WARC

Virality is a sugar rush. It spikes fast, decays faster, and rarely leaves anything behind. Most social strategies are built to feed this loop – more content, more frequency, more chasing what worked last week. WARC's research shows the brands compounding growth have stepped outside it, treating social speed and brand building as two separate disciplines, not one trade-off. The Pace Principle 2.0 breaks down exactly how. Essential reading if sustainable growth is on your agenda 👉 https://lnkd.in/ehEVQ5ws

Impactful advertising doesn't stay inside the billboard or the feed. It climbs out and touches people's lives. That's the common thread through this year's Creative Effectiveness Lions winners. Like AXA, which added three words to 2.5 million housing contracts: emergency relocation for survivors of domestic abuse as a contractual right, not a philanthropic gesture. There are eight winning campaigns from seven brands featured in our new report. Find out why they made the cut 👉 https://lnkd.in/e3DCdnZW Inside the Jury Room: Creative Effectiveness Lions featuring Jury President Bertille Toledano and Jury members Brent Smart and Ayu Sasaki.

How did advertising economics get this dire? The easy answer is fee-cutting and low growth. The true answer runs deeper. Ad industry analyst Michael Farmer joins David Tiltman on The WARC Podcast to unpack his new book, Madison Avenue Revisited, where he draws on 30+ years of insider knowledge to explain how we got here. Listen to learn about client-agency relationships that stopped functioning, creative workloads that doubled, and the effects of AI now landing on top of a system already stretched thin... Thirty years gives you a very clear view of exactly where it went wrong. Out now. Youtube 👉 https://lnkd.in/eUMyz7f3  Apple 👉 https://lnkd.in/eym-6epb

One newsletter. One thing. Every week. Our editor, Sam Peña-Taylor, sifts through everything WARC publishes and picks the single piece of insight worth your attention – with a quick take on why. Okay, we lied. There's also three extra bits of news you need to know. That's it. That's the newsletter.

Brand team's got the umbrella. Performance team's got the sunscreen... Someone needs to make some weather. That's exactly what Instacart did at the 2025 Super Bowl. Laura Jones and her team built a moment big enough for both teams to rally around – instead of picking a side. The result: 72% new users and 14% YoY growth on benchmark ROAS. But you don't need the Super Bowl (although, that would be nice). You need a tentpole moment your brand and performance teams can both get behind. Learn how in The Multiplier Playbook – free to download until the end of August 👉 https://lnkd.in/eqiTzfN7

Only 29% of creator ads outperform the average brand ad. Cool, cool, cool. Never fear, new research from System1, WPP Media and TikTok is here – uncovering what drives attention, emotion and brand recognition across creator content. Highlights: 🎙️ The study finds no correlation between creator engagement metrics (likes, views, follows) and brand memory lift 🎙️ Authentic brand fit is around twice as powerful as creator fame in driving recognition and effectiveness 🎙️ Early, integrated branding (audio + visual cues) delivers close to 3x brand memory lift, while 'logo slaps' at the start increase skipping To break it all down for us, System 1's Andrew Tindall and brand strategist and content creator Eugene Healey join Anna Hamill on The WARC Podcast. Get the lowdown on creator effectiveness hacks, how to brief creators properly, and why so many marketers are using the wrong metrics to measure success. Spotify 👉 https://lnkd.in/e6pK9zwD Youtube 👉 https://lnkd.in/et987nGE

Every brand wants to move at social speed. Few are building brand equity at the same time. WARC's landmark Asian effectiveness study, The Pace Principle, found that the most effective brands run at two paces simultaneously – fast, culturally-tuned social activity, and slower, long-distance brand building. Learn what that looks like in a social-first era in Pace Principle 2.0. If sustainable growth is on your agenda this year, it's essential reading. Sample report 👉 https://lnkd.in/ehEVQ5ws Full report (WARC subscribers) 👉 https://lnkd.in/ermqcGmR

Marketers, who better to give you advice on how to: • build a safe culture for experimentation and creative risk, • identify strategic blind spots, • make decisions in times of extraordinary uncertainty and • localise a global brand, than Uber's International CMO, Lucinda Barlow? Hosted by WARC's Rica Facundo. Out now. Youtube 👉 https://lnkd.in/eWcFvCe2 Apple 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4qF4e39

Two key blockers to marketing success, unstuck 🎙️ Over on The WARC Podcast, we’re tackling two of the biggest challenges holding marketing teams back: The great divide: how to overcome marketing silos with Prophet • Say goodbye to siloed teams and competing priorities. Learn how Unifier CMOs are breaking down barriers, aligning brand and performance teams, and driving growth with shared KPIs and accountability. Apple 👉 https://lnkd.in/e5kaknHv Spotify 👉 https://lnkd.in/en8eWDh3 Why aligning with the C-suite is an urgent marketing priority with Analytic Partners • Struggling to get the C-Suite on board? Discover how to shift the conversation from vanity metrics to sustainable growth and secure the investments your brand needs. Apple 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNsUiUeZ Spotify 👉 https://lnkd.in/eRCsBTPD Get actionable insights to help you overcome these blockers and finally unblock the Multiplier Effect.