I NNOVATION

C ASEBOOK 2016

SUMMARY VERSION

Four ideas to take from this report

ALTRUISTIC
INNOVATION

THE POWER
OF PRODUCTS

DATA-DRIVEN
INNOVATION

INNOVATION FOR A
MILLENNIAL AUDIENCE

Innovation pushes certain

brands beyond their core
commercial remit to address a
specific societal need. Many
of the winning case studies
show how brands are thinking
innovatively for the greater good
while at the same time meeting
their business objectives. This
years Prize also revealed a
number of brands in fast-growth
markets that are operating on
the edge of social change.

In an increasingly digital world,

this years Prize winners showed
the value of a tangible, physical
product. Often these products
were spawned by a smart
strategic partnership. These
products let brand attributes live
and breathe, often facilitating
a unique customer experience
that people were keen to share.

With more access to data than

ever before, brands are able
to use it to form the basis of
more informed and intelligent
communications. The innovative
application of data to develop
marketing activity was a key
theme of this years Prize, with
data being used to solve business
challenges such as boosting
test drives for an automotive
brand and improving conversion
rates for a mobile operator.

Millennials share more than any

other group and use innovative
ideas as social currency. It is
no coincidence that many of
this years winning entrants
resonated with a millennial
crowd, were shared extensively
on social media and were adept
at generating PR. Given that
so many of this years entrants
had negligible budgets, the
role of PR and sharing was
significant in terms of earning
media for the brand.

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Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Executive Summary
The Warc Prize for Innovation
awards brands whose fresh
thinking can be linked to
tangible business results.
This years Prize, now in its
fourth year, attracted a diverse
collection of entries from a wide
range of countries including
the US, UK, Australia, Turkey,
United Arab Emirates and India.
It is clear that innovation
still tops the marketing agenda
as brands seek new paths to
growth. Innovation is hard to
define, and this was evident
among the judging panel.
While this years judges broadly
agreed that innovation should
mark new thinking and ideas
and represent some kind of
shift, there was an eclectic set
of opinions among this years
panel about what it means
beyond that. Most notably,
some judges felt that innovation
should incorporate a sense
of purpose that extended
beyond the brands core
business remit, while others
felt that this was not a core
criterion for judging the prize.
From a shortlist of 16, 12
entries were awarded at this
3

years Prize, spanning a variety

of sectors and mirroring the
broad spectrum of innovation
in which brands all over the
world are investing. In addition
to the Grand Prix, gold, silver
and bronze awards, other
special prizes were awarded
for excellence in innovation in
a product or service, channel
innovation, category innovation,
and technology-led innovation.
The Innovation Casebook
organises these campaigns
into major themes which
emerged from this years entries.
Chapter 1 focuses on Altruistic
Innovation, highlighting this as
a strong theme running through
this years winners including
Grand Prix winner, Vodafone
Between Us, an innovative app
designed to curtail domestic
violence in Turkey. This chapter
is dedicated to those brands
that went above and beyond
their regular business remit
and innovated for a wider
societal benefit. By adopting this
strategy, brands operating in
fiercely competitive sectors such
as telecommunications not only
differentiate themselves but also
benefit from a long-term halo

Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

% OF WINNING ENTRIES BY MEDIA BUDGET

14%

43%

No budget
up to $500K
$500K $1m

43%

The low and sometimes non-existent budgets of this years

Innovation Prize winners underline the experimental nature of this
work. Often, brands test fresh thinking on a small scale using a
fraction of their overall marketing budgets. Successful innovations
of this nature are often taken to a broader audience via social
media, word-of-mouth, and PR rather than major media campaigns.

effect. Other brands that were

awarded by this years Prize
were positioning themselves at
the forefront of broader societal
change in fast-growth markets.
In Chapter 2, The Power of
Products, the report explores
examples of where a new

product was developed to create

cut-through, revive a brand or
demonstrate particular brand
values through a show, dont
tell strategy. These products
have been spawned by internal
agency and brand expertise
and, in some instances, a
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

Executive Summary

MEDIA USAGE: WINNERS VERSUS ALL ENTRIES

% of entries by media channels used vs % of winning entries by media channels used
60

53

51

40
23

22

20

13

12

12
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Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

om

di

le

pr

Ra

of
W

Sa

or
d

al

The dominance of social media reflects the low

budgets of this years Innovation Prize winners,
with 53% of all winners and 51% of entrants using
it. This is in stark comparison to broadcast media:
TV and radio were used by 6% of all entrants. None
of the winning entrants used radio, though TV
was used by 12% of winning entrants, including
the Grand Prix-winning Vodafone Between Us.

Many entries in the Warc Prize

for Innovation were heavily
reliant on social channels,
seeing these platforms as
key to attracting a millennial

TV

ou

th

PR

ed

ia

So
ci

brand has collaborated with

a third party partner that has
provided specific expertise.
Real-life products can be a
powerful manifestation of a
brand, offering a memorable
brand experience. In this
chapter, the report shows
how innovative branded
products enabled a Peruvian
engineering university to boost
applications, made a surfing
brand relevant again and
brought road safety top of mind.
Chapter 3 focuses on data
and how rich seams of data are
enabling brands to innovate
in a variety of different ways.
Examples in this category
show brands using data to
successfully fulfil a variety
of business objectives, from
increasing sales to driving
engagement. Data is providing
new opportunities to target
people in a more contextually
relevant way and is also being
used to underpin emotionally
engaging creative. This
chapter also looks at how
data is providing innovative
solutions to common business
challenges such as boosting
test drives for car brands.

% of entries by media channels used

% of winning entries by media channels used

audience, the focus of Chapter

4. This audience has a clear
appetite for interesting and
colourful content. They are
voracious sharers. Engage

this audience with an

innovative campaign and it
will be shared and generate
PR providing new opportunities
for brands with low budgets.
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

What is Innovation?

The need for brands to evolve and innovate has never been more
critical. Innovation entails ideas that fuse innovative technology,
product and creative solutions to create genuinely fresh executions, whilst also
being true to the brand vision; ideas which have been scaled or have the
potential to be scaled and which can deliver a transformational brand impact.
Jeremy Basset, Head of Unilever Foundry

Innovation is a real and important challenge. It means solving a

real challenge and doing something thats distinctively new for
the business that the business hasnt known how to do beforehand. Most
brands can roll out a campaign, but the bravery of doing something thats
new and outside of your business model furthers your brand.
Lizzie Shupak, Head of Innovation, DigitasLBi

Innovation needs to help move

forward an industry in some way and
needs to be different to whats come before.
Lawrence Weber, Managing Partner, Karmarama

Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

1: Altruistic
Innovation

At a glance: Altruistic Innovation

ALTRUISTIC INNOVATION
TAKES BRANDS OUT OF
THEIR COMFORT ZONE

BRANDS CAN PROSPER

BY HELPING TO DRIVE
SOCIAL CHANGE

INNOVATIVE BRANDS
TARGET MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSUMERS

Innovation takes effort, but the pay-off

for the greater good is worth it. For the
Grand Prix winning Vodafone
Between Us, the judges agreed that
this effort was beyond the brands core
remit. Vodafone introduced an app
that aimed to curtail domestic violence
in Turkey, a tool of practical use to a
vulnerable group in society. There is a
halo effect on Vodafones brand that will
help it build up long-term brand equity
in Turkey, where it competes with local
telcos like Turkcell and Turk Telekom.

Two of this years winning entrants

shared an educational or selfimprovement objective. Hindustan
Unilever-owned detergent brand
Rin launched a Career Academy
designed to help young Indian
women not only look their best in Rinlaundered clothes at job interviews
and in the workplace but also improve
their standard of English and their
interview style. Meanwhile, Dubaibased NGO SmartLife introduced
Project Akshar (Alphabets) to educate
manual labourers in Dubai in English
and improve their job prospects.

This years Innovation Prize winners

showed brands appreciating that
consumers were not one-dimensional
beings. No entry summed this
up better than Volvo Cars UKs
LifePaint. Targeting potential carbuyers through their love of cycling
might initially seem an unorthodox
way to promote a new car. But Volvo
realised that with 60% of Volvo drivers
also being cyclists, LifePaint was
a memorable way to communicate
Volvos strong track record and
ongoing commitment to road safety.
Volvo, by providing 2,000 free cans of
the glow-in-the-dark paint, showed
that it was thinking altruistically, its
thoughts did not rest exclusively with
Volvo-owners, or potential Volvoowners but with the wider purpose
of making roads safer for everyone:
drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

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Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

Vodafone Between Us

What stood out for me among

this years entries was brands
striving to do good. Im really
happy that we awarded the
Grand Prix to the Vodafone
Between Us project as it was
my personal favourite. We
also saw more entries from
non-marketing organisations
such as a Peruvian university
using tech as a showcase
for what it stands for.
Lawrence Weber, Managing
Partner, Karmarama
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

2: The Power
of Products

At a glance: The Power of Products

BRAND EXPERIENCE IS KEY
IN A DIGITAL WORLD

INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS
CAN HELP REVIVE BRANDS

PRODUCTS HELP BRANDS

TO SHOW, NOT TELL

Many of the winners of this years Prize

invested in an actual product that
consumers could connect with. In a
digitally evolving world, such innovative
products created cut-through and
enabled consumers to experience their
brand in a memorable way. UTECs
Plant Lamp demonstrated the kind of
work that students at the engineering
university could expect to be doing,
prompting a surge in applicants. As
FCB Mayo wrote in the case study
UTEC delivered on the promise of
its brand: ingenuity in action can
change the world. The hope is that
this story is sufficiently motivating to
get an increasing number of young
people interested in engineering.

Brands that are looking to reconnect

with consumers find that investing in
a product can help it to remind people
about key brand attributes. The Rip Curl
Search GPS enabled surfers to track
their waves and brought the brand,
which had been struggling to adapt
to changing consumer demands, into
the digital age. Crucially, the data
generated by the watch also brought
together surfers from around the world,
reigniting their love of surfing. As VML
Australia wrote in the Rip Curl case
study: Perhaps the reason this piece
of work was so innovative is that it
has connected surfers, playing a vital
role in helping to create a connected
ecosystem for surfers to improve their
personal performance or find up-todate information on where the best
waves are, and exactly how to ride
them. That kind of functionality has a
positive effect for the brand providing it.

Volvo LifePaint enabled the car brand

to communicate its safety credentials
in an effective way that was far from
boring. By creating a product which
showed the world it cared about the
safety of all road-users, not just the
people inside its cars, Volvo conveyed
something unique about its brand.
As the case study by Grey London
points out: Communication doesnt
always have to be about telling.
Sometimes making and doing are
just as powerful if not more so.

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Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

Rip Curl GPS

The Rip Curl GPS is a

fantastic example of a brand
totally in touch with consumers
and developing a product
that both meets their needs
and at the same time, further
strengthens brand love.
Alex Altman, Managing
Director, MEC Global Solutions
EMEA
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

3:Data-Driven
Innovation

At a glance: Data-Driven Innovation

DATA CAN PROVIDE
INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCES
AT POINT OF SALE

DATA CAN BE USED

TO DRIVE EMOTIONAL
APPEAL

DATA CAN PROVIDE

NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO
TARGET CONTEXTUALLY

Some of the winning entries for this

years Innovation Prize saw data
being used in smart ways at the point
of sale. Toyota salesmen in Finnish
showrooms used data from test-drives
that had just been taken in Toyota
Hybrid vehicles and shared it with
potential buyers who could then see
at first glance the benefits of owning
the car. In the case study, Lahtinen
Mantere Saatchi & Saatchi wrote: It
was the first time that a car brand
delivered all the true emission data
and consumption data transparently
in real time during a test drive, which
turned out to be a successful strategy.
This data not only prompted high
satisfaction ratings but also generated
more test-drives an ongoing challenge
for many car brands in a digital age.

Some winning entrants used data in a

way that enabled people to connect with
a particular brand in a more heartfelt
way. To promote its programme,
The Melbourne International Film
Festival (MIFF) hooked people up
to facial electrodes connected to an
Emotion Simulator as they watched a
particular film that featured at MIFF.
An Emotional Trailer then condensed
their reactions to the film, enabling
potential MIFF-goers to get a sense of
the mood of the film. According to MIFF,
the Emotional Trailer was responsible
for a 4.5% year-on-year sales increase.
In the case study, McCann Melbourne
writes: The Emotion Simulator helped
us demonstrate that human emotions
are anatomical and universal; and
that using emotions to communicate
helped us transcend language barriers
in a way that words could not.

Innovation can often be about taking a

new route to reach an audience. Of all
this years winning entries, challenger
telco Optus in Australia provided an
inspirational example of how to use
data to achieve this. It used the date
that people had downloaded the
Facebook app as a reliable indicator
of when they purchased their last
smartphone and then targeted them
on Facebook with relevant creative
when they knew their contract would
be up for renewal. The campaign
had an overall ROI of 10:1 and a 33%
customer conversion rate. Starcom
Mediavest Group wrote in the Optus ROI
Facebook case study: The campaign
shows that by using first party data
(both Optus and Facebook) in a new
way, as well as testing new channels,
there may be ways of uncovering
alternative ways of driving revenue.

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Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

MIFF

This years winners have

innovated with customer data
to do what brands should
be doing: using their data to
create an experience, a service
or message that gives them
something of value. At their
best, theyve even given their
participants an insight into
their own behaviour when
driving a car, or watching a film.
They hint at the great potential
to collect and use customer
data for their own good and for
commercial good. We need more
brands doing exactly this so
we can demonstrate to people
why sharing their data with
brands can be beneficial.
Mark Holden,Head of Strategy,
Arena Media
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

4: Innovation for a
Millennial Audience

At a glance: Innovation for a Millennial Audience

INNOVATIVE WORK
TARGETING MILLENNIALS
SHOULD BE DESIGNED
WITH SHARING IN MIND

EXPERIMENTAL
INNOVATION CAN ACHIEVE
SIGNIFICANT SCALE

SIMPLE IDEAS
SUCCESSFULLY TARGETING
MILLENNIALS ALSO
GENERATE PR

Millennials are natural sharers and

are often responsive to innovative
thinking. The American Red Cross
wanted to recruit a new generation
of donors and targeted millennials
with its Hope.ly link-shortening tool
to promote the organisation through
social media. As millennials are twice
as likely as baby boomers to share
content on social networks and receive
18 more clicks per link shared than
older sharers meaning they were often
using link-shorteners the charity hit
upon an effective and inexpensive idea.
As BBDO New York wrote in the Hope.
ly case study, By seamlessly tapping
into a younger generations behaviour,
the American Red Cross was able to
reach a future generation of donors in a
meaningful way. With nearly 1,000,000
clicks on Hope.ly links, it is clear that
Red Cross became top of mind for more
than just their traditional donor base.

The Xpandinator promoted Slurpee,

7-Elevens frozen drink, by enabling
young Australians to drink more of it
for free. It was particularly popular
among 15-24-year olds, giving this
millennial crowd something different
and colourful they could share on
their social channels. This boasted a
658% increase in the growth rate of
followers on Instagram while Facebook
engagement tripled, furthering the reach
of the campaign. That helped boost
year-on-year Slurpee sales by 21%.
Creating work which resonates with
millennials and is consequently shared
across social media is particularly
relevant when brands are working with
negligible budgets. Given that 43% of
this years Innovation Prize entrants
were working within the parameters of
$0-$500,000, innovation is still largely
synonymous with low-cost solutions.

Many of this years Innovation Prize

entrants often because they were
working with negligible media
budgets achieved PR as well as
social engagement. As Lowes Live
Vines demonstrated, with 34.4 million
impressions on a non-existent media
budget, an innovative idea can not
only delight millennials it can also
successfully generate PR. And Lowes
kept the idea simple and executed it
beautifully, helping it to stand out and
promote Lowes first Manhattan outlet
in a memorable way to precisely the
right audience: young renters trying
to make the most of their space. As
the case study says: In ever growing
digital cacophony, Lowes found a
way to break through the noise.

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Warc Innovation Casebook 2016 - SUMMARY VERSION

Slurpee Xpandinator

Millennials want to
experience things theyve never
seen before. Innovation can
really be at the heart of driving
this. Often these experiences
are then shared, not just
publicly but also to the private
communities that Millennials
are a part of, extending the
reach of marketing initiatives to
an audience thats increasingly
hard to reach via traditional
marketing methods.
Tuomas Peltoniemi, President,
TBWAs Digital Arts Network
(DAN) Asia
Copyright Warc 2016. All rights reserved.

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