Creativity in Advertising: When It Works and When It Doesn't

Do highly creative ads really inspire people to buy products? Studies have found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the products, but there's little evidence linking those messages to purchase behavior. To address this gap, Reinartz and Saffert develo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harvard business review 2013-06, Vol.91 (6), p.106
Main Authors: Reinartz, Werner, Saffert, Peter
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising campaigns
Creativity
Television advertising
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Do highly creative ads really inspire people to buy products? Studies have found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the products, but there's little evidence linking those messages to purchase behavior. To address this gap, Reinartz and Saffert developed a consumer survey approach along five dimensions - originality, flexibility, elaboration, synthesis, and artistic value - and applied the approach in a study of 437 TV ad campaigns for 90 fast-moving consumer goods brands in Germany. The study then linked the assessments to sales figures for the products. The findings confirm that creative campaigns are, in general, more effective than other types of ads. The research also shows that the various creativity dimensions delivery different results. This article reveals which product categories are best suited to creative advertising and which dimensions of creativity have the most influence on sales.
ISSN:0017-8012