122 campaigns entered the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lions this year. Warc has dissected them to establish the key trends of effective advertising with powerful creative.

To get an accurate picture, Warc took into account campaign budgets, media mix, campaign duration, creative approaches, metrics and regional variation.

“As a collection of case studies, the Creative Effectiveness Lions show how creativity is evolving. As the media landscape changes, brands are finding new ways to deploy creativity. Whether you have a multimillion-dollar marketing budget or are trying to build a brand on a shoestring, these campaigns provide benchmarks for effective advertising practice,” commented David Tiltman, WARC’s head of content.

The full report includes:

• In-depth analysis of campaign trends – video, social, purpose and emotional advertising
• Lessons from the winners, including a deep-dive on Grand Prix winner the Art Institute of Chicago’s Van Gogh’s Bedrooms: Let Yourself In
• Case studies of the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix and best entries of 2017
• An interview with jury president Jonathan Mildenhall, chief marketing officer, Airbnb
• Tips on how win a Creative Effectiveness Lion.

The major trends highlighted in this year’s report are:

• Online video is now a key channel for creative effectiveness and is typically used alongside social media, PR and TV. TV and online video were the most used ‘lead’ media among the shortlisted entries.

• Social media remains the most used channel overall, but compared with previous years it is used far less frequently as a lead channel.

• Purpose-led advertising was a major feature among the shortlisted entries, allowing several lower-budget campaigns to create global awareness and societal change.

• Emotion remains central to best-practice campaigns and its use as a creative strategy increased compared to 2016.

Download the full report here.

Jonathan Mildenhall, jury president and chief marketing officer at Airbnb commented, “Creative effectiveness is about impact. Is the idea impacting the brand’s audience? Is the idea impacting the brand’s business? Is the idea impacting the culture? And is the idea impacting our creative creative community through its excellence?”

As part of the launch of the report, Insights from the Creative Effectiveness winners, WARC will be holding a Lessons from Cannes event in London on Friday August 11. Those who attend will hear more on the trends summarised in the report including an in-depth look at online video and a debate on brand purpose. Register here.