?
Creativity’s second e!ect is that it makes advertising
more likely to be remembered and recalled.
In 2005, researchers at the University of South Carolina
showed that creative advertising was signi"cantly (2 to
9 times) more likely to be recalled unprompted than
advertising in general.
SOURCE: Till & Baack, ‘Recall & Persuasion: Does Creative Advertising Matter?’, 2005

13. How does creativity work?
Creativity’s third e!ect is that it makes advertising
more likely to generate ‘fame’ and conversation.
In 2010, researchers at the Institute of Practitioners in
Advertising showed that creatively awarded advertising
was twice as likely to generate strong ‘fame’ e!ects, i.e.
online and o%ine conversation.
In 2007 the same researchers had shown campaigns
generating strong ‘fame’ e!ects to be the most e!ective
of all campaigns.
SOURCE: Field, ‘The link between creativity and effectiveness’, 2010

14. How does creativity work?
Creativity’s fourth e!ect is that it makes advertising
more persuasive.
In 2009, researchers at the Universities of Indiana and
Wisconsin-Milwaukee showed that creatively-awarded
advertising triggers greater purchase intent, and that
this was because it measurably increases open-
mindedness and curiosity. Consumers let their
defences down more for creative advertising, allowing
themselves to be sold to more readily.
SOURCE: Yang & Smith, ‘Beyond Attention Effects: Modeling the Persuasive and Emotional Effects of Advertising Creativity’, 2009

15. Advertising creativity makes people think better of companies
In 2008, researchers at the
E!ects of advertising creativity on broad company perceptions
Stockholm School of
Economics discovered that
more creative advertising had a
far greater impact than less
creative advertising on
consumers’ positive
perceptions of the company
being advertised.
Respondents shown creative
advertising felt better about a
company and its product than 57%! 34%! 78%! 57%! 68%! 39%!
those shown less creative
advertising for the same
company.
More Less More Less More Less
creative creative creative creative creative creative
“Smart Company” “High Quality” “Worth Purchasing”
SOURCE: Dahlén, Rosengren and Törn, ‘Advertising Creativity Matters’, 2008

16. Summary: “Creativity is an advertiser’s best bet.” - McKinsey & Company, 2006
Two decades of international research measurably demonstrate that:
More creative advertising is more e!ective advertising
More creative agencies are more e!ective agencies
More creative companies are more successful companies
Creativity works by making advertising more likely to stand out, more likely to be recalled,
more likely to be talked about and more likely to persuade consumers
Consumers think better of companies and the products they produce when those
companies use more creative advertising
For more, visit www.caseforcreativity.com