The Dove example was cited recently by Arnaud Debia, global director for creative excellence at the research and consulting firm Ipsos. Switzerland-based Debia was in India last week to meet clients, bursting with queries on brand building and effectiveness of creative advertising in a changing media landscape.
This year, it added a new chapter to ‘Misfits’ on the lost art of storytelling. “In the race to produce content at lightning speed, many advertisers overlook the essentials of impactful storytelling. He was speaking in reference to the recent Gen Z protests in New Delhi. For two consecutive years, Cannes Lions has discussed the role and impact of AI in advertising. Ipsos, too, conducted a study with Syracuse University to compare and analyse AI-generated and human-made ads. Yet on ‘effectiveness’, the human ads performed better in driving short term sales. The AI ads performed well when they were product-driven but struggled with storytelling and emotion.
First launched in 2022, ‘Misfits’ explores how unconventional creativity drives business growth. It analysed 15,000 ads to discover that nearly 50% of them don’t tell a story at all, focusing instead on predictable product features. The two sets of ads were shown to 3,000 respondents in the US who could barely distinguish between the two.
In doing so brands are limiting their creative effectiveness and ROI (return on investment),” said an Ipsos study titled ‘Misfits’. Speaking to HT earlier, Ashish Mishra, Interbrand CEO for India and South Asia, said “radical ideology is the new currency of identity, and brands can no longer afford to be politically correct fence-sitters. “Brands can build a strong ideology by examining their core, finding their authenticity, and using it to resolve relevant, simmering socio-cultural tensions,” Mishra said. “The ads made by people were disruptive and strong on empathy,” Debia said.
