In its early days Advertising Works was a slim 200 pages. This latest incarnation of the IPA Advertising Effectiveness Awards is a hefty tome of more than 700 pages, containing vast amounts of information, hard work and cracking stories.
THE TWO-MINUTE VERSION?
- Advertising works: 35 stories that tell you just how much advertising works.
- Telly is still important (and more measurable than some channels): Aldi’s Value story shows that a brand needs values as well as value. Aldi had the courage to do something different: it promoted brands it didn’t stock. It went back to some tried and trusted methods, such as blind taste tests and price comparisons, but used them in a way that made many of us laugh and shop.
- Digital is still new and we’ve got a lot to learn: ‘Who Killed Deon?’ explains how the Metropolitan Police used social media to tell a complex story. It is a great example of genuine collaboration and shows the importance of understanding what people do with social media, not what social media does to people.
- Behavioural economics has been around for a long time: Understanding motivation is essential to changing behaviour. The Drink-Drive campaign case study illustrates how advertising permanently changed attitudes towards drinking and driving. The return on investment is impressive; the fact that almost 2000 lives have been saved is even more so.
- We live in a global village, but it’s the ‘village’ bit that makes the difference: Chairman Mao may have said that ‘women hold up half the sky’ but there is no ‘beauty versus brains’ dilemma in China: it’s your duty to be beautiful. This story explains how Dove mixed ancient myth and modern mores to reposition Dove shower gel for the Chinese market. The results (and charts and figures) in the Advertising Works case studies are impressive, but it’s the stories that engage. Don’t keep this book on the shelf – read, learn, think differently and create more advertising that works.
Advertising Works 21 is published by Warc. www.warc.com This article was taken from the June issue of Market Leader. Browse the archive here.