Advertising is one of the biggest discretionary investments that most brands make. Most advertising seeks to generate sales in the short term, long term, or both. Marketers are doing this with very little time, limited budgets and the need to be channel-flexible or agnostic, all while trying to please multiple stakeholders.

It costs the same to launch an effective campaign as an ineffective one. Spending time and money on developing weak copy represents poor return on investment which leads to disappointing results and frustration in the marketing team.

The challenge for advertisers is to maximize advertising ROI while minimizing frustration and disappointment.

Investing in research at key points in the creative development process can save time and money and achieve maximum potential, lowering the overall investment and increasing ROI.

MaxiMuM return, MiniMuM frustration

the Creative Challenge

CreatiVe DeVeLoPMent ProGraMs

Our Creative Development Programs offer a suite of solutions to guide the entire creative development process—from developing the most compelling message—to creating or nurturing the communications idea that brings your brand’s message to life—to optimizing the executions you invest in. Our solutions have been developed to answer key business questions at each stage of the creative development process and are extensively

validated to maximize both the short- and long- term potential of your advertising.

Our proven expertise is built on validated metrics to understand the immediate and long term effects of advertising, meticulously developed measures of emotions (both implicit and explicit), the largest advertising database and over 40 years of experience in creative development research.

Delivering roi

How Do i Get My exeCutionaL iDeas off on tHe riGHt PatH?Feedback early in the executional development process can save considerable time and money; knowing at an early stage which executional ideas have the most potential avoids wasting time and money on developing, testing, producing or airing under-performing ads.

Pre-Link is a qualitative technique that applies Millward Brown’s Link copy-testing framework for ad evaluation early in the creative development process – as soon as executional ideas are available. It combines group

discussions with individual responses to gauge potential and identify the best executional idea(s) to take forward (or provide an early warning signal if none of the executional ideas deliver against key success criteria). In addition, Pre-Link provides guidance on how to maximize the winning executional idea before creating unfinished or finished executions.

Pre-Link

How are PeoPLe interPretinG My aD anD wHy?

When testing ads, it is valuable to understand in great depth what consumers are thinking and feeling in response to your advertising and why, to ensure the success of your campaign.

Zoom is a qualitative solution that assesses advertising to understand in great depth the effect it is having and why, to guide optimization. Specially constructed depth

interviews, with a stream of consciousness flow, mimic how people consume advertising in the real world, giving you a more accurate view of how the creative is performing. Zoom findings deepen and enrich Link findings because they are excellent at eliciting the ‘why’ behind the findings, offering the best possible optimization guidance.

ZoomHow Can i PreDiCt tHe strenGtH of My CreatiVe anD oPtiMiZe it?Once your ad is made, you have to make sure it is as effective as possible so that you get the most from your investment.

Link is our market-leading copytesting solution that assesses executions, prior to launch, to predict and optimize performance. It tells you how well your advertising is doing against your objectives and success criteria, and the reasons why, so you can make it as strong as possible to achieve greater sales in the short and long-term.

Link is the most widely used copytesting solution in the world, meaning we have researched the most ads for the most brands in the most categories and countries. Having conducted more than 107,000 Link projects, the Link database spans 92 countries and ensures cultural differences are taken into account, so that comparisons across countries identify genuine differences.

Evidence shows that ads which perform well in Link are much more likely to generate a significant sales uplift than poor performers.

Likelihood of the ad generating significant sales effects

Link for TV studies conducted in major markets

Link™

CHaMPions of CreatiVe

We believe research is only valuable if the team developing the advertising understands, believes in, and is motivated to act upon, the results. That’s why one Millward Brown team will work with you on your Creative Development Program to ensure they really understand your business and needs, helping you achieve your brand goals. Our people always ensure sensitive interpretation and delivery of results and recommendations that lead to action.

Our global presence means we understand the local advertising context enabling us to more effectively evaluate and provide recommendations to strengthen your advertising. Our philosophy and approach is

truly global meaning you can be confident that our findings and recommendations will help lead to the strongest possible advertising that delivers the best ROI.

our people

DeVeLoPinG winninG aDVertisinG to Grow your BranD

Creative Development Programs

wHat’s tHe Most PowerfuL MessaGe for Me to ConVey in My CoMMuniCations?Getting your message right in communications is important. If engineered well, messages build brand associations that create meaningful difference. We know from our vast brand equity experience that meaningfully different brands grow faster than others.

Message leverages our understanding of how advertising works, gained from empirical

observation and neuroscience, to determine which message(s) will truly resonate with consumers. The solution’s evaluative part ensures marketers ‘land’ on the right message and its diagnostic part understanding of why, which enables the language of the message to be optimized in communications.

Message

How Do i Get a quiCk View on wHetHer My aD wiLL work or not?It’s essential to make sure that your advertising is strong enough to air.

LinkExpress is a leaner, purely evaluative version of Link that provides a fast view on an ad’s likely effectiveness in market. Like Link, LinkExpress measures what has been proven to matter most in creating effective advertising. The award winning system provides results in an easy to interpret, interactive dashboard, with metrics proven to relate to sales and brand building.

LinkExpress is ideal for situations such as choosing which ad to air, checking if an ad will

work in another country, checking changes made since Link have been effective, and evaluating competitor ads.

LinkExpress™

MESSAGE IDeA PRE-LINK

LINK

ZOOM

MESSAGE IDEA EXECUTION

3,166

2,272

3,43719,690

11,073

6,4633,019

3,045

8,5633,023

3,407

REC

Expression aggregation & analysis

Facial featuresidentified

Facial expressionrecognition

Panelist turns on webcam

Unobtrusive, in situ measurement of viewers’ emotional responses via automated facial analysis

Emotionsexperienced

tHe Most CoMPreHensiVe MeasureMent of eMotionsMaximizing emotional engagement and response to advertising is critical since consumers’ feelings are such a powerful driver in their decision making process. Therefore, emotional measurement is a core part of all our Creative Development Program solutions.

Emotional measures are embedded in our long-standing survey metrics, and through our dedicated practice we are the world’s largest provider of consumer neuroscience. These methods include reaction-times for the emotional impact of ideas and advertising, and measurement of the intuitive communication

from campaigns, versus more rationalized responses.

In addition, for TV ads, facial coding is a core part of Link, providing unrivalled implicit measurement and giving deeper insights into how consumers process ads to aid optimization. The approach* records people’s facial expressions via webcam while they view the ad, and automatically analyzes their emotional responses, making it scalable and cost effective.

emotions

*delivered through our technology partner, Affectiva

wHiCH CoMMuniCations iDeas wiLL BrinG My BranD MessaGe to Life?A strong campaign idea provides the base for content to be developed across channels, countries and over time, to build a strong and meaningfully different brand. In an increasingly fragmented marketplace, it takes an incredible idea to break through the clutter and capture the consumer’s heart and mind.

IDeA consists of three modular, integrated qualitative and quantitative stages that help you find the most compelling way of bringing your message to life in the form of a truly winning idea. It increases the likelihood that final ads retain and exploit what makes that idea strong. Qualitative techniques are used to inspire and develop big ideas first ensuring ideas have an opportunity to flourish before a quantitative assessment validates the strength of the idea.

Our analysis shows that results for executions which were built from campaign ideas we researched, are stronger than those for executions not previously researched.

iDea

Likelihood of the short term sales shares rise for brands

70%58%

Link for ads with early screening

All Link results

Grew by >1%

Grew by >0.1 and <1%

Saw no sales change

Declined

LOW MEDIUM HIGH

39

37

1014

23

31

17

29

1018

27

45

70,795

32,52510,436

2,666

84,000

123107,000

Over

ads tested

Link is born! Emotional from the start with measures such as 'enjoyment'

1989

Persuasion measures introduced to cover short-term rational responseImproved predictions of an ad’s ability to build brand awareness

1994

Validation against sales demonstrated

1997

Further improved predictions of an ad’s ability to build brand awareness

2000

First neuroscience work takes place, including trials of brainwave measurement as a part of Link

2001

The move to an online methodology begins

2002Validation against sales updated

2006

Brainwave tests validate and inform new survey measures of emotional response Link for digital advertising is introduced

2005

Multi-media copytesting launches with the introduction of Link 360Link questionnaires and analysis updated based on neuroscience learnings

2007

Neuroscience techniques like brainwave measurement, implicit associations and eye tracking are used in tandem with Link when applicable

2008 Facial Coding in Link launched to monitor moment-by-moment emotional responses via webcamLinkExpress begins global roll-out to provide results in 48 hoursIDeA launches

2012

Measure added to predict an ad’s viral potentialValidation against sales updated

2009

Pre-Link launches PFIs relaunched as Zoom

2010

2011

New measure for long-term potential, Power Contribution, added to LinkNew questions mean most comprehensive read of emotional response to ads everMessage launches

2013

Volumetric predictions offer introduced as a part of LinkEye tracking introduced on Link for Digital

Our history of innovationin creative development

Millward Brown has long championed the role of great creative and the importance of emotional response as key drivers of brand and advertising success. Below is a summary of some of our innovation milestones in Creative Development, including our ‘emotional’ history.

DEVELOPING WINNING ADVERTISING TO GROW YOUR BRAND

CREATIVEPROGRAMSDEVELOPMENT