To assess how often highly creative work is also effective, WARC says that it has analysed the data from the 2016-2019 WARC Creative 100 Rankings (the world's most awarded campaigns for creativity) and the WARC Effective 100 Rankings (the world's most awarded campaigns for effectiveness), covering awards shows tracked between 2015 and 2018.

The findings are now published in WARC's latest research on the health of creativity. Amy Rodgers, managing editor, research and rankings at WARC, says, "Over the past year, there has been a lot of discussion around the concern that short-term strategies, which focus on immediate gain, are driving a crisis in creative effectiveness."

"With this in mind, we've compared the data from the WARC Creative and Effective Rankings to see how many creative ideas were subsequently awarded for effectiveness, and what can be learnt from these successful campaigns that can help marketers drive long-term brand health," adds Rodgers.

Of the 332 creative ideas ranked in the WARC Creative 100 over the last four years, 126 (38%) were also awarded for effectiveness in a show tracked by the WARC Rankings.

Of these 126 ideas, 33 (10%) also ranked in the WARC Effective 100, deeming them to be both highly creative and highly effective. Following WARC's analysis of the 126 most creative and effective ideas, five characteristics have emerged, including:
  • Lead media: Ideas awarded for 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: Objectives focusing 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
An infographic of the research is available here. A deck is available to WARC subscribers, which includes the case studies of the 33 successful ideas for both creativity and effectiveness across:
  • alcoholic drinks
  • automotive
  • clothing and accessories
  • financial services
  • FMCG
  • food
  • leisure and entertainment
  • media and publishing
  • pharma and healthcare
  • retail
  • soft drinks
  • technology and electronics, and
  • telecoms and utilities. 
The WARC Rankings 2020 will be released in early March.

For more information, visit www.warc.com. You can also follow WARC on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.