71% marketers aim for creative excellence: WARC x ANA report

New Delhi: WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the U.S. advertising industry's trade association, have released a new white paper: ‘Building belief: What it takes to instill a culture of creative effectiveness.’

Based on analysis from a global survey of 300+ brand owners worldwide conducted in January-February 2024, the research finds that while 71% of marketers agreed that their business was ambitious about delivering creative excellence, only 37% of respondents felt their business had the right capabilities to deliver ground-breaking ideas. 

These findings underscore earlier research released by WARC, LIONS and the ANA in 2023 that identified organisational culture as the main blocker to creative excellence at brands. 

Despite numerous research studies carried out over the past decade linking creativity to improvements in business performance, marketers still struggle to convince their C-suites of the value of creativity. 

To help brands address this challenge, the whitepaper: ‘Building a culture of creative effectiveness’ (Phase 1) was released last year. This initial study, which included in-depth interviews with a broad range of leading brands, outlined the ABE Framework - Align, Build and Embed. 

The framework is aligned with one of the core strategic pursuits of the Global CMO Growth Council (a partnership between the ANA and LIONS) and has been gaining adoption from leading brands over the past year. 

A year on, the survey-led follow-up ‘Building belief: What it takes to instill a culture of creative effectiveness’ white paper (Phase 2), develops quantitative insight and validates the value of the ABE Framework. 

Aditya Kishore, Insight Director, WARC, said, “Over the past year, we have been working to develop Phase 2 of this initiative, exploring the culture of creative effectiveness at brands. It shows that marketers largely lack belief in their ability to deliver creative excellence, despite a strong desire to do so. It demonstrates that to build belief in their creative capabilities, brands need to develop a culture of creative effectiveness. The ABE framework offers them an opportunity to shift perceptions within their brand organization and identify the required processes and structures to harness the impact of creativity.”

Bob Liodice, CEO, ANA, said, “Transforming the intangible and essential idea of culture into a solid, measurable structure has consistently proven to be an enduring brand challenge. For the industry to unleash the power of advertising creativity, it is critical to have the right frameworks and the relevant metrics to prove its value. The ANA is committed to driving fundamental progress. We are pleased to partner with WARC to deliver Phase 2 on the culture of creative effectiveness.” 

Introducing the 3+ marketer

The most significant finding from the Phase 2 report is that marketers who deployed three or more building blocks from the ABE framework (3+ marketers) were consistently more successful in delivering creative effectiveness.

3+ marketers were more likely to be able to justify investment in creativity during a recession, connect campaign performance to revenue and sales, and prove the benefits of creativity as well as a host of other benefits. 

Other key findings from the study include: 

1. Brands are advised to start implementing the ABE Framework, as the research found that each building block adds to creative effectiveness for the brand organization. Adding more building blocks from the framework can help brands progress further along their ongoing creative effectiveness journey. 

2. Brands should adopt the concept of a ‘maturity curve,’ and understand the need to progress beyond just aligning with the C-suite and speaking the language of the boardroom. These are critical, but there is much more to a brand’s creative effectiveness journey. 

3. Much of the work outlined under the ‘Build’ and ‘Embed’ platform of the ABE framework can be done within the marketing department itself. Getting corporate buy-in will be necessary, but marketers don’t have to hold off on their creative effectiveness journey till they have it. Being able to define what “good” looks like can catalyze the journey, and this can be initiated within the marketing department itself.