Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Article • WARC Best Practice, August 2019

Provides guidance and reading on brand characters, a non-celebrity animate being that can perform a multitude of roles from the perspective of brand or user.

Viacom 18: Viacommunity – #BeSelfish to do good!

Case Study • SABRE Awards, South Asia, Employee Communications, 2019

Viacom18, the media and entertainment organisation, asked its employees in India to be selfish which resulted in over 1,000 employees volunteering their time for charities.

BookMyShow: Introducing Whole New World Of Entertainment

Case Study • SABRE Awards, South Asia, Media Relations, 2019

BookMyShow, a ticket booking service, launched an Arabian Nights-themed media event surrounding the launch of Aladdin the musical coming to India.

McDonald's: The Official Sponsors of Losers

Case Study • Carl Bou Abdallah, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Fast-food brand McDonald's employed a social media and on-ground strategy targeting losing football fans during the 2018 World Cup to drive footfall to restaurants in Lebanon.

Orange Tunisia: The Hashtagging Grandpa

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Mongi Bhouri, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Telecoms brand Orange used a multichannel, branded content approach, featuring a grandad, to appeal to young people and turn around its image as an old-fashioned brand in Tunisia.

Dubai Properties: 1/JBR – It’s not for everyone

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Shortlisted, 2019

Real-estate developer Dubai Properties used a multichannel approach aimed at alienating flashy customers to sell apartments in its new Jumeirah Beach Residences 1/JBR development.

KFC: FCK

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Shortlisted, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

KFC, the fast food brand, remedied its sales loss in the UK with an integrated campaign that brought back its iconic figurehead and used the reason for the chicken shortage as the anchoring message.

Bud Light: Dilly Dilly

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Bud Light, the beer owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, increased consideration and positive sentiment surrounding the brand in the US by launching a set of humorous medieval ads.

Fox Networks Group Latin America: Who?

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Fox Networks, the US multimedia group, raised awareness of its on-demand subscription service through a short film in Latin America.

Metamucil: Poo Romance The Sequel

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Metamucil, a brand of fibre supplements, increased its sales by 50% with its humorous sequel to 2017’s Poo Romance campaign in Australia.

Shelter Scotland: Campaign Identity and Chatbot

Case Study • Design Business Association, Bronze, 2019

Shelter Scotland, a homeless charity, launched a chatbot to help inform people in Scotland of changes to housing legislation.

M&M's: Mixing Up A Social Storm

Case Study • Marketing Society UK, The Brave Awards, Winner, Digital Marketing, 2019

M&M's, the confectionary brand, delivered its most successful Facebook campaign in the UK by being creatively reductionist and prioritising product over brand characters.

Brand characters boost the effectiveness of TV ads

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, Breaking Brand, May 2019

System1, the research firm, assessed thousands of television ads to determine if the presence of a brand character yielded an improvement in performance.

Remembered: There But Not There - A campaign to mark the centenary of WW1

Case Study • SABRE Awards, EMEA, United Kingdom and Ireland (Large Budget), Gold, 2019

There But Not There, the armed forces charity, created an art installation of ghostly soldier silhouettes to fundraise and educate people about the first World War in the UK.

How to create a consistent yet dynamic brand personality

Article • Liane Koh, WARC Best Practice, May 2019

Advises on how a brand can optimise its brand identity by being consistent yet dynamic.

The Pokemon Company: Pokemon Planet

Case Study • SABRE Awards, In2 EMEA, Best in Brand Animation, Gold

The Pokémon Company, the Japanese company responsible for the Pokémon media franchise, created buzz globally among lapsed players of the Pokémon GO videogame by creating a fake nature documentary.

Maxis HuatAR: Interview with a lion

Case Study • Chan Su Ling, Galen Lau, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Content Strategy, 2019

Maxis, the premium Malaysian telco brand, created brand standout and increased sales during Chinese New Year in Malaysia through an AR based app.

Orange Tunisia: The Hashtagging Grandpa

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, Mongi Bhouri, WARC Awards, Gold, Effective Content Strategy, 2019

Telecoms brand Orange used a multichannel, branded content approach, featuring a grandad, to appeal to young people and turn around its image as an old-fashioned brand in Tunisia.

EGBank: The Chronicles of Oufa and Mint

Case Study • Naila Fattouh, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Brand Purpose, 2019

Banking brand EGBank established its own startup incubator to grow its affinity with young people in Egypt and get them to open accounts.

Knorr: Nature's Tastiest Experiment

Case Study • Paloma Ho, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Knorr, the leading food and beverage brand, grew sales of its corn soup in Taiwan by creating an educational and interactive corn-planting experience, Nature's Tastiest Experiment.

M&M’s: Mixing up a social storm

Case Study • Michael Case, WARC Awards, Bronze, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

M&M's, the confectionery brand, ran a social media campaign that successfully drove sales in the UK.

KFC: The Burger Wars

Case Study • Vikraman Raja, Hajar Yusof, WARC Awards, Bronze, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

KFC, the fast food restaurant chain, used a TV ad and social media GIFs to promote a special-edition burger in Malaysia.

Tefal: Getting people to barbecue at 50ºC

Case Study • Alvaro Bretel, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Tefal, the global cookware brand, used whole-funnel marketing to extend the purchase season and increase sales of its electric grill in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

McDonald's: Official sponsor of losers

Case Study • Carl Bou Abdallah, WARC Awards, Bronze, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Fast-food brand McDonald's employed a social media and on-ground strategy targeting losing football fans during the 2018 World Cup to drive footfall to restaurants in Lebanon.

Kaspersky Lab: #AndOwningIt

Case Study • Meg Jordan, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Social Strategy, 2019

Kaspersky Lab developed an integrated campaign to combat misconceptions and build brand awareness with a younger audience.