Kantar, a marketing data and analytics company, announced the third edition of its Creative Effectiveness Awards 2022 on Wednesday. The firm tested more than 13,000 creatives for its clients around the world in 2022. Over 10 percent (over 1,400) of those creatives were tested in India alone.
The India report shortlisted close to 400 ads, tested across categories, markets, TGs, and media channels. Across television ads tested in India, Kantar has awarded standout performers across seven categories: food & beverage, personal care, technology, OTC, home care, services, and short format (under 15 seconds).
The firm also introduced an “Un-stereotype” category last year, which focuses on celebrating gender progressive advertising. This category has been included this year as well.
Kantar has awarded a standout performer for digital this year as well. The market research firm says that all ads exemplify essential characteristics of being creatively engaging and landing persuasive stories that enhance brand sales.
HUL leads in the TV category
In the television category, a total of eight campaigns were awarded across categories. In the F&B category, Hindustan Unilever-owned tea brand Red Label’s campaign won the most creative effective ad. Conceptualized by Ogilvy India, the heartwarming campaign takes forward the brand’s core narrative of building human bonds and positioning tea as the icebreaker among strangers. The ad shows an old lady offering a cup of tea to a caretaker of a loved one in a hospital, acting as a bridge between two strangers.
Another HUL-owned brand, Surf Excel, bagged the award in the home care category. Created by Lowe Lintas, the Holi special spot shows how the festival of colors brings out the inner child in older adults who often feel judged by society for being jovial and childlike.
HUL also stood out in the “Un-stereotype” category, winning an award for its coffee brand Bru campaign where the new packaging is being promoted.
Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director & Chief Client Officer – South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar, told Storyboard18 that their research has found that the most creative and effective ads generate more than four times as much profit as those that score low on effectiveness measures.
“There’s no silver bullet to effective advertising. Indians love storytelling, and that’s what one would see in the winning campaigns, both in long and short format ads. There’s a clean narrative. Indian consumers also like emotional advertising, and it doesn’t have to be tragic. Viewers like to go through a journey of emotions as they are watching the ad, whether it’s online or offline,” she says.
It is quite clear in the campaigns that won. For instance, in the technology category, Google’s ad promoting its “voice search” shows a loving father asking his daughter to use Google’s voice search to find ways to fulfill her dreams of becoming a film director.
She manages to find a spot in a film institute, gathering all the information through Google voice search.
The QSR chain Burger King’s campaign won in the service category. The ad featuring Hrithik Roshan used humor to promote their special Rs 50 Stunner menu, cleverly playing on the word “stunner” with Roshan’s persona.
In this year’s list, the new-age company Honasa Consumer Limited, which sells personal care products under the Mamaearth brand, also won an award in the personal care category. The ad features actor Shilpa Shetty talking about the everyday benefits of turmeric in skincare.
“Based on our pre-testing results, established FMCG companies that got the playbook right for effective advertising tend to do a little better than new-age companies. They have a lot of experience and tend to get it right more often than others. This time, our winners include a D2C brand like Mamaearth and Burger King making effective ads,” Mohanty notes.
In the OTC category, the consumer health company Haleon, which sells the pain-relieving brand Iodex, created a unique campaign with Leo Burnett featuring a female police officer. This was a departure from the brand’s earlier ads where the protagonist would always be a homemaker. The new ad features a female police officer undergoing intense training to take charge.
Spike in short-form ads
In the short-format ad category (15 seconds long), Godrej Consumer Products-owned mosquito-killing spray Kala Hit won. The ad, created by Bates Chi & Partners Jakarta, features a mother transforming into a superhero and effectively killing mosquitoes using the spray.
Speaking to storyboard18, Mohanty states that there is a clear trend towards short ads, as Kantar has tested more shorter ads than ever before.
“Probably, marketers are trying to optimize media budgets, and consumers’ attention is also getting fragmented, so brands have to get their message across fast. Digital is also being used for brand building, and short ads focus on products, but they are disconnected from brand building. It is just a smarter and better edit of the long-form ad,” she explains.
Though limited in number, Kantar also tested campaigns in the digital category where only one campaign managed to win an award. The Welspun campaign created by Ogilvy uses humor to talk about its quick-dry towels and how one should never share their towel to stay away from germs.
“Advertisers don’t test enough digital ads, and that’s why we don’t have many winners in the list. That’s also why we often see backlash happening on digital campaigns because they are put out without being tested,” Mohanty shares.
Customized and quality creatives critical for effectiveness
In its findings, Kantar said that creativity needs to connect intuitively to the brand. It needs to connect natively in each environment. Customizing creatives as per the platform makes a massive difference to viewing and impact.
“Since over 50% of ad spends are on digital, we find that the type of ads that work better are the ones that are customized to the media platforms they are being run on. Brands cannot take their TV ad and expect it to do well on YouTube. While brands need to create platform-centric creatives, they need to have an integrated theme. Giving enough attention to creative quality, taking enough consumer feedback on creativity because often we feel that media is not the only answer,” she concludes.
Kantar also said that Bharat consumers want products first, entertainment next. Brands should avoid complexities and deliver clarity along with signaling cultural familiarity and affiliation in their advertising. The firm also stated that challenging loyalty is harder than breaking clutter.