WARC revealed the Effective innovation Report – Lessons from the 2019 WARC awards, which highlights the key innovation trends for effective marketing. 

The report itself includes opinions from judges who highlights the ideas that have transformed a business or disrupted category conventions and delivered major results. The WARC awards feature some of the marketing industry’s most original and innovative thinkers as it is a global search for next-generation marketing effectiveness. 

WARC’s Lucy Aitken, Managing Editor, Case Studies, said in the statement, “Following our analysis of the winning entries, we see that there’s a shift away from marketing via algorithm towards real human insights that can power effective communications, as well as desirable products and services for consumers that offer genuine convenience and solve problems.”

According to WARC’s Effective Innovation Report, there are three key trends within the spectrum of marketing innovation that should be utilized by the advertising industry to derive the most value and output:

• Effective innovators need real human insights One of the jury members, Jem Fawcus, Group CEO and Owner, Firefish, said in a press statement, “A brand has to add value to lives by understanding the culture that people value and incorporating it not just in communications, but in the product itself.”
• Personalization can transform innovative communications Personalisation continues to obsess brands and combining it with innovation has led to great results. Campaigns include ‘The Woman Behind the Veil’ by FP7 McCann Riyadh for Al Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia, which avoided advertising regulation and won favour with women by using mirrors in outdoor sites. Hannah Mirza, Media Programme Lead, Diageo, and member of the jury, was quoted in the report saying that “data and technology have empowered the potential of marketers all over the world. The creative interpretation of how to implement personalisation is what is differentiating the innovators in its application. “Brands that are thinking beyond the screen and into consumer utility through personalisation are having the breakthrough moments. This leads to growth and brand salience as not only fit for purpose but useful to consumers’ lives.”
• Voice is becoming more integrated Voice, and other manifestations of AI, are becoming more integrated, brands use them more cleverly to increase brand recognition and capture attention. Another jury member Federica Bowman, Managing Director, Digital, FirmDecisions, said in the report “with AI at the heart of business transformation, the impact on the cost of products and services, as well as the return on marketing investment to drive sales, is a potential game-changer.” “Voice commerce will be worth over $40bn by 2022, and it is where the strongest and most top-of-mind brands will win big,” said Juha Halmesvaara, Media Innovations Director, Carat Finland in the report.