It may come as a surprise but this insight comes from Millward Brown in the recent article “Creative Effectiveness” (ADMAP, Nov, 2012).
In the article Millward Brown writes that ads which won IPA, Effie and Cannes Lions awards score highly on three of13 criteria that are part of a Millward Brown Link test:
- Enjoyment
- Involvement
- Different to other adverts
The data presented by Millward Brown appears to support this.
The data also shows that award winning ads rank low for two other Link test criteria;
- Understanding
- Relevance
If we are to believe that award winning ads are Enjoyable, Involving and Different to other adverts we must also conclude that award winning ads are Irrelevant and Incomprehensible.
Persuasion is not necessary for effective advertising?
The article moves on to another key component of Link testing Persuasion; the Millward Brown article claims to show
advertising working without persuading people
and explains
persuasion is not necessary for effective advertising.
A cursory scan of the tables shows that Persuasion ranks averagely across all three awards, therefore award winning adverts are averagely Persuasive, not Unpersuasive.
The original article was written by Dominic Twose Global Head of Knowledge Management at Millward Brown.
Data tables from the original article are below:
