Find the latest and most impactful research on advertising creative here. All the research listed comes from the ARF or one of its subsidiaries: The Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) or the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). Feel free to bookmark this page, as it will be updated periodically.
The ARF Creative Council has authored the first, comprehensive resource for creative research terms. Known as the Creative Council Research Glossary, its purpose is to inform and help marketers better communicate. The glossary includes 880 terms, many of which have references to one or more related terms. It is available for free on the foundation’s website. You can even add a comment or suggest a term you would like to see added.
View the Creative Glossary
There have been significant developments in artificial intelligence, such as recent advancements in natural language processing, that make it look appealing for advertising purposes. Indeed, many professionals are considering AI-driven creative tools. Yet, a recent ARF Knowledge Center investigation reveals that this technology simply is not there yet. For now, AI’s best use seems to be optimizing creative for email blasts, digital campaigns and social media advertising.
We have access to more data and research than ever before. But how well are they being used? It’s apparent to many in the advertising industry that there’s a gap between the research/data and creative/strategy communities, in terms of using data and insights effectively. To investigate this divide, the ARF Creative Council conducted a quantitative and qualitative research project, which has led to the publication of a new white paper titled: How to Get Better Creative from Better Insights.
No advertisement is seen in isolation. The impact an ad has depends on the context it finds itself in, including what type of ad or content preceded it or what it is adjacent to, in terms of digital or print. Today, there is a renewed interest in context effects, particularly in the COVID era, as advertisers worry about their ads rolling after or being adjacent to upsetting news. This newly updated Knowledge at Hand and corresponding CMO Brief explore all the latest research and insights surrounding context effects.
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Ambient marketing can be expensive and unreliable when it comes to the use of ambient scents in food advertising. That’s because information from sensory food advertising is processed in different ways and at different levels of human cognition. Researchers conducted a series of lab experiments in France, exposing consumers to visual inputs of sugar-free cookies, that in theory, would trigger olfactory imagery without the use of ambient aromas.
Read the JAR summary.
We know that human truths drive advertising creativity. The assumption is that you provide consumer insight to a creative professional, and they work their magic, choosing freely among appeal types. What’s not clear is what role the insight plays in the making of that magic. Here’s a preliminary roadmap for finding the emotional pulse of the creative process.
Read the JAR summary.
Develops a machine learning approach that uses novel transfer learning/deep learning approaches to avoid making a tradeoff between interpretability and predictive ability. Analyzes which elements of videos by social media influencers are most effective in engaging consumer interest and sentiment.
Read the Working Paper.
Scholars and practitioners in recent years have grappled with the potential and limitations of six -second ads. A new study clarifies those constraints and offers actionable strategies in various stages of the creative process, to help advertisers boost the effectiveness of short, online video ads.
Read the JAR summary.
Analyzes how cognition, affect and experience mediate advertising effects on sales, using data from 178 fast-moving consumer goods brands in 18 categories over seven years. Demonstrates that the traditional Hierarchy of Effects (HoE) model holds up well, but varies across cpg brands with the primary sequence being affect → cognition → experience (ACE).
Read the Working Paper.
Building a brand across multiple countries is challenging. Generic messages are less likely to reach consumers across the globe today. What’s more, recent neuro studies suggest consumers in different countries process creatives differently. On another front, the business environment is unique in each market, meaning a different strategy is needed to position the brand and take on the competition.