Highly awarded creative ideas are significantly more effective new WARC research reveals

Each year, WARC tracks the results of the top regional and global award shows for creativity and effectiveness for the WARC Rankings, the ultimate benchmark for marketing. 

Using the WARC Rankings results data from between 2016 and 2025, more than 5,600 ideas were analysed by WARC to establish the correlation between creativity and effectiveness.   

Amy Rodgers, Head of Content, WARC Creative, says: “Mounting evidence shows creativity is an important driver of campaign performance. Using data from the latest WARC Rankings, we set out to see whether creatively award-winning work has maintained or enhanced its effectiveness advantage since last year’s edition of this report, and what currently are the common traits of the most creative and effective ideas.” 

One in five (21%) creatively awarded ideas are also awarded for effectiveness 

Over a fifth (21%) of ideas awarded for creativity in shows tracked by the WARC Rankings, were subsequently awarded for effectiveness. 6% of the total were highly effective ideas, thus making it into the WARC Effective 100.  

This represents a 1% increase compared with the previous report’s figures, with overall effectiveness rising from 20% and highly effective ideas from 5%.

Highly creative ideas are twice (44%) as effective as the average awarded creative idea (21%) 

As creativity increases, so does effectiveness. When ideas are highly awarded for creativity – i.e. ranked in the WARC Creative 100 – the conversion to effectiveness awards doubles, rising from 21% to 44%.  

“Should the 21% conversion rate be higher?” asks Rodgers. “Perhaps not, when viewed in the context of all the advertising produced. Winning both a creative and an effective award for the same campaign is hard. Factors include the current shift away from brand building to performance, the brand’s size, and resources to measure effectiveness and prepare strong award entries.”  

TV’s role as a lead channel is declining among top ideas despite its strength for emotion and storytelling strategies 

WARC’s analysis of 151 best of the best ideas – those ranked in the WARC Creative 100 between 2016 and 2025, that went on to be ranked in the Effective 100 within the same time frame – show that:  

• Over a quarter (26%) led with television in 2025. The channel has strength in its ability to exploit emotion and storytelling, key strategies for encoding marketing messages in memory. 
• However, the use of television as the lead media has been falling over time. In 2018, 43% of the best of the best campaigns led with TV. Data suggests that no single channel is taking its place – instead, the lead role is now spread across a broader mix of channels. 
• The best ideas use a balance of informative and emotive strategies. While research shows emotional strategies tend to outperform rational ones, 35% of the best ideas still include an informative message. Emotion was used by 33%.  
• Informative strategies are best when paired with other approaches, highlighting the value of balancing rational and fame-building creativity. 
• Nearly three out of five (57%) highly creative and effective ideas build brand equity. These brands commit to their brand promise and deliver it via product performance, advertising and pricing strategy. 
• Sales is a key hard metric of effectiveness, and almost two-thirds (61%) of the most creative and effective ideas had a measurable impact on sales. 
• Earned media has a strong role in building fame and engagement but can also have value in driving sales. PR value was tracked by 71% of highly creative and effective ideas. 
• Over a fifth of the most creative and effective ideas came from the retail sector. Quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands in particular stand out. 
• This year saw the addition of 11 new highly creative and effective ideas, added to the research. Examples include ADLaM, which topped the Effective 100 and came in #17 in the Creative 100, and FitChix, which reached #18 on the Effective 100 after appearing in the Creative 100 in the past two years (#11 in 2025 and #24 in 2024). 

Best ideas have higher creative commitment 

Creative commitment is a composite measure of the media budget, duration and number of media channels applied to a creative campaign or initiative. 

Creative commitment correlates very tightly with effectiveness – campaigns get more effective in terms of sales, brand building, market share and profit effects the longer their duration, the more media channels used, and the higher their overall spend. 

Comparing case studies in the full WARC dataset with ranked ideas from the WARC Creative 100 and Effective 100, creative commitment is higher (score of 7.0) in highly successful ideas than the average (5.9). Importantly, these numbers are not a reflection of brand size.  

This is the fourth edition of The Health of Creativity. The report also includes information on creative conversion by category, brand, agency network and the full list of the 151 best of the best ideas. WARC Creative members can read the report in full. And infographic is available here. 

The next edition of the WARC Rankings – Creative 100, Media 100, Effective 100 – will be published in March 2026, following analysis of work awarded during 2025.