Seriously Social 2016

S ERIOUSLY
S OCIAL 2016
Peter Field
Contents
Four things to take from this report 3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Executive Summary 4
About the Prize 6
2016 Judging Panel 7
Lessons Learned in Social 8
1. The state of social 11
2. The fight for organic social 17
3. Less money, more content 20
4. Social share of budget 26
Peter Field spent 15 years as a strategic planner

5. The conflict between short-termism
and social success 29 in advertising and has been a marketing
consultant for the past 19 years. Effectiveness
case study analysis underpins much of his work,
6. Drivers of social success 33 which includes a number of important marketing
and advertising texts: Marketing in the Era of
7. Social strategy and Big Data 39 Accountability, The Long & The Short of it, Brand
Immortality, The Link Between Creativity and
8. Winning case studies 41 Effectiveness and a chapter of the Sage Handbook
of Advertising. Peter writes and speaks regularly
Grand Prix 42
about marketing effectiveness. He is an honorary
Gold43 Fellow of the UK Institute of Practitioners
Silver46 in Advertising.
Bronze51
Four things to take from this report
SOCIAL EVOLVES AS A A SHIFT TO SHORT-TERM BIG DATA IS MORE

BROADCAST PLATFORM TOP-DOWN TACTICS DOMINATE PREVALENT IN SOCIAL
SOCIAL STRATEGY SOCIAL STRATEGY
This years Warc Prize for Social There has been a palpable shift Social campaigns constrained 83% of campaigns entered
Strategy witnessed a marked away from bottom-up strategies, to work over short timescales into the competition made
increase in the use of content mirroring the changing models are unable to deliver the same some use of big data, with many
in social campaigns with video of social marketing. The lions benefits as long-term ones: winning papers demonstrating
dominating: 79% of entrants used share of this years winning case both longer-term business a good use of data to generate
content in their social strategy studies relied on top-down, brand effects (such as market share insights (56%) and improve
in 2016, compared with 41% story content strategies. These movements or new customer targeting (59%). There is a
in 2015 and just 22% in 2014. are essentially time-honoured acquisition) and sales activation growing maturity in how
Nearly three-quarters 73% of tell and sell campaigns with a effects were considerably lower agencies are combining data
entrants used video as a key social twist. They are easier to for short-term campaigns. with social strategy, yet there
part of their social strategy. deliver and to link to commercial is still a lack of robust data
outcomes and are more popular in evaluating effectiveness.
with brands than bottom-up or This was particularly the case
cause-driven campaigns that for non-shortlisted papers.
characterised previous Prizes.
1
3 Seriously Social 2016
2 3 4 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.
Executive Summary
The most prevalent theme organic enjoy a resurgence. by $0.8m, from $2.3m in 2015 with traditional broad-reach
to emerge from this years Many powerful and often highly to $1.5m in 2016. This drop, channels. Campaigns achieving
Warc Prize for Social Strategy emotive social ideas benefitted combined with the ongoing little or no organic reach used
is the migration towards from the exposure synonymous challenge of achieving organic conspicuously fewer non-social
content, with video playing a with organic reach for instance, reach, has meant that short- channels (2.4) than those
lead role in a social strategy. Coca-Colas Remove Labels termism is having a detrimental achieving moderate or large /
More than three-quarters of campaign which ran during impact on the effectiveness total organic reach (3.9 and
entrants 79% used content Ramadan in the Middle East. of social campaigns. 3.8, respectively). Yet an issue
in their social strategy in It is also interesting to note the Organic reach benefits from that emerged from judging
2016. Increasingly, social is change in the type of content that more budget and long-term sessions was how social many
used as a broadcast channel: is featuring in social campaigns. thinking, and, as already stated, campaigns in fact were: one
73% of entrants used video There has been a dramatic there is a clear link between judge suggested experimenting
as a primary form of content. shift towards top-down and organic reach and business to see if the campaign would
Organic social media is often brand story-led campaigns and success, with a significant have worked equally well without
ably assisting the reach of away from bottom-up. Top- number of winning papers appearing on social platforms.
these video-led campaigns, down now accounts for 86% of having a successful organic This was an interesting exercise
particularly where there is a shortlisted cases and 93% of element in their campaign. to see if shortlisted entrants
powerful piece of hero content. winners, while brand story now As pointed out in this report: under consideration fulfilled
accounts for 83% of these cases The inevitable consequence of the Prizes key criterion of
Nearly two thirds 64% of and 86% of winning papers. short-term measurement is a drift being social by design.
entrants to the Warc Prize to strategies that deliver better
for Social Strategy reported Short-termism prevails in the short term. Unfortunately,
that organic social played Following in-depth analysis of these tend to deliver poorer long-
a dominant role in their the metadata from this years term performance and so short-
campaign. Non-shortlisted entrants, it is clear that long- termism ultimately undermines
campaigns were more than term business effects are being long-term effectiveness.
likely to fail to deliver any sacrificed in the pursuit of short-
significant organic reach (15%). term sales activation in many Combining social
While the 2015 Seriously social strategies. Budgetary with other media
Social report documented that constraints were very much in Echoing the 2015 Warc Prize
more brands were investing in evidence: there was a significant for Social Strategy, the most
paid social, the rise in video use drop in budgets from 2015 to powerful organic effects emerged
by social strategists has seen 2016 the average budget fell when social was combined Coca-Cola: powerful content
4 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Executive Summary continued
Big data was a key theme agencies, media networks, W hether they were top-down Since the 2015 Warc Prize
of the Prize, with 83% of digital and social specialists. (based on brand-generated for Social Strategy, there has
entrants making use of it. Many The US supplied the largest content) or bottom-up (based on been a clear shift away from
winning papers demonstrated number of entries (23), ahead consumer-generated content). bottom-up consumer content and
sophistication in how data is of the UK (18) and India (13). W hether the nature of the cause-driven social strategies
used to inform insights and The first step in analysing the content was cause-driven towards top-down content-driven
improve targeting in social cases was to develop different (linking the brand to worthy strategies. This continues the
strategies. However, there models of social strategy social outcomes) or brand- trend from 2015 which hinted
remains a lack of robust data that could be applied to the driven (telling an engaging at the start of this shift among
in evaluating the effectiveness campaigns in the competition. story about the brand). the Prizes shortlisted entries.
of social campaigns. The cases were segmented This allowed the creation of In 2014, the first year of
in two ways: four quadrants (see chart below). the Warc Prize for Social
Background to the research Strategy, the winning
This report looks at all entries Amnesty International Top-down Scoot papers were top-down cases
Brand owner content
to this years Warc Prize for Coca-Cola Tesco
O2
linked to a bigger cause.
Social Strategy as a single body Plume It only takes a quick glance at
of work. It considers features Emirates NBD
Halifax
the 2016 quadrant to notice the
of those entries and compares Direct Line evolution of social as a content
trends to analysis of the 2014 Pepsi
HSBC
platform. This was particularly
and 2015 Prize, analysing the KFC clear in this years entrants use
drivers of social effectiveness. Jameson
Jose Cuervo
of paid social, the rise of video,
It is based on data collected the overlap of social and content
from a survey sent to all 92 Cause-driven
Worthy social outcomes
Brand driven
Engaging brand stories
programmes, and the rise of
entrants and based on the mobile and social as branded
answers received from the 60 content distribution tools.
replies. Additionally, it uses It was clear from this years
the tagging data applied by entries that brands were
Warc to all of the case studies investing in producing shareable
when they were published on content as opposed to paying
warc.com, plus extra analysis for social display ads. Social
by Field. Entries came from 20 is being deployed to distribute
different markets around the Bottom-up
Consumer content Wilkinson Sword online content as well as for
world, and from a mix of creative amplifying multichannel ads.

About the Prize
The 2016 Warc Prize for 2016 marked the third year of submissions 92 attracted The Prize prides itself on
Social Strategy was a case the Prize which prides itself a broad range of creativity being a global search for
study competition organised on being a global search for across many elements of a
by Warc to demonstrate the marketing programmes that are particular social campaign.
marketing programmes
effective use of social media for social by design and that have The submissions were rated that are social by design
marketing efforts. The objective made a significant impact on by 21 judges from all over the and that have made a
of the Prize was to reward brand performance or influenced globe according to five criteria: significant impact on
social strategy that leads to consumer behaviour. It is free brand performance or
positive business results. to enter and there is a $10,000 Insight and strategic influenced consumer
prize fund which is split between thinking (20%)
the Grand Prix ($5,000) and the Implementation (10%)
behaviour.
winners of the Special Awards Social effects (15%)
($1,000 each). This year, Special Business effects (45%)
Awards were given to individual C an other marketers learn
entries that had demonstrated from this effort? (10%)
excellence in understanding
the path to purchase (The Warc announced the
Customer Journey Award); that winners on 21 September
had built a social strategy on a 2016 at an evening event at
budget of under 500,000 (The We Are Social in London.
Low Budget Award); that had Gian Fulgoni, Co-Founder and
used socially-driven content Executive Chairman Emeritus
14
in a strategic way (The Social of comScore Inc and chair of
Content Award) and that had the 2016 Warc Prize for Social
winners delivered sustained success for Strategy judging panel, said: The
a brand (The Long-Term Idea Warc Social Prize has brought to
30
Award). Judges were unanimous light some terrific social media
that no one single entry was campaigns that feature impressive
on the shortlist robust enough to qualify for The levels of creativity. The winners
Analytics Award for use of data demonstrate that social media
92
to demonstrate effectiveness. has become an indispensable
This years contest, which part of the marketing mix
entries received a record number of for successful brands.

2016 Judging Panel
Chair of the judges:

Gian Fulgoni Elizabeth Cleveland Lee Maicon
Co-Founder and Executive VP, Planning Director, Chief Strategy Officer,
Chairman Emeritus of comScore, Inc. The Martin Agency 360i
Matheus Barros Kimberly Doebereiner Mobbie Nazir

Founder & Global CSO / Director, Brand Building Integrated Chief Strategy Officer,
CEO NY, FLAGCX Communication, Procter & Gamble We Are Social
Vivek Bellore Toto Ellis Gareth Price

Director of Digital, Social Media Chief Strategy Officer, Head of Insight,
and Analytics at Anomaly New York Droga5 London The Social Partners
Rob Blackie Adam Ferrier Ben Shaw

Director of Social, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Head,
OgilvyOne cummins&partners BBH Live
Dom Boyd Daniel Hagmeijer Jake Steadman

Group Director of Strategy, Head of Strategy, Director of International
adam&eveDDB Mirum Jakarta Research, Twitter
Lex Bradshaw-Zanger Quinn Kilbury Jeremy Webb

Regional Director, Senior Brand Director, National Director,
MEA, LOral Heineken US Social@Ogilvy China
Celina Burnett Astrid Kowalczyk Tania Yuki

Marketing Analytics, Digital Strategist, Founder and CEO,
ASOS.com DDB Stockholm Shareablee

Notes from the chair of the judges
Gian, who received a lifetime whether or not a campaign Any social campaign has
achievement award from the worked. Nevertheless, there was a cost in time and resource
ARF in 2014, has judged the one unifying theme across the to execute, but how well the
Warc Prize for Social Strategy best campaigns that I believe campaign performs depends
for two consecutive years and represents an important learning considerably on how well these
this year chaired the judging for any marketer attempting to levers are activated. What the
panel. With his colleague, replicate their success. Social winning submissions had in
Andrew Lipsman, VP, Marketing marketing is all about using common is that they not only
& Insights at comScore, he casts brand amplification to achieve executed particularly well on at
an analytical eye over this a specific objective or business least one of these dimensions,
years winners and highlights result, and all the award-winning but they multiplied the impact
four key themes. campaigns in this contest took of the overall campaign by
advantage of the social multiplier successfully using at least
It was quite a challenge effect to achieve that end. one of the other levers.
to determine the winning
submissions because so many The Social Multiplier Effect Social Creative
Gian Fulgoni is Co-Founder and were deserving of accolades. The ultimate reach and impact Among the winning submissions,
Executive Chairman Emeritus But ultimately a selection of of any social campaign is perhaps the best example of
of comScore, Inc., the leading winners was chosen, with influenced by three levers. The outstanding social creative came
cross-platform measurement Halifax taking home the Grand first lever is the quality of the from Coca-Cola, an iconic brand
company that precisely Prix for its submission. Coca- social marketing creative to already known for its award-
measures audiences, brands Cola, Scoot Airlines, and resonate with the audience it winning creative. The specific
and consumer behaviour. Wilkinson were the runners-up reaches in the first place. The campaign, set in the Middle
comScore has over 3,200 clients and gold medal recipients. second lever is the ability to East during the holy month of
in more than 75 countries. In assessing the numerous maximise the exposure to the Ramadan, was based on a
submissions, we asked ourselves creative through earned media, meeting of six strangers invited
if there was any silver bullet such as social sharing. The to sit down together for an Iftar,
in determining the success of third lever is how smartly this the traditional Ramadan meal to
a social campaign. However, information is leveraged to break the fast each day at dusk.
given the broad array of creative maximise any corresponding These strangers shared their
strategies that were employed, paid marketing efforts to reach meal in the dark, unable to see
it was clear that no one single additional audiences with whom each others faces, learning about
tactic was the root cause of the content might resonate. one another without the ability to

assign a label. When the lights media like TV or print. The deliver the same social-driven Paid Amplification
were turned on, each stranger sharing of this content on sales as the previous year. British shaving brand Wilkinson
could see how their counterparts social platforms specifically Scoot developed an ingenious Sword also used the power
really looked and compare engenders community plan to make its earned media of earned media through the
or contrast that with their interaction and discussion. work smarter, since it could no use of micro-influencers, but
preconceived expectations. The longer simply turn up the volume particularly succeeded on the
participants were finally asked to Earned Media on these efforts. The airline dimension of amplification
reach under their chairs, where If Coca-Cola mastered the art leveraged user experience through paid media. Wilkinsons
they found a red gift-wrapped of leveraging earned media, research to combine traveller campaign sought to drive share
box containing the worlds first then Scoot Airlines mastered profiles with other social gains in a product category
label-less cans of Coca-Cola. the science of it. Scoots gold- behavioural data to create the dominated by Gillette while
The video sent a powerful winning submission was based Scoot Social Matrix. This, in turn, facing the market headwinds of
message of unity and a desire on the low-cost carriers clever ensured more targeted delivery young men increasingly opting
for the world to see past labels campaign to maximise ticket of social media content that for facial hair. Wilkinson cleverly
to the common humanity in one sales through earned media aligned with user preferences designed its social campaign
another. Coca-Cola significantly exposure on Facebook despite and interests. Additionally, to target not its primary target
amplified the effects of the the social networks newsfeed Scoot was tactical, cleverly of young males, but rather their
campaign through the effective algorithm tweak that effectively tapping into culturally relevant partners, who heavily influenced
use of earned media. The film demoted organic brand content. stories to achieve real-time their grooming decisions.
went viral and attracted more If this uphill climb wasnt social marketing success. Scoot Wilkinson released an app on
than 18 million views, ranking as already steep enough, Scoots developed a smart earned Facebook that allowed them to
the second most viewed Coca- social media team had their media strategy while leveraging upload their partners photos
Cola film ever and the second paid media budget cut by strong creative elements to showing them trying a new look,
most viral ad globally for 2015. 24% while still being asked to achieve this multiplier effect. and targeted 1,000 influencers.
What also worked well with
this campaign is that it was
uniquely social. The goal of
bringing people together for
discussion and confrontation of
very real socio-political issues
is something that simply could
not be achieved at a similar
level through non-interactive Coca-Cola: uniquely social Scoot: an ingenious plan Wilkinson: exceeded objective

Using the best user-generated began with several consumer became Halifaxs most effective
submissions as the central insights around the topic of social marketing effort to date.
creative for the campaign, banking, that showed perhaps Audiences were also highly
Wilkinson then amplified it was a low-interest category engaged with the content,
this message to lookalike because it was not easy to which significantly over-
audiences using 20 million understand, not relevant, and indexed on its video retention
paid media impressions. This not easy to talk about. The rate, managing to triple its
tactic helped deliver targeted campaign strategy revolved typical share rate on social.
reach for the campaign and around a core proposition of
assisted the brand in exceeding how Halifax made financial Halifax: strong creative The Social Multiplier Effect
its market share objective. issues extra easy, and then The Halifax campaign nailed
developed specialised tactics Halifax maximised the the trifecta in establishing
Putting it All Together: around jargon busters, easy earned media component of excellent creative, smartly
Grand Prix Winner Halifax news and friendly reminders that its campaign by using GIFs seeding the content to maximise
The Grand Prix-winning were tailored to specific social and other socially relevant earned media impact, and
submission for the 2016 Warc channels best equipped to carry and shareable content forms, supplemented that strategy
Prize was for the UK bank and amplify those messages. and by engaging in timely with paid advertising on
Halifax. One of the elements With a strong backbone for the seeding of real-time campaigns multiple channels to further
that made this submission stand campaign, the creative execution that aligned with topical amplify its impact.
out is that banking is not where opted for a lighter, simpler and news stories. At the same Winning in social is not
one might expect to see social more approachable tone than time, recognising the implicit easy, and must be rooted in
media marketing work especially is typically seen in banking. constraints of shareability in a both sound marketing strategy
well since it is traditionally a Thirty-second video spots were category like banking, Halifax and a deep appreciation of
low-interest category. Where set in familiar settings around also heavily activated its paid the social medium itself. By
most banks zigged in aligning the home and used simple media strategy, targeting both tailoring the creative to work
themselves with social causes language and analogies to non-customers and non-fans/ in this environment, engaging
as a way of getting brand make relevant financial concepts followers on social channels, users so they will amplify its
traction on social media, easier to understand. This in addition to supplementing message, and supporting it
Halifax zagged and decided to strong creative stood out for reach through paid TV spots. with well-targeted paid media
stick to their wheelhouse and both meeting the customer at Over an 18-month period, the support, marketers and agencies
become relevant on the topics eye-level and for avoiding the campaign delivered 13.5 million can take advantage of the
of banking and finance. typical trappings of bank-related total impressions, including 9 social multiplier effect to drive
The social media campaign social and creative content. million video views, and superior return-on-investment.

1:The state
of social
1. The state of social
Social media remains a rapidly The leap in content marketing key changes to channel usage
evolving space. Changes
are driven both from above 100
as the social networking 79
80
landscape changes and
from below in the form of
Usage %
60
evolving consumer behaviour. 41
Speaking at the awards 40
ceremony for the 2016 Warc Prize 22
20
for Social Strategy, Mobbie Nazir,
Chief Strategy Officer at We Are 0
Social and a judge for the 2016 2014 2015 2016
Prize, said: Over the course of the Channels
judging period the social media
landscape has changed entirely; So how do the entries to the for social campaigns and is
its almost unrecognisable from 2016 Warc Prize for Social increasingly the key determinant
what it was. She pointed to Over the course of the Strategy reflect these changes? of social channel choice.
three key drivers of change: judging period the social The data compiled for this It is interesting to note how
media landscape has report using both the tagging these developments have
New platforms in the form changed entirely. information applied to the case affected the types of strategy
of apps such as Snapchat or studies by Warc and the results brands adopt on social.
services such as Periscope. Mobbie Nazir, of a survey of entrants illustrate Over the three years in which
Chief Strategy Officer, these trends in a couple of ways. the Prize has been run, there has
New features examples We Are Social First, the rise of content is been a gradual abandonment
include Facebook Live clear. In the 2014 Prize, just of bottom-up and cause-driven
or Instagram Stories. 22% of social strategies had strategies. Every year we have
a formal content element; plotted the shortlisted case
New behaviours in particular in 2016 it was 79%. studies against two axes: top-
the shift from public to private Second, it is also now clear down versus bottom-up, and
messaging and the related how important video is to current cause-driven versus brand story-
rise of mobile chat apps. social practice. Used by 73% of driven. The resulting quadrants,
cases, video is by a long way and where this years shortlist sit
the dominant content format on them, can be seen overleaf.

Various pressures on social How the winning cases fit on the strategy map
strategy have led to the
continuing abandonment of Amnesty International Top-down Scoot
bottom-up and cause-driven Coca-Cola Brand owner content Tesco
O2
strategies as advertisers
Plume
focus more closely on Emirates NBD
Quadrant 1 strategies Halifax
(conventional top-down, Direct Line
Pepsi
brand-story campaigns). HSBC
These are essentially KFC
time-honoured tell and Jameson
sell campaigns with a Jose Cuervo
social twist that are easier

to deliver and to link to
commercial outcomes. Cause-driven Brand driven
Worthy social outcomes Engaging brand stories
The limited data for
bottom-up campaigns
suggests that they have lost
business effectiveness as the
organic benefits they used
to deliver dwindle (due to
changes in the algorithms
of social sites that have
depressed organic reach).
Another theory is that a
general trend towards short- Bottom-up
termism in marketing (see Consumer content Wilkinson Sword
Chapter 5) has reduced the

willingness of marketers to
wait for the slower effects The focus is even tighter now accounts for 76% of completely dominates to
of some of these alternate for commercial (for profit) commercial campaigns the extent that meaningful
strategies to manifest campaigns as Chart and 79% of winners in the analysis of other approaches
themselves. 4 shows. Quadrant 1 competition. Quadrant 1 is impossible.

Chart 1. The dominance of Quadrant 1 (top-down brand story campaigns) grows
100%
90%
80%
72%
% of short-listed cases
70% 63%
60%
50% 46%
40%
30%
20% 19%
17% 17%
20% 13% 14%
10%
6%
10% 3%
0%
1 2 3 4
Strategy Quadrant 2014 2015 2016

Chart 2. The overwhelming dominance of Quadrant 1 (top-down brand story) for commercial campaigns
100%
90%
% of short-listed for-profit cases
80% 76%
73%
70%
60%
53%
50%
40%
30%
23%
20% 15% 17%

12%
10% 8% 7% 8%
4% 4%
0%
1 2 3 4
Strategy Quadrant 2014 2015 2016

The trends for campaign Chart 3. Top-down and brand story strategies dominance grow
strategy towards top-down
and brand-story-led are very 100%
clear when the quadrants are 86%
90%
grouped by strategy axis. Top- 81% 83%
down now accounts for 86% 80% 75%
of shortlisted cases (and 93% 66%
% of short-listed cases
70%
of competition winners), while 63%
brand story now accounts for 60%

83% of these cases (and 86% of
50%
competition winners).
The move to top-down 40%
37%
34%
strategy does not mean a
complete abandonment of 30% 25%
19%
bottom-up elements. A number 20% 14%
17%
of the essentially top-down

campaigns used an element of 10%
consumer-generated content, 0%
either as a sales activation tool Top-down Bottom-up Brand story Cause
(e.g. Jameson Irish Whiskey, Strategy Axis 2014 2015 2016
KFC, HSBC) or as an organic
reach generator (e.g. Halifaxs
friendly reminders service and
Emirates NBD).
l-r: Jameson, KFC and HSBC top-down campaigns with a consumer-generated element

2.The fight for
organic social
2. The fight for organic social
The immediate impression gained views ratio for a brand in the Chart 1. Organic social reach is still attainable
from the 2016 entrants to the Warc Middle East ever). Coca-Cola
Prize for Social Strategy is that Importance of organic reach to campaign
last years Seriously Social report The campaign achieved a 10x
100%
prematurely mourned the death of increase in organic (unpaid)
12%
organic social. Brands have come reach making it the best- 90%
out fighting with combinations performing campaign since
of innovative strategy and Facebook changed its organic 80%
Percentage of all campaigns

24%
channel usage to defy the social (unpaid) reach algorithm. 70%
media algorithm clampdown Scoot (Garang for Singapore)
Small / None
on unpaid organic reach. It is 60%
clearly tougher than ever, but the There is no magic formula for
50% Moderate
determination and inventiveness determining which campaign
of agencies are combining will go viral and which wont. 40%
Large / Totally
to rise to the challenge. For example, our Stuart Pearce 64%
30%
Only 12% of entrants to the Warc football campaign enjoyed
Prize for Social Strategy reported phenomenal viral success 20%
that organic social played little attracting more than one
or no part in their campaign, with million organic views. Our 10%
64% reporting a large or total role paid activations then helped
0%
for organic. So, clearly, it can still to take our activity to new
be done as the following case levels, raising the total
study extracts reveal, albeit with number of views to 3.8million. As the chart above and these case than six months in duration) that
a few acknowledgements of the Without paid media we study extracts show, few brands are in a hurry for results and so
importance of using paid social could not have hoped to have given up entirely on organic miss out on the long-term organic
alongside organic. achieve anything like that and are as determined as ever benefits of powerful social ideas.
kind of reach. Direct Line to make their social money go So organic takes ideas, budget
over 50% organic views. further. But many also demonstrate and patience all of which are
Emirates NBD 250k organic social mentions the need to use some paid social. in short supply in marketing. It is
for #WearTheRose. And Curiously, this is especially the notable that non-shortlisted cases
18 million+ views (over 70% 21,400,000 reach with case with low-budget campaigns were more likely to fail to deliver
organic views vs. 30% bought (paid) celebrity influencer (less than $500k equivalent) and any significant organic reach
views; the highest organic #WearTheRose messages. O2 with short-term campaigns (fewer (15% vs 7%).

Chart 2. Organic reach benefits from budget and long-term thinking
Importance of organic reach to campaign
100%
8% 8%
14% 15%
90%
15%
80% 23%
Percentage of all campaigns
24% 22%
70%
60%
50%
40% 77%
69%
30% 62% 63%
20%
10%
0%
Low Budget High Budget Short-term Long-term
Large / Totally Moderate Small / None

3.Less money,
more content
3. Less money, more content
One notable finding from the being used. As Mobbie Nazir of work. Another factor, linked to the of the reduction in the number
2016 entries comes from the We Are Social pointed out, more rise of short-termism, is likely to of channels used has come from
campaign budget data (Chart campaigns are using social as a be the diversion of budgets into traditional channels: use of TV
1). There has been a significant broadcast medium to substitute non-social conventional digital fell from 47% to 21%, outdoor from
drop in the campaign budgets for established media. The result sales activity (e.g. SEO and PPC). 41% to 28% and cinema from 16%
of the social-led work in the may be that there are more low- Budget pressure has meant to 3%. Email marketing usage
competition from $2.3m in 2015 budget content-led campaigns a tighter focus on social media also fell, from 16% to 3%.
to $1.5m in 2016. (These figures among the entries, versus channels (Chart 2) the number Set against this was a huge rise
refer to the total campaign previous years when social was of other channels falling from 6.9 in content marketing and a lesser
budget, not the proportion of it primarily being used to amplify to 4.5 among shortlisted cases. rise in ambient media. Usage
spent on social media.) This may the impact of, or activate sales The detailed channel usage of social, including online video
reflect the changing way social is for, big-budget multichannel data (Chart 3) reveals that much sharing, remained universal.
Chart 1. Campaign budgets declined dramatically in 2016 Chart 2. Other channels used alongside social declined in number
2.5 8.0
2.3
short-listed cases alongside social media

6.9 6.9
7.0
Average number of channels used by

2.0
Average budget $m equivalent
6.0
1.6
Short-listed cases
1.5
5.0
1.5 4.5
4.0
1.0
3.0
2.0
0.5
1.0
0.0 0.0
2014 2015 2016 2014 2015 2016

Chart 3. Traditional channels bore the brunt of declining channel usage
Key changes to channel usage

100 100
100% 97
90%
79
80%
70%
60%
Usage
50% 47
43
41 41
40% 38 38
30% 28 28
21 22
19 19
20% 16 16 16
14
11 11 10 10
9 8
10%
3 3 3 3
0%
TV
ot s
vi .
k e nt
n
o
ke i l
g
& bi le
ps
e nc l
en
o
om l e
or
de
io
ar a
ti n
ti n
em
ar te
do
ap
m Em
pr S a
bi
st
lin l i
m on
o
in
ut
M
Am
In
on c i a
C
C
O
So
Channels 2014 2015 2016

This is misguided because, Chart 4. Strong organic reach is associated with wider channel usage The combination of
although the data suggests only
4.5 social with traditional
a small benefit in effectiveness
terms to the use of more 3.9
broad-reach channels
4.0
channels, it reveals a fairly
3.8
often leads to powerful
marked benefit in terms of the 3.5 organic effects.
Number of other channels

achievement of organic reach
used alongside social

3.0
(Chart 4). Campaigns achieving
little or no organic reach used 2.5 2.4
conspicuously fewer non-social

channels (just 2.4) than those 2.0
achieving moderate or large/
1.5
total organic reach (3.9 and
3.8 respectively). As many case 1.0
studies show (e.g. Direct Line
and Amnesty International), 0.5
the combination of social
0.0
with traditional broad-reach Small/None Moderate Large/Totally
channels often leads to powerful Importance of organic to campaign
organic effects.
More established social media
channels felt the pinch in 2016
(Chart 5). Use appears to have
fallen across the range of
social media channels, with
Facebook falling from 91%
to 76% of shortlisted cases,
Twitter down from 88% to 62%
and YouTube down from 72% to
59%. Only Snapchat and Vine
grew their penetration among
shortlisted cases. Direct Line and Amnesty International: powerful organic effects

Chart 5. Use of many social media channels was reduced in 2016
100%
91%
90% 88%
79%
80% 76%
Usage by short-listed cases
73% 72%
70%
62%
59%
60%
50%
41%
40%
34%
30%
30%
24%
20%
9%
10% 6% 6% 7% 7%
3%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0%
Facebook Instagram Pinterest Snapchat Tumblr Twitter Vine YouTube
Social channels used 2014 2015 2016

Lower budgets also have an Chart 6. Long-term business effectiveness has fallen while short-term activation grows
impact on social strategy as
will be shown later in this 3.0
Number of effects reported by short-listed cases

report. Reduced budget denies
campaigns access to some
social strategies that are strongly
associated with social success 2.5 2.4
(see Chapter 5).

So an inevitable consequence
of lower budgets is lower business 2.0
1.8
effectiveness (Chart 6). This
is measured as the number of
considerable improvements 1.5
reported across a range of seven
long-term business metrics, such
as market share and customer 1.0
1.0
acquisition. The chart also shows 0.8
how long-term business effects
are being sacrificed in the pursuit
of short-term sales activation. 0.5
Sales activation is measured
as the number of considerable
improvements that were reported 0.0
to two activation metrics. Business effects Activation effects
It would appear that the 2015 2016
financial pressures on social
campaign budgets coupled with
short-termism and the difficulty
The financial pressures on social campaign budgets,
of achieving organic reach are
having a detrimental impact coupled with short-termism and the difficulty of
on the effectiveness of social achieving organic reach, are having a detrimental
campaigns. impact on the effectiveness of social campaigns.

4. Social share
of budget
4. Social share of budget
The new 2016 data examines the Chart 1. The proportion of campaign budget spent on social
percentage of the total campaign
budget that was spent on social 40%
media (including content-sharing
services such as YouTube). This 35%
35%
reveals a wide spread of levels
of commitment to these media.
The top quartile of heaviest users 30%
of social media (more than 75%
of budget) is the largest at 35%, 25%
but otherwise the distribution is
% of cases
broadly flat with 50% of users

spending less than 50% of their 20%
budget on social, and 50%
spending more than 50%. 15%
Interestingly, there is very little 13% 13% 13% 13%
difference between the levels of
effectiveness (in business, brand 10%
8%
or activation terms) between the
5%
heavy users of social (more than 5%
50% of budget) and light users 3%
(less than 50% of budget). Though
this hides another covert impact 0%
of short-termism revealed in Less 5-10% 10-20% 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-75% More
than 5% than 75%
Chart 2 (overleaf): with short-term
campaigns, heavy users of social % of budget spent on social media*
are more effective in business
terms than light users (2.1 vs. *including content sharing services
1.0 business effects), but, over
the long term, the reverse is true communications vehicles does sustaining long-term impact with acknowledge the personnel
(2.3 vs. 3.3). It appears that the bring short-term effectiveness social media alone ultimately cost of listen-and-respond
much-discussed benefit of social advantages, but the practical limit the value of trying to do campaigns seeking to sustain
media as potential always-on and financial challenges of so. Case studies do not always being always on.

Generally speaking, as Chart 2 Chart 2. Long-term campaigns yield more business results
shows, what matters much more
to effectiveness is whether the 3.5
3.3
budget was deployed over the
Number of business effects reported by cases

long term or short term. This is
3.0
despite the fact that 95% of case
study authors described social
as the key driver of reach for their 2.5
campaigns. 2.3
In fact, social media do not 2.1
have a monopoly on effectiveness 2.0
with social campaigns not only
because of the powerful roles
1.5
played by traditional channels
and offline, but also because of
1.0
the significant social impact of 1.0
other ways of sharing campaigns
online. These (including email
and text) are collectively referred 0.5
to by a number of case studies as
dark social.
0.0
Social share of budget appears Short-term campaigns Long-term campaigns
to have a modest impact on
choice of social channel: light Light users of social media Heavy users of social media
users are more likely to use
Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, 73% of cases, video is by a Video is by a long way the dominant content
and less likely to use Facebook long way the dominant content format for social campaigns and is increasingly
and Vine, but the number of format for social campaigns
social channels used is almost and is increasingly the key
the key determinant of social channel choice.
identical. determinant of social channel
Light and heavy users of social choice. There is good reason
media are approximately equally for this: video content, along
likely to distribute video as the with audio content, is a key
primary content type. Used in driver of social effects.
5.The conflict between
short-termism and
social success
5. The conflict between short-termism
and social success
The 2016 data shows that Chart 1. Short-termism has moderated slightly
pursuit of activation effects has
not meant that the proportion 90%
of cases that are short-term
(i.e. less than six months in 80% 77%
duration) has grown in fact, it 70%
has fallen slightly. 70%
64%
The inevitable result of short-
% of Short-listed cases
that were short-term
term measurement is a drift to 60%
strategies that deliver better in
the short term. These deliver 50%
poorer long-term performance
and so short-termism ultimately 40%
undermines long-term
effectiveness. 30%
Short-termism has been driven
by many factors in marketing, 20%
such as shortening measurement
cycles in companies and the
10%
heavy promotion of short-term
digital metrics, such as likes,
0%
impressions, clicks, views and
2014 2015 2016
other engagement metrics. These
metrics are widely used in social
case studies much more so short-term campaigns, though Like fireworks, they create respectable short-term returns
than long-term metrics and this the difference is not as great as bright but brief bursts of activity. on investment.
in turn helps to focus marketing might be imagined. But consumer behaviour This is just one of many
eyes on short-term effects rather Short-term campaigns have on usually takes longer to shift deceptions that short-term
than sustained purchasing effects average around two-thirds the permanently and embed. measurement and evaluation
or brand metrics. budget of long-term ones, but on So their business effects are can create: in fact, short-
Another factor is the squeeze average that money is spent over transient, but when measured termism is very unhelpful to
on budgets lower budgets one-sixth the length of time (2.3 over short periods of time can social success, as Chart 3
are associated inevitably with months vs. 13.6 months). look impressive and generate shows.

Across the metrics, long-term Short-termism is very Chart 2. Short-term campaigns are
campaigns outperform short- unhelpful to social success. associated with lower budgets
term ones. An important part of
2.5
the value of successful social
campaigns is the impact they 2.1
have on the strength of the 2.0
Average Budget $m equivalent

brand. But brand-building effects
need to be sustained to create 1.5 1.4
momentum.
So social campaigns
constrained to work over short Chart 3. Short-termism 1.0
timescales are unable to deliver undermines social success

the same benefits as long-term 0.5
ones: both longer-term business 3.0
effects (such as market share
Number of effects reported by all cases 2016
2.6
movements or new customer 0.0
Short-term campaigns Long-term campaigns
acquisition) and sales activation 2.5
effects show a marked reduction
for short-term campaigns. 2.0
A deception of short-termism 2.0
is the perspective it creates on 1.7
targeting. The 2016 data includes 1.5

1.5
new information on the targeting 1.3
of campaigns. Case study authors
were asked two questions:
1.0 0.9
Did the campaign aim to
distribute content as widely as
possible or did it aim to build 0.5
and manage a community of
followers?
On a five-point scale, how 0.0
broad was the targeting (from Business effects Activation effects Brand-building effects
very tight to very broad)? Long-term campaigns Short-term campaigns

Across entrants there were a for driving sales and this is from analysis of the broader prophecy emerges in which tight
range of targeting strategies and generally true for all cases (over business effects of tight targeting targeting favours short-term
the data reveals the impact these all periods), as Chart 4 shows. But versus broad targeting (from the metrics and strategies, which,
have on effectiveness. It turns out the chart also shows that, over the second targeting question) as in turn, favour tight targeting. By
that it all depends on timescale. short term, this is not so: targeting seen in Chart 5. Tight targeting favouring metrics and strategies
Of the two social strategies, a community of followers is associated with stronger that perform most strongly over
distributing content as widely activates short-term sales more business success over the the short term, short-termism
as possible implies a broader powerfully, but not over the long short term but weaker business undermines the long-term
approach to targeting compared term. In fact, among long-term success over the long term. On potential of social campaigns
with building and managing a cases, there were none that drove account of the preponderance because different approaches
community of followers. The work considerable sales increases of short-term cases, the general work better over the long term. So
of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute by building and managing a impression among all cases is short-termism poses a threat to
would suggest that the former community of followers. that tight targeting is better. social campaigns, just as it does
is the most effective strategy The same observation emerges A dangerous self-fulfilling to conventional campaigns.
Chart 4. Short-term sales metrics promote tight targeting Chart 5. Short-term reporting promotes tight targeting
60% 57% 4.5
4.0
4.0
Considerable sales effects reported
50%
Number of business effects reported

3.5
3.5
40% 3.0
33%
38% 2.5 2.4
30%
24%
2.0 1.8
23%
1.6
20% 1.5
1.3
1.0
10%
0.5
0%
0% 0.0
All cases Short-term cases Long-term cases All cases Short-term cases Long-term cases
Distribute content as widely as possible Build & manage a community of followers Tightly targeted Broadly targeted

6.Drivers of
social success
6. Drivers of social success
The quest for organic reach an additional element to an campaign (Coca Cola Remove remained at similar levels of
clearly influences the drivers of essentially top-down campaign, Labels) can be said to be truly importance with two important
social success: drivers that are designed to generate additional cause driven. exceptions: promotional
most strongly linked to sharing organic reach for the campaign. Incorporating a useful product incentives and prizes, both of
inevitably come to the fore. So, So the shift away from bottom- or service message has fallen which feature much more strongly
as with the 2015 case studies, up strategy hides a trend to more back slightly in importance and in social success in 2016. This is
originality remains by a long limited consumer involvement, is now in fourth place, but in fact unfortunate: buying interactions
way the most important driver heavily curated or fully brand remains firmly in second place with incentives is something of
of social effects in fact, it has controlled. Those who once among low-budget campaigns. a Pyrrhic victory for brands, as
strengthened its grip and is now advocated losing control of Many other drivers have it can undermine pricing and
regarded as a key driver by 87% your brand as a prerequisite for hence profitability. The true
of shortlisted cases. Original success in the social era appear test of social success (as with
ideas (i.e. creativity) will always to have been confounded by marketing in general) is the
be more shareable because there the practical requirements of ability to drive growth without
is social currency in novelty. effectiveness.
Rising dramatically in effectively reducing prices.
But also rising dramatically Remaining in third place is importance is an element Budget levels inevitably lead
in importance to second place association with a worthwhile of user-generated content, some drivers to become more
is an element of user-generated cause. But, again, this is rarely now a key social driver for important and others less.
content, now a key social the core of the strategy but, shortlisted campaigns. Given reduced budgets in 2016,
driver for 60% of shortlisted instead, usually an additional it is useful to review how this
campaigns. As discussed earlier, element designed to boost affects the picture. Chart 2
this is not driven by the growth organic reach (e.g. Plume Labs shows the drivers that change in
of fully bottom-up strategy pollution alerts). Among the importance most significantly at
(it has declined) but is often for-profit winners, only one lower budget levels.
Coca-Cola: only for-profit winner that was cause-driven Plume Labs: pollution alerts boosted organic reach

35
% of short-listed authors nominating features
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
r ig
in
ge al
83%
Seriously Social 2016

ne it y
ra
87%
te Co
d/ n
c u su
st m
om er
33%
W is
ed
or
th
60%
w
hi
le
Us ca
ef
38%
us
ul e
pr
40%
od
uc
t/s
er
Ex vi
42%
pe ce
r ie 33%
nt
ia
l/s
en
so
38%
ry
33%
H
um
29%
Pr ou
iz r
es
33%
/c
Ev o m
en pe
t/s t it
Chart 1. The drivers of social success have evolved as organic becomes more elusive
io
17%
po
r t/ n
sh
33%
ow
/g
a m
e
25%
pr
om
ot
27%
io F r e
na e
l i of
n c fe
4%
en r/
t iv
e
27%
Ir
re
ve
re
nc
25%
e
20%
C
2015
in ele
vo b
lv r it y
em
25%
en
t
20%
2016
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Chart 2. How budget affects social success drivers
90%
More important at low budget Less important at low budget
79%
% Cases finding features very important
80%
70%
62%
60%
54%
50% 46% 46%

45%
41%
40% 38%
34%
31%
30%
23%
21%
20%
14%
10% 8%
0%
Originality Useful Prize/ Consumer- Event, sport, Experiential/ Celebrity
product/service competition generated/ show, game sensory involvement
customised
Features
Low budget campaigns High budget campaigns

Originality is more important less of a feature of low-budget Chart 3 reveals the key drivers important because it takes
at low budget as creativity in campaigns. affected by short-termism. time to set up and realise
communications is associated The most revealing Originality brings fewer benefits from doing so. Both are
with making budgets work development is consumer- benefits in the short term, but highly important to long-term
harder. generated content increasingly remains the primary success campaign success, but less so
Similarly, the development becoming the preserve of driver for short-term campaigns. in the short term. In the case of
of a useful product or service higher-budget campaigns. Associations with causes and consumer-generated content and
amplifies the effectiveness of Once a tool for low-budget events/sports also become less competitions, the reverse is true.
most communications, and so campaigns, the cost of curating These can be quick to activate
assumes more importance for and managing consumer and are often difficult to sustain
low budget campaigns. And content for effectiveness is Originality brings fewer as long-term drivers, so they
prizes and competitions can be a perhaps pricing the strategy benefits in the short term, assume greater importance for
low-cost but effective activation out of their reach. Thanks in but remains the primary brands in a hurry. Again the cost
tool, so can also assume greater part to the monetisation of success driver for short- of this is compromising long-term
importance to social success. social media, social campaign effects. To a degree, the impact
Due to their prohibitive cost, success is increasingly
term campaigns. of short-termism can be seen in
activities such as sport/event determined by the level of some of the time trends observed
or celebrity associations and investment behind it, just like earlier in the importance of social
experiential activity tend to be conventional campaigns. success drivers.
Amnesty International: originality is more important for low-budget campaigns Jose Cuervo: consumer-generated content is the preserve of higher-budget campaigns

Chart 3. How short-termism affects social success drivers
90%
Less important short term More important short term
% Cases finding features very important
80% 77%
70%
70%
60%
54%
50% 46%
48%
41%
40% 38%
37%
30%
30%
23%
20%
10%
0%
Originality Causes Event, sport, Consumer- Prizes,
show, game generated content competition
Features
Long-term campaigns Short-term campaigns

7. Social strategy
and big data
7. Social strategy and big data
Case study authors were asked Chart 1. The use of big data in social campaigns examples of the use of data to
whether their campaign made evaluate effectiveness among
use of big data and, if so, how. 70% the shortlisted entrants for the
Chart 1 reveals how widespread Warc Prize for Social Strategy.
the use of big data is among 60%
56%
59% However, non-shortlisted cases
social campaigns. reveal the continuing widespread
In total, 83% of cases made 50% use of less robust metrics and
some use of big data. The most 44% ROI calculations. Most unwise of
common uses were for targeting % of cases 40% all is the use of equivalent media
and insight generation. Insight value (i.e. what it would have
generation is clearly a powerful 29% cost the brand to buy the organic
30%
use for big data that does not exposure achieved) as the basis
appear to have any potential of ROI few chief financial
20%
downside (as the MasterCard, 17% officers would attach any value
Direct Line, Lean Cuisine, OGX, to this. Vague and undefined
and Halifax cases testify). But 10% references to engagement metrics
the use of big data for targeting are also common and these
is strongly associated with tight 0% have little value unless clearly
targeting (71% of tightly targeted None Insight Targeting Real-time Evaluating defined. They do not constitute
generation marketing effectiveness
campaigns used it for this a financial return but, if clearly
purpose) and this brings with it Use of big data defined, can provide good
the implication of short-termism evidence of social effects.
and the compromising of long- tool for targeting messages and Only by also examining the long- The 2016 data shows that
term success. offers to Asia-Pacific customers term impacts of social (as brand commercial success is associated
Big data opens up potentially and measuring the effects of metrics will do) can a balanced with the adoption of hard business
powerful new tools for evaluating this; while Direct Line references assessment of the effectiveness objectives for the campaign
the effectiveness of campaigns, pioneering work to link social of a campaign be made. In this especially market share, profit
as 44% of cases have shown (e.g. metrics to brand metrics). Of context, the use of big data for and new customer acquisition
Scoot Airlines used Facebook these, perhaps the most forward- real-time marketing (as 29% targets. These metrics should
data to demonstrate the reach looking is the latter. One of the of cases did) is potentially form the basis of the evaluation
of its targeted messages across great dangers of big data is dangerous as it bakes short- of social campaigns, but rarely
traveller profiles in Australia; its use to focus even greater termism into decision-making. do. Hopefully, future entrants will
and Mastercard developed a attention on short-term results. There are many good remedy this omission.

8. Winning
case studies
Halifax: Making Money Extra Easy
GRAND PRIX CHALLENGE

MAKING MONEY Most consumers are not interested
EXTRA EASY in anything to do with banking
and social media strategies
Advertiser:Lloyds for campaigns by banks often
Banking Group meet with disapproval. At the
Agency:adam&eveDDB same time, research on drivers
Market:United Kingdom of customer consideration
showed that easy to bank
with was the most important
The social strategy of UK bank metric that affected customer
Halifax centred around a series engagement. Halifax felt it was
of helpful bite-sized videos the right time to invest in a bold
explaining financial products. social and content strategy.
SOLUTION
Halifax wanted to maximise
reach and consumer engagement
while reinforcing its image as relevant financial articles and, gained 13.5 million impressions,
being the easy to bank with third, humorous GIFs about with nearly nine million of
brand. The campaign focused debt most notably about how those being video views. Video
on the experience of the banks to get back money owed to you content alone was cited for
customers with bank messaging, by a friend. The campaign used the 23% increase in consumer
such as impenetrable jargon social media and YouTube to perception of Halifax as a
or hard-to-follow news, and spread the bulk of its content, bank that Makes money easy
their own financial issues such amplifying the message to understand. The campaign
as debt. Halifax used a three- through media partnerships, increased brand exposure
part campaign. First, bite-sized digital banners and a TVC. by 200%, demonstrating that
videos in a domestic setting to the bank and its products
explain financial concepts for RESULTS had successfully captured
example, using a coffee pot to This was the biggest piece of the attention of consumers.
demonstrate balance transfers. social-media activity Halifax
Second, topical tweets linked to has run to date. The campaign Read the full case study on Warc

Wilkinson Sword: Facebook Couples
GOLD CHALLENGE 30-year-old men, converting

FACEBOOK COUPLES In a declining market dominated 50% of first-time users and
by Gillette and where achieving achieving a 9% market share.
Advertiser:Wilkinson Sword stand-out is tough, persuading
Agency:The Social Partners people to try Wilkinson Swords SOLUTION
Market:United Kingdom new product was a challenge. As a reflection of the growing
Whats more, informal dress fragmentation of media and
codes and an increase in declining linear TV viewing
Wilkinson Sword devised a home-working has seen the among millennials, Wilkinson
Facebook-based competition number of men going clean Sword wanted to use social
to encourage consumers shaven fall by 3% with 30% of media to launch its new razor.
to try its new razor by British men now sporting facial The campaign used Facebook
appealing to the main hair. Despite this, the brand to invite consumers to take RESULTS
influencers of male customers set sights on generating trial part in a competition to win Following the campaign, the
their female partners. and advocacy among 18- to a 2,000 makeover for those Wilkinson Swords value share
sporting a new facial hairstyle. achieved a record high of 9.2%,
However, instead of addressing with paid media impressions
male consumers directly, the nearing 20 million. By the
campaign appealed to their end of the campaign, 90% of
female partners instead by trialists who previously used
including these micro-influencers Gillette said they planned to
in the prize promotions. This also switch to Wilkinson Sword
widened the campaigns reach. almost twice the brands
Highly-targeted Facebook ads conversion target of 50%.
were created and an application
survey helped Wilkinson Sword Read the full case study on Warc
to determine the influencers
who would successfully spread
the brand message. As the
entries poured in, the brand
used each post as a promotion
directed at potential entrants,
building campaign buzz.

Scoot Airlines: The Scoot Social Matrix
GOLD CHALLENGE user-experience study, the increase in sales. The Scoot

THE SCOOT SOCIAL MATRIX As a challenger brand that airline created the Scoot Social Matrix aligned content
could not compete with carriers Matrix, an intersection map about these destinations
Advertiser:Scoot Airlines such as AirAsia and its larger of traveller profiles and social using messages that were
Agency:Publicis Singapore marketing budget, Scoot Airlines behavioural data mined from appealing to its audience for
Market:Singapore instead relied on social media Scoots social platforms. The instance, wildlife adventures.
to increase its marketing reach matrix made it easier to identify
and user engagement. But and target specific audiences RESULTS
Scoot Airlines, the low-cost key social platforms had reset on social with lower media Despite fierce competition and
carrier, increased sales their algorithms, making it wastage because content was the relatively small marketing
in Singapore by using virtually impossible for brands designed to appeal to specific budget, the Scoot Matrix
in-depth data research to maintain their content reach groups and was released when drove a 360% improvement
and social mapping. without increasing media spend. they would be most receptive to in the brands social sales
So Scoot needed to tailor and the messaging. For example, a conversion rate and a 91%
target campaigns more precisely. campaign to raise awareness increase in sales generated
of routes to destinations such through social content and
SOLUTION as Queensland and Sydney, Facebook promotions.
Through findings gathered which were underperforming
from an extensive qualitative at the time, saw a 157% Read the full case study on Warc

Coca-Cola: Remove Labels
GOLD CHALLENGE
REMOVE LABELS With its political, economic
and cultural uncertainties and
Advertiser: The Coca-Cola anxieties, the Middle East
Company is one of the most divided
Agency: FP7/DXB regions in the world. Along
(Part of McCann Worldgroup) with the many nationalities,
Market:UAE classes, castes, sects, attires
and languages, it is also one
of the most prejudiced regions
Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola in the world, as people create
earned mass media support further divides by labelling and
during Ramadan by devising an stereotyping each other. As an
anti-prejudice campaign that iconic brand looking to grow
ran across the Middle East. in the Middle East, Coca-Cola
wanted to inspire and encourage
people to look beyond their
differences during Ramadans
prime-time TV showcases. to meet without seeing each limited-edition cans were
other helps remove these labels. released with no branding.
SOLUTION Coca-Cola created a film that
To battle prejudice, Coca- featured six leading social- RESULTS
Cola took the simple notion of media influencers breaking The campaign generated
what characterises a societal their fasts at a traditional iftar more than 18 million views. It
us a human trait that allows feast, sharing their experiences became the second-most-viewed
everyone to work together, care and stories while the lights Coca-Cola film globally ever. It
for each other and establish were turned off. When the lights achieved more than $30 million
bonds. As human beings, the were switched on and the room in earned media, while brand
way a person looks is usually the illuminated, their misconceptions love grew 15%, brand equity
first thing people notice, which about each other were revealed. increased by 39% and Coca-Cola
leads them to form a judgment, The film was promoted through consumption levels grew by 51%.
trigger a latent prejudice or Coca-Colas YouTube and
create a label. Allowing people social media channels, and Read the full case study on Warc

Emirates NBD: The Beautiful After
SILVER and spoke to the camera about

THE BEAUTIFUL AFTER their hopes and aspirations,
they reached their spouses, only
Advertiser:Emirates NBD to find them looking decades
Agency:FP7/DXB older. Alongside the campaign
(Part of McCann Worldgroup) film, this live-ageing feature was
Market:UAE filmed and promoted on social
media. The same ageing feature
was posted on Facebook, so
Emirates NBD, one of the people could generate pictures
largest banking groups in of their own future-selves and
the Middle East, tackled share them across their social-
cultural perceptions towards media platforms. A retirement
retirement savings with a calculator, devised to help
live event and social media couples estimate the amount of
campaign in the UAE. savings they would need to live
comfortably in the future, was
CHALLENGE as an important step towards also shared on Facebook and
Emirates NBD faced the people securing their futures. featured on the banks website.
problem that young people
are less interested in saving SOLUTION RESULTS
for retirement than their older In looking to increase sales of Emirates NBD experienced a
counterparts, preferring instead retirement plans by 10%, the 15% increase in the number
to save for tangible things such bank built a live experience of retirement plans sold,
as buying a house. With rising where customers could see their a 22% increase in value
living costs, retirement planning own faces age 30 years as a over average monthly sales
is no longer a priority and, prompt to make them consider and an improvement in its
currently, 64% of UAE residents how they will live in the future. brand scores. The campaign
do not save for their retirement. Participants then called their became the most-talked-about
For the bank, retirement planning spouses and invited them to a financial advertising idea in
products are a profitable surprise location. As they entered the Middle East for the year.
source of business but had the space and crossed a hall
not been heavily promoted filled with their shared memories, Read the full case study on Warc

Tesco: Toy Testers
SILVER & THE CUSTOMER why they liked it, tapping into
JOURNEY SPECIAL AWARD the considerable influence of
TOY TESTERS YouTube user-review videos.
The campaign mostly used
Advertiser:Tesco Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Agency:BBH London A toy carousel showcased the
Country:United Kingdom featured toys in Tesco stores.
RESULTS
UK supermarket group Tesco With all the films set in-store,
created films featuring brand recall was unusually
children reviewing toys stocked high, ensuring the increased
in-store to raise companys awareness of Tescos toy
profile as a toy retailer in offering. Tesco sales grew by
the run-up to Christmas. 1.3% following the campaign.
Read the full case study on Warc
CHALLENGE the Christmas period, and all

With Christmas approaching, communications were timed
Tesco wanted to increase its and targeted towards aspects
sales and visibility as a toy of Christmas preparations,
retailer. The campaign aimed including gift-buying. The
to encourage adults to do both supermarket created a hero film
their food and gift shopping all and four help films to educate
under one roof at Christmas adults on what the must-have
by highlighting the substantial toys were that Christmas. The
childrens toy offering at Tesco. hero film showed children in a
Tesco toy department, picking
SOLUTION up toys and reacting to them.
Tescos aim was to be the The four help films showed
retailer that consumers selected individual children reviewing
when needing help during their chosen toy and revealing

Direct Line: #DirectFix
SILVER CHALLENGE
#DIRECTFIX Direct Line was suffering from
a year-on-year revenue decline,
Advertiser:Direct Line Group due in part to the dominance of
Agencies:Unity, MediaCom, price-comparison sites in the
Saatchi & Saatchi UK insurance sector. The company
Country:United Kingdom conducted research and
discovered that, above all else,
consumers wanted an insurer
Direct Line, the insurance to fix problems. In an attempt to
company, increased user reverse its dwindling revenues,
engagement, brand equity and Direct Line decided to respond
sales in the UK by creating to this customer need with a
a direct-response campaign campaign that would make the
using social media. brand available to them at all
times.
SOLUTION by meeting consumers to fix real RESULTS

Using Pulp Fictions Winston The problems; second, by providing The seasonal iteration of
Wolf Wolfe character, the brand virtual fixes when users tweeted #directfix, #merryfixmas, resulted
took responsibility for fixing the brands #directfix tag; in 20.4 million impressions and
its users problems. Customer and, third, through written an engagement rate of 4.1%.
queries and complaints were content and video distributed Meanwhile, the Longford FC
addressed in three ways: first, through social channels, its own activity generated a total of
unique online platform or by 856,062 impressions. Paid support
its own social media customer behind a conversational tweet
experience team. Media received 3.2 million impressions,
partnerships introduced targeted an engagement rate of 6.6% and
content, which was linked 1.35 million people reached.
to specific trending articles. Direct Line was the first insurance
Partners included Global Radio, brand to trend on Twitter.
celebrities and Longford FC, an
underperforming football team. Read the full case study on Warc

Jameson Irish Whiskey: St Patricks Day
SILVER & THE SOCIAL

CONTENT SPECIAL AWARD
ST PATRICKS DAY SOCIAL
CAMPAIGN
Advertiser:Pernod Ricard
Agency:360i
Country:United States
Irish whiskey Jameson

increased sales and brand
equity by celebrating
bartenders in the US
among the brands most CHALLENGE celebrating not only bartenders content that could be reused
valuable ambassadors. The proliferation of craft and but also the preferred drinking after St Patricks Day to celebrate
small-batch brands had made format of Jameson fans: the shot. bartenders and customers
the whisky category ever more A multi-tiered campaign was that were the most engaged
competitive, so it was crucial that initiated, beginning with a teaser throughout the initiative.
Jameson rectified its slowing video distributed through owned
sales growth and maintained its and paid social channels. This RESULTS
brand relevance. The ideal time was followed by local activation, The campaign was considered
for brand activity for it would with content co-created with key an instant success, with more
be during the St Patricks Day influencers distributed through than 10.5 million engagements in
celebrations the single biggest social and native advertising total and a nearly 400% increase
event for Jameson in the US. platforms. A 3D ad launched in Instagram followers in the five
on social platforms while an days leading up to St Patricks
SOLUTION activation campaign called Day. The activity contributed
Jameson needed to communicate for consumers to share images towards Jameson seeing its sales
its brand message at the of them raising their Jameson increase by more than 20% for
neighbourhood as well as at the shot glases to bartenders and three consecutive months.
national level, so the brand set local drinking venues. This
out to own St Patricks Day by resulted in user-generated Read the full case study on Warc

Pepsi: Longthroat
SILVER CHALLENGE
LONGTHROAT In the world of carbonated
soft drinks there have always
Advertiser:PepsiCo Nigeria, been two front runners: Coca-
Seven Up Bottling Company Cola, the heavyweight market
Nigeria leader, and Pepsi, the underdog.
Agency:Insight Publicis With increasing competition
Market:Nigeria from new brands entering
the market, Pepsis market
share was falling. The brand
Soft drinks brand Pepsi needed to adapt to a changing
generated a deeper affinity market and consumer base.
within its Nigerian audience
by devising a campaign that SOLUTION
tapped into its cultural identity. Pepsi developed a new 60cl
PET bottled product, which it
sold for the price of 50cl, but
the brand needed an emotional hook something much bigger the same price. To bring it to
and thought-provoking to drive life, Pepsi partnered with three
conversation, loyalty and local celebrities who featured
buzz around the product and in a TVC. The campaign also
the brand as a whole. That included radio, out-of-home,
hook was found in in Nigerias online, PR, events and a social
youthful population and its media strategy, using the
shared aspirations. Nigerians #ThingsILongThroatFor hashtag.
are very aspirational and the
younger generation shares a RESULTS
growing sense of national and Pepsis Nigerian Twitter
cultural pride. Hence, Pepsi following grew to 40,000,
took a common Nigerian slang overtaking Coca-Colas, and
phrase for longing for more sales increased by 60%.
Longthroat and linked it to
its new offer of more Pepsi for Read the full case study on Warc

Plume Labs: Pigeon Air Patrol
BRONZE CHALLENGE
PIGEON AIR PATROL Because air pollution is almost
invisible, people cannot easily
Advertiser:Plume Labs see when they are exposed to it,
Agency:DigitasLBi and, in London, deaths related to
Country:United Kingdom air pollution were on the rise. To
raise awareness of air pollution
ahead of the launch of its
Plume Labs, a predictive personal environmental tracker,
technologies start-up, raised Plume Labs paired with a
awareness of air pollution in not-so-popular London resident
London through an inventive the pigeon and turned around
social media campaign. not only air pollution perceptions
but increased Londoners
love for pigeons as well.
SOLUTION
The key creative idea was to
employ highly trained homing
pigeons as pollution-data ensure that the campaigns tone to introduce and continue the
gatherers. The Pigeon Air Patrol of voice remained consistent brand and product messages.
flew around London with Plume and authentically pigeonesque.
Labs miniature air-pollution Finally, towards the end of RESULTS
sensors, monitoring air quality the campaign, Plume Labs More than 2,000 news outlets
in real time and sharing the gave all engaged users the covered the story globally and
results live on Twitter. Anyone ability to become part of the the crowdfunding campaign
tweeting @PigeonAir received Air Patrol team by contributing goal of 10,000 was exceeded
an instant update on the air to the brands crowdfunding in three days. The campaign
pollution in their local area. A campaign. The campaign used delivered nearly 40,000
range of possible tweets were TV, print, radio and institutional #PigeonAir mentions and was
crafted during the preparation partnerships to increase its a trending topic on Facebook.
phase, alongside a variety of awareness, and developed digital
shareable creative assets, to video and a dedicated website Read the full case study on Warc

Jose Cuervo: Write your Cinco
BRONZE CHALLENGE
WRITE YOUR CINCO Jose Cuervo is the worlds
leading tequila brand in a
Advertiser:Jose Cuervo crowded category, but was best
Agency:McCann New York known as the preferred choice
Country:United States of married women in their 40s
better known as the Margarita
Mamas. Jose Cuervo wanted
Tequila brand Jose Cuervo to change its brand image and
engaged a wider US audience increase it appeal among a
to join the Cinco de Mayo younger audience. Males aged
celebration of Mexican- 25-34 make up the largest
American culture through a demographic on social media,
video content campaign. so the campaign needed to SOLUTION stories, from which he would
target this group. With Cinco de Jose Cuervo targeted people narrate his favourites. At the
Mayo as the prime opportunity who were already celebrating same time, a famed Tijuana
to engage consumers and Cinco de Mayo. The strategy artist painted a mural inspired
increase tequila sales, Jose was to tap into the absurdity by the funniest stories, and the
Cuervo launched a campaign of the American celebration artworks were later sent to the
that would include consumers, of the holiday as many have authors after the campaign
and bring the brand to the no idea what they are actually ended. The video and mural
streets and into peoples minds. celebrating. To draw attention content were shared online and
to the fact that Cinco de Mayo on social media channels.
is a Mexican holiday that is
only celebrated in the US, Jose RESULTS
Cuervo hired famed Puerto The month-long campaign
Rican actor Luis Guzman to generated more than 94 million
feature in the campaign film, impressions on social media
giving his own inaccurate and led to a sales increase of
version of the origins of the 9% and year-on-year net brand
Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The sentiment growth of 10%.
actor called for those viewing
the film to submit their own Read the full case study on Warc

Amnesty International: Taking on the UK Government
BRONZE & THE CHALLENGE social media. On the day of the

LOW-BUDGET Every two years, the London event, volunteers took to Londons
SPECIAL AWARD Arms Fair at the ExCeL streets to raise awareness
HOW AMNESTY exhibition centre trades of Amnesty Internationals
INTERNATIONAL TOOK everything from machine guns petition against the event.
ON THE UK GOVERNMENT to killer drones. However,
AND WON recent fairs had revealed a RESULTS
more disturbing development. The campaign reached three
Advertiser: Amnesty Torture equipment and other million people on Facebook
International illegal weapons such cluster alone, with total views across
Agencies: VCCP, Forward Media bombs were being advertised for social media of 628,000, and
Country: United Kingdom sale, all due to UK government 23,000 people were sent an email
inaction and an open loophole action. This was 53.3% more
in European Union law. Despite than the average for previous
Amnesty International, previous lobbying efforts, the campaigns. Amnesty succeeded
the human rights group, UK government had failed to in closing the loophole in
successfully changed European take steps to close the loophole. EU law and the campaign
law on arms trading in the contributed to a 42.6% increase
UK through a revealing SOLUTION in signatories to further petitions.
social media campaign. With a limited budget, it was
decided early on that the methods more familiar to high- Read the full case study on Warc
campaign would be distributed profile trade shows. Stylistically,
via social media. After previous the creative had to be as bold
campaigns, which set out to and brash as possible, so
shock the audience by being graphic artist Anthony Burrill
explicit about torture and abuse, was brought in to produce vivid
Amnesty International took a designs. Posters that could
different approach by making it work in outdoor, press and other
local and personal to Londoners static media, together with an
and UK citizens. Since the London online film, were launched the
Arms Fair adopts a low profile, day before the show opened
Amnesty decided to openly across London with the aim of
advertise it, using the marketing generating the maximum buzz on

KFC: The Friendship Bucket Test
BRONZE CHALLENGE
THE FRIENDSHIP Christmas is when the high street
BUCKET TEST is at its busiest, so the potential
for sales or a fast-food restaurant
Advertiser:YUM is huge. The plateauing fast-
Agency:BBH London food market is constantly under
Market:United Kingdom threat from delivery aggregators,
so KFC needed to find a way
to get ahead. Without a role on
KFC, the fast-food restaurant Christmas Day itself, the brand
chain, focused on friendship focused on how KFC could
rather than family for its make an impact in the lead-up
Christmas campaign, to the big day, when people are
creating its own brand role out Christmas shopping with
during the festive period and their friends. This meant side-
increasing its UK sales. stepping the usual conversations
around family that tend to typify
Christmas ads and, instead,
presenting the brand as one that
helps friends to connect. SOLUTION vouchers that were redeemable
The campaign celebrated in-store. The campaign film
friendships by persuading was used on TV, Facebook,
people to take The Friendship Twitter and YouTube, while the
Bucket Test. In a campaign game toured the country and
film, people were shown being celebrities joined in the fun.
rewarded with pieces of chicken
for answering questions about RESULTS
their best friends. The public The campaign engaged 53,700
could also play an online players online, a 38% increase
version of the game and take on the projected target, and
the test in a number of KFC reached 45 million impressions.
stores around the UK. The best
quiz results would win chicken Read the full case study on Warc

HSBC: The people you meet at Uni will shape your life
BRONZE & THE CHALLENGE SOLUTION competition, which gave students

LONG-TERM IDEA Students arent typically a HSBC positioned itself as an the chance to win 3,000 by
SPECIAL AWARD profitable market for banks, enabler in helping students sharing a picture of themselves
THE PEOPLE YOU MEET AT but once they graduate and through their university years. with what they dreamed of
UNI WILL SHAPE YOUR LIFE migrate to standard bank With 87% of 18- to 24-year-olds achieving. User-generated
accounts they accrue significant looking for brands to entertain, content was later shared
Advertiser:HSBC lifetime value, particularly inform and inspire them, the through the brands platform.
Agency:We Are Social as very few graduates then campaign portrayed the bank
Market:United Kingdom switch their account to another as helping students prepare RESULTS
bank. Looking to differentiate for the experiences they would The campaign was HSBCs most
itself in a cluttered, incentive- have and the people they would successful student campaign
HSBC successfully connected dominated category, HSBC meet, assisting them with the in more than a decade, with
with UK students, encouraging needed a strategy that showed it first steps of their life journey. acquisition targets beaten
them to open new bank accounts understood students needs and Relevant cultural icons were used by 25% and applications for
via a social media campaign. helped them to reach their goals. to showcase the value of building student bank accounts through
up a good network during digital channels growing
university years. This reinforced by 83% year on year.
HSBCs credibility as a partner
in helping people to achieve their Read the full case study on Warc
ambitions. The brand partnered
with influencers, including
drum & bass DJ duo Sigma and
tech innovators and founders
of Divida Bill Jon & Patch, who
offered relatable stories that
students would be interested
in hearing. These stories were
made into campaign films
and distributed via Facebook,
Twitter, influencers channels and
HSBCs platforms. A BuzzFeed
partnership was also created
alongside the #FacetoWatch

CONTACT US
LONDON
More from Warc 85 Newman Street

London
W1T 3EU
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 20 7467 8100
enquiries@warc.com
CASE FINDER
WASHINGTON DC
You can find all Warc case studies, including those cited in this 2233 Wisconsin Ave NW
report, by searching our unrivalled database, which is organised Suite 535
by campaign objective, country, industry sector, audience, media Washington, DC 20007
channels, budget and campaign duration. Find a case. United States
To learn more about the free-to-enter award schemes run by Warc, +1 202 778 0680
visit the Awards page on Warc.com. americas@warc.com
SINGAPORE
ABOUT WARC 20A Teck Lim Road
Singapore
Warc.com is an online service offering advertising best practice,
088391
evidence and insights from the worlds leading brands. Warc helps
+65 3157 6200
clients grow their businesses by using proven approaches to maximise
asiapacific@warc.com
advertising effectiveness.
Warcs clients include the worlds largest advertising and media

agencies, research companies, universities and advertisers. FOLLOW US

Seriously Social 2016

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Seriously Social 2016

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

S ERIOUSLY

Four things to take from this report  3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1. The state of social 11

2. The fight for organic social 17

3. Less money, more content 20

4. Social share of budget 26

Peter Field spent 15 years as a strategic planner

SOCIAL EVOLVES AS A A SHIFT TO SHORT-TERM BIG DATA IS MORE

4 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

5 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

6 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Chair of the judges:

Matheus Barros Kimberly Doebereiner Mobbie Nazir

Vivek Bellore Toto Ellis Gareth Price

Rob Blackie Adam Ferrier Ben Shaw

Dom Boyd Daniel Hagmeijer Jake Steadman

Lex Bradshaw-Zanger Quinn Kilbury Jeremy Webb

Celina Burnett Astrid Kowalczyk Tania Yuki

7 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

8 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

9 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

10 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

12 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

sell campaigns with a Jose Cuervo

social twist that are easier

Chapter 5) has reduced the

13 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

14 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

20% 15% 17%

15 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

down now accounts for 86% 80% 75%

of shortlisted cases (and 93% 66%

brand story now accounts for 60%

of the essentially top-down

16 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Percentage of all campaigns

18 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Importance of organic reach to campaign

19 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

short-listed cases alongside social media

Average number of channels used by

21 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Key changes to channel usage

Channels 2014 2015 2016

22 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Number of other channels

used alongside social

conspicuously fewer non-social

23 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

24 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Number of effects reported by short-listed cases

(see Chapter 5).

25 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

broadly flat with 50% of users

27 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Number of business effects reported by cases

30 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

have on the strength of the 2.0

Average Budget $m equivalent

timescales are unable to deliver undermines social success

targeting. The 2016 data includes 1.5

31 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Number of business effects reported

32 Seriously Social 2016 Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Four things to take from this report 3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1. The state of social 11

2. The fight for organic social 17

3. Less money, more content 20

4. Social share of budget 26