Publicis London report urges brands to embrace creative risk

A new report titled ‘World Class’, produced by Publicis London in collaboration with System1 and Effie, suggests that ‘playing safe’ is a high-risk strategy for global advertising campaigns. Analyzing over 1,200 Effie cases and data from 250,000 people, the study found that highly distinctive multi-market campaigns were more than four times as likely to report profit growth compared to those that were smoothed out for different markets.

The report highlights ‘creative deviance’ as a key driver of commercial success. Campaigns utilizing emotionally charged, provocative, unexpected, category-breaking, or visually arresting work reported significantly higher business effects, such as incremental revenue and market share.

In practical application, the report notes the success of the London Eye’s ‘Book Breathtaking Today’ campaign by TBWA. The campaign took a visual risk by focusing on a single viewing pod rather than the iconic wheel itself, achieving a 4.2-star rating on the Test Your Ad Outdoor scale and predicting strong long-term business impact.