Whether driving revenue, or successfully campaigning to amend a law, this report proves marketing’s ability to drive tangible growth and change. Contained within its pages are little slices of relevant learnings marketers can use to meet the challenges their brands’ face right now.
Crisis as a catalyst for growth is the common theme emerging from the 2022 UK Winners, and this was reinforced when we came to analyse the 2022 Global Best of the Best contenders. The full report can be downloaded here.
The 5 key learnings are:
Be ready for a crisis with a long-term strategy
Long-term brand-building campaigns with empathy at their core our perform their competition. For inspiration, take a look at sustained success superheroes; Tesco and McDonald’s.
Keep a clear eye on revenue, whilst maintaining spend where you can
More than half our UK winners (53%) stated maintaining or growing revenue as their primary objective. Well planned, creatively executed campaigns focused on growth reward those who keep spending through tough times.
Social good isn’t just a ‘nice to have’
Some of the most effective campaigns have social good at their heart, addressing issues such as diversity, inclusion and equality. The report found brands do have the power to change behaviour that impacts society for good, but aligning the campaign with existing brand attributes is key.
Build a continuous learning cycle
Creating a continuous learning cycle allows marketers and agencies to flag and identify brand issues, understand the whys from qualitative research, and inform creative development.
Subvert conventions
The analysis showed that playing with the norms is key to success, as evidenced by winners such as Aldi which beat the giants of Christmas advertising, such as John Lewis and Coca-Cola, with its long-running mascot ‘Kevin the Carrot’.
