Exclusive: Michael Maedel, Worldwide President, JWT on the need for Strategy Over Statistics for Advertising Effectiveness

Effective campaigns engage consumers by tying brand attribute to message

Recently, I was tasked with judging over 100 submissions for an advertising effectiveness competition. No small job. For each one, I ranked their strategy, creativity, execution and results. I had been looking forward to the opportunity to review the best work from all over the region. I felt like it was a real treat to put aside everyday tasks for several hours and really focus on the core of our business - the work. Supposedly, each agency has sent their best of the best. Yet, after just a few entries I was dismayed at the level of work. Were agencies not discriminating enough when they sent in the entries? Was the overall caliber of work sinking? Clients and agencies use all types of metrics to determine campaign effectiveness – some measure increased sales, others brand affinity or memory recall. Most of the entries I reviewed listed out detailed quantitative support proving why their ad was the most effective ad of the year.

But let’s face it – if you work in a big market like Mumbai, Shanghai or Tokyo, it’s easy to find a few impressive statistics that back up your work. While statistics are good supporting material, it’s more important to evaluate whether the campaign had a clear strategy to engage the consumer. As I continued to slog through the entries, I was having a hard time focusing, even after a double espresso. Towards the end of the second batch, I found a different kind of caffeinated encouragement. It was Red Lounge’s “First Coke of the Year Campaign,” which was launched for Chinese New Year’s.

Unlike typical traditional Chinese New Year’s communications using the “Year of the Ox” themes, the central theme focused on humanity and optimism through the symbolic act of sharing the First Coke of the Year. It was a touching campaign featuring the famous Chinese Olympic hurdler, Liu Xiang and his father. He honours his father by sharing his “first coke” with him during China’s most important holiday of the year. At the end of the commercial, it asks “Who will you share your first Coke with?”

This ad got the most important guideline of effective advertising correct – engaging the consumer’s emotions in some way. Not only does it engage the consumer’s emotions, it has a subtle call to action asking them to “share” a Coke with someone they care about.

As we all know, one great commercial does not make for effective advertising. In the best case scenario, the consumer is reminded of the brand message through a range of media and ultimately, engaged in the advertising campaign.

Coke, as a big advertiser, understands that to generate results, they must have a variety of touch points. Besides the TVC, Coke launched an online campaign that encouraged the public to post their personal stories on who they chose to share their first Coke of the Year. The level and depth of engagement they achieved through this “story-telling” was impressive.

In conclusion, an effective campaign must engage the consumer by tying a product or brand attribute to the campaign message. That message can’t just be a heart-warming story; it must include a call to action. And that message must be appropriately reinforced. Lastly, a great campaign engages the consumer and encourages the consumer to actively participate in it. Both clients and award shows will often scrutinise measurements for advertising effectiveness, but honestly, it’s easy to spot an effective campaign because they simply follow the advertising basics for good advertising and you are drawn to it, just as a consumer would be.

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