“The ACA effectiveness database contains case studies dating back to 2017, but it’s the 2020 campaigns that have delivered, on aggregate, the strongest business results to date,” he said.

They were also the most effective group of campaigns Mr Brittain has seen in the four years since its launch. Overall, the 2020 advertising campaigns in the ACA’s effectiveness database were 20 per cent more effective than campaigns that ran in 2019. Effectiveness for each campaign is measured via the impact on a consistent set of business metrics - including profit, sales revenue, customer acquisition and market share. The marketing efforts studied were a combination of short term Covid reactionary campaigns and regular long-term brand building campaigns from 2020. READ MORE: Raise your voice: ads ‘drive profits’ | Mr Brittain analysed the data from the Advertising Council of Australia (ACA) Effectiveness Database, which contains hundreds of ad campaign award entries that demonstrate effectiveness and proven results in the marketplace. “When advertising spend is plummeting, highly effective advertising has an even bigger opportunity to shine and this is what it did.” “During Covid we’ve seen some big changes in marketing strategy from companies, but for those that chose to keep calm and continue with what they were doing - on the proviso it wasn‘t insensitive in the situation being faced at the time - they were the ones that saw the most success,” Mr Brittain said. The onslaught of Covid may have changed many things, but it didn’t change the fundamentals of advertising effectiveness, according to independent marketing consultant Rob Brittain.Īfter analysing a slew of ad campaigns that rolled out throughout 2020, the Melbourne-based researcher found that contrary to some views that marketing had dramatically changed forever, this was evidently not the case.

Keep calm and carry on covid