Ciara Reilly of RED C reveals how some of this year’s Effie Winners score when it comes to measures of effectiveness including Fame, Creativity and Emotional Response.
Recent results from the RED C Direct Ad testing show once again that IAPI Effie Award Winners deliver not only highly effective campaigns but also highly effective TV creatives.
The average scores for TV ads found in the 2024 Irish Effie Award entrants reach a very strong RED Star overall effectiveness rating of 66, far outperforming the RED C norm of all TV ads tested which stands at 57. As in 2023, the research also showed that most 2024 Effie award winners excelled on at least one key attribute that is known to drive effectiveness, including Fame, Creativity and Emotional Response.
In the days immediately after the Effie Awards Ireland winners were announced, RED C tested 13 TV adverts that were part of Effie winning campaigns. The ads tested included a range of Gold, Silver and Bronze Effie winners.
While Effie Awards themselves are not awarded solely based on their campaign creativity, we wanted to test if that effectiveness, was at least partly driven by good creative.
The ads were tested on the RED C DIY advertising testing platform, RED C Direct, which examines advertising creatives on a number of metrics including Creativity, Distinctiveness, Fame, Emotional Response and Brand Impact, the answers to which generates our RED Star overall one number effectiveness score.
On RED C Direct, clients and agencies are able to test ads very cost effectively and at speed. The report gives ratings on all aspects of the ad, including an overall one number score, that are all benchmarked against thousands of ads that have been tested over the past 10 years. The test also provides invaluable diagnostic guidance for agencies and brands on the changes needed to make the creative more effective.
Results from tests add further credibility to the Effie Award winners, demonstrating that their campaigns were not only effective in defining the strategic challenge, sharing the key insight that inspired the strategic idea, bringing the ideas to life, and delivering brand results; but that they ultimately also featured highly engaging and powerful creatives that resonated deeply and left a lasting impact.
One of the biggest highlights from the RED C Direct results was the degree to which creatives that were part of winning Effie campaigns got people talking and sharing the content – as measured by FAME.
As Paul Feldwick says: “Fame is the driver of successful advertising and a social construct. It emerges from the interactions between people, the media, and each other.” This metric is one of the hardest metrics for adverts to perform well at, as consumers are generally reticent to say that they talk about or share advertising – but Effie winners, and in particular Gold winners, excel here.
Nine out of the thirteen ads tested significantly out-perform the FAME norm, and three in particular stand out from the crowd when compared to our overall norm of 35:
Gold Winner Department of Justice – Intimate image abuse (Fame score 66),
Bronze Winner Alone – The visit (Fame score 66) and
Silver Winner Allianz – Ellen Keane (Fame score 58).
This is the second year in a row that Allianz has secured Fame scores significantly above norm highlighting their ability to tell a story that people are interested in hearing and talking to others about.
Another area where the TV adverts delivered as part of Effie Award winning campaigns excelled, was in Emotional response.
While emotional response does not feature in the awarding criteria of an effective campaign, results from both the 2023 and 2024 testing on RED C Direct highlight the degree to which TV campaigns that illicit a strong emotional reaction can capture attention and get people talking.
One creative that excelled in this area was Bronze winning Alone – The Visit which scored 33 points above the RED Star norm on people’s emotional response to advertising. Of particular interest in this creative was the degree to which the ad generated high levels of sadness, something that is generally treated as a negative emotion – but in the right context, can be compelling and effective.
Other stand outs in emotional reaction were Silver winners Allianz and Vodafone Ireland who achieved emotional response score 29 points and 22 points respectively above norm. And there were more, Bronze winning Sky – Outbelieve generated very high levels of happiness and warmth while PhoneWatch – Burglar bootcamp (bronze) and FBD Insurance – Support (bronze) got people laughing.
It’s not always outward emotions however that help to deliver effective creatives as demonstrated by BYD (bronze), Tourism Northern Ireland (bronze) and HSE Quit Smoking (gold) who delivered high levels of Interest – something that The Dept of Justice also generated with their Intimate image abuse creative (gold) that also resulted in very high levels of anger and sadness.
Effie winners also exceeded norms on other key effectiveness metrics, such as creativity. An incredibly important metric as pointed out by Peter Field “Creativity helps drive long-term business success, providing a powerful antidote to the short-term nature of so much activity today.” Achieving success in this area alongside Alone & Allianz is Vodafone’s silver winning ‘Connections You Can Rely On’ creative featuring Rugby Head Coach, Andy Farrell that achieved a creativity score of 13 points above the RED C norm with 77% of ROI adults saying they would enjoy watching this ad again.
Speaking about the findings of the RED C research, Charley Stoney, CEO, IAPI says: “It is gratifying to see the 2024 Effie Award Ireland winners perform so significantly in comparison to the norm. It is truly testament to the effectiveness of these stellar campaigns. Having tested last year’s entries in a similar way, we’re delighted to continue this partnership with RED C and we thank them for helping us to prove year after year that the Effie award winning work will drive effectiveness for your business using Fame, Creativity and Emotional Response.”
If you want to see how your advert or campaign tests against the norm, and vs. these Effie award winners scores, you can test your ad overnight at www.redcdirect.com
