Australian campaigns among world’s most effective: Warc 100
Share
OPSM’s Australian ad campaign, Penny the Pirate has been crowned the world’s most effective campaign of the year, as part of the 2016 Warc 100, an annual report of the world’s best marketing campaigns and companies according to their business impact.
Penny the Pirate, developed by Saatchi & Saatchi and OMD, was highly judged for its combined use of traditional and digital media.
The campaign featured a printed book and app, which highlights vision problems in children, in a unique and engaging way. The success of the campaign was easily seen in the results produced. More than 126,000 parents bought the book, the number of eye tests conducted by OPSM significantly increased by 22.6% year-on-year and its sales grew by 22.4%
Two other Australian campaigns, ‘#SPCSSunday’ for SPC by Leo Burnett and ‘How to Drink Properly’ for DrinkWise by Clemenger BBDO and GALKAL, also featured in the top 20.
In addition Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, Leo Burnett Melbourne and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne were all ranked in the top 10 creative agencies globally, while OMD Sydney was the third ranked media agency globally.
The results continued a trend of Australia out performing in the Warc 100, when the countries share of global ad spend is taken into account. Australia currently have a 1.5% global share in Ad spend, with US $9.3 billion. In comparison the US hold a 27.6% share with $163.7 billion per year, while the UK spend US$23.9 billion for a 4% share.
The results also clearly illustrated the importance of digital, particularly social media and online video when it comes to delivering business results. Of the top 20 ranked campaigns, 11 led with digital channels.
For example the ‘Live Test Series,’ which was ranked fifth overall, had a strong YouTube component, which saw its video receive over 100 million views. This reach went well beyond the brand’s target demographic of truck drivers and as a result saw a 23% spike in sales.
It was also found that audiences are responding favourably to businesses which take a strong, socially progressive stance on mainstream social issues. Three of the top 10 ranked campaigns were based around social issues.
However, brands were cautious about the issues that focused on with most brands electing to run campaigns based around uncontentious causes such as female empowerment and food waste.
