There has been quite a lot of discussion following the release of the 21st edition of Advertising Works, which compiles the winners from the IPA’s 2012 Effectiveness Awards. One of the most interesting points comes from Marie Oldham, convenor of judges for the 2012 Awards. In an article published last November, she discusses how the campaigns that transformed meaningful insights into purposeful communications were the ones that stood out as the most effective, proving that big, insightful ideas that tap into people’s emotions lie at the heart of effectiveness.
The importance of emotions in advertising is hardly news. We all know that ads that engage us emotionally work better than those that don’t. As analysis of the IPA Databank conducted by Pringle and Field in 2009 shows, campaigns with purely emotional content performed about twice as well (31% vs. 16%) as those with only rational content, and those that were purely emotional did a little better than those that mixed emotional and rational content. However this does not mean that all ads with a meaningful message are good. We need to attract and engage people. We need to be remembered. Truly big ideas are the ones that resonate, connecting the brand and the “human” in our consumer. It is the connection that makes the idea BIG. Read more »
