Creativity that breaks clutter drives sales, brand equity: Kantar report

Talking about trends that emerged during testing of over 1,400 Indian ads for the 4th edition of Kantar's Creative Effectiveness Awards, Mohanty said that hyper-regionalisation is now gaining steam

Creative advertisements that break the clutter are more likely to uplift short term sales for a brand, while also contributing to driving brand equity, says a new report from Kantar.

“Creative quality should get a lot more credit. It is the second biggest driver -- after brand size -- for advertising profitability and enhances media effectiveness,” said Soumya Mohanty, managing director and chief client officer, South Asia, insights division, Kantar.

“There is a 4x growth in return on marketing investment made by brands, with a profit return of investment of 6.62 for creative quality compared to 1.42 for low creative quality,” she added citing WARC’s ROI database.

Talking about trends that emerged during the testing of over 1,400 Indian ads for the fourth edition of Kantar’s Creative Effectiveness Awards, Mohanty said that hyper regionalisation is now gaining steam.

“We are seeing more original creatives for the south and more adaptations as well. The per capita consumption in the south is very high. Along with that, a big number of local brands that challenge national brands very strongly also make it important for communication to be creative and specific to the south,” she adds.

Godrej Consumer Products’ advertisement for Fab liquid detergent won the award for the original creatives for south category, while Zydus Wellness Products’ ‘strong motherhood’ commercial for Complan brand won the award for the adaptations for south category.

The marketing research firm also gave out two un-stereotype awards, throwing light on the impact of progressive advertisement on brand equity.

“Progressive advertising has been inconsistent in India in the last four years, much different from the global trend where it has been consistent improvement,” said Mohanty.

HUL’s ‘masala kadhi pakoda’ commercial for Vim Liquid won Kantar’s Unstereotype the male category award, while the FMCG firm’s advertisement for its Dove brand won in the female category.

“While it doesn’t necessarily give short-terms sales, people today want a brand whose values they can relate to, which makes it important for brands to keep pushing the agenda of progressive advertisement,” she added.

HUL also won the most creative and effective award for TV for its Ponds Dreamflower DDLJ creative, while Nestle won the award for the most creative and effective award for digital for its Maggi occasions-rain moments creative. HUL won Kantar’s most consistently effective advertiser for its Surf Excel brand, with the tagline ‘Daag Acche Hain’.