Creative Effectiveness Isn’t Linear. It’s Relative.

Creative effectiveness isn’t one-size-fits-all 

And that’s a good thing. 

If there were a single formula for creative effectiveness, marketing would be much simpler.
But it would also be far less interesting, and far less effective. 

In reality, what drives impact is relative performance within a category. What audiences expect, what they usually feel, and what genuinely stands out there matters far more than chasing a universal creative ideal. 

2025’s most interesting ads demonstrate an encouraging truth for brands. There are many ways to cut through, and effectiveness can be achieved through a range of creative approaches, from warmth and humor to boldness and surprise. 

Here’s what we can learn. 

Emotional Relevance in a Functional Category  

Dove & Zulu Alpha Kilo – #ChangetheCompliment (US)

Dove has consistently committed to a strategy that prioritizes emotional relevance and sensitivity, with a clear focus on long-term brand growth in a category that often leans heavily towards functional, product-focused messaging. 

While purpose-led advertising is generally less effective than humor, this dynamic shifts in the right category, and Dove has proven that time and again. In a market where beauty standards, product choice, and social norms are closely tied to personal identity, Dove has strategically challenged category conventions to break the status quo and give beauty a new cultural meaning. 

#ChangeTheCompliment not only achieved the maximum Star Rating within its category last year, but outperformed the category average by +3.1 Stars, representing a significant uplift in brand growth potential. In a space where messages frequently blur together, Dove’s ability to connect on a human level helped it stand apart, reinforcing trust, meaning, and memorability. 

Short-Term Impact Through Distinctive Storytelling  

Warburton’s & Procure Worldwide / Joyful & Triumphant – The Inspection (UK)

Bakery is an inherently emotional category. Much like chocolate or travel, positivity comes easily. The product does a lot of the work.

The challenge, then, is not whether product-led advertising works. The data shows that it does. The challenge is standing out when everyone is doing the same thing.

Warburton’s consistently achieves this by elevating its product through distinctive, blockbuster-style storytelling. A-list talent, cinematic plots, and a familiar factory setting combine to build strong brand memorability while keeping the product firmly at the heart of the story.

By often leaning into longer-form content, Warburton’s allows a wider range of emotions to unfold, from tension and drama to relief and joy. This emotional range creates momentum. While bakery typically performs well on long-term measures like Star Rating, short-term impact is harder to achieve, as positive emotion in the category is rarely intense.

The Inspection demonstrates how to overcome that challenge, delivering strong long-term brand signals alongside the highest uplift in Spike Rating versus the category. It is a clear example of how brands can defy category norms without compromising on what already works.

Standing Out Across Two Categories 

Uber & Mother – In Good Time (UK)

Operating across both Mobile Apps and Travel, Uber faces a distinctive creative challenge. In Travel, it competes with highly emotive destination brands. In Mobile Apps, it must clearly communicate ease, accessibility, and usability. Few categories demand such a careful balance of functional clarity and emotional appeal.

In 2025, Uber met that challenge by reframing its service as a catalyst for human connection. Rather than focusing on the destination or the app itself, the brand placed Uber at the center of a relatable love story, taking viewers through the natural ups and downs of a relationship.

The storytelling is confident and controlled. The app interface, cars, and branding remain highly visible throughout, yet never distract from the narrative. Even traditionally negative moments, such as longer wait times, are reinterpreted as emotionally valuable, offering space for reflection, connection, or resolution.

The result was exceptional cut-through. The campaign outperformed both the Mobile App and Travel categories on Fluency, System1’s measure of brand recall, ensuring Uber remained top of mind while delivering a deeply human story.

Balancing Consistency and Innovation 

Coca-Cola & WPP Open X / VML – Holidays Are Coming (US & UK)

Standing out during the holidays is one of the toughest challenges in advertising. More brands are on air, and many bring their strongest emotional work. In 2025, Coca-Cola succeeded in cutting through both emotionally and on brand fluency in the UK and the US, the two most competitive festive markets.

By reimagining the iconic Holidays Are Coming platform using AI, the brand struck a careful balance between consistency and evolution. The campaign preserved the distinctive coloring, soundtrack, and creative integrity of the original 1995 execution, while introducing a sense of freshness and contemporary relevance.

Using AI was a considered risk, but one that clearly paid off. Coca-Cola demonstrated how brands can remain true to what works, while still surprising audiences by evolving in ways they might not expect. The result was a festive campaign that felt both familiar and new, delivering strong emotional engagement alongside category-leading brand recall.

When Provocation Becomes a Strategic Advantage 

American Eagle (in-house) – Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans (US)

American Eagle was named the most provocative campaign of 2025, outperforming the Fashion category on the emotion of contempt, an uplift not seen in any other category. While this may initially appear counterintuitive, for American Eagle it proved highly effective.

Fashion is typically an emotionally safe category. Advertising often relies on attractive imagery, prominent product shots, and minimal storytelling, resulting in work that feels visually polished but emotionally neutral. As a result, average neutrality is high, and genuine emotional response is rare.

American Eagle took a different approach. Rather than simply reflecting culture, the brand aimed to participate in it. By featuring one of the most recognizable actresses in the US, the campaign deliberately sparked debate. Audience reactions were polarized in testing and across the media, but the outcome was clear. Sales increased.

In a category where emotional engagement is scarce, provoking a strong response can be more effective than aiming for broad approval. While contempt is undoubtedly a high-risk emotion, American Eagle demonstrated that in emotionally muted categories, the greater risk is being safe, forgettable, and ultimately ignored.

When Unlikely Emotions Drive Memorability 

Lynx & Lola MullenLowe – Lynx Lower Body Spray (UK)

Lynx offers another strong example of provocation used as an intentional creative strategy. In 2025, the brand generated the highest levels of disgust across the category, deliberately going against long-established norms.

In a category where fragrance is typically framed through attraction and aspiration, often featuring idealized characters and predictable narratives, Lynx chose humor and subversion to promote its Lower Body Spray. The approach was intentionally unexpected, positioning the brand as the opposite of what audiences usually see in the category.

Crucially, the work remained true to Lynx’s long-term brand identity, where humor has always played a central role. By embracing an unconventional emotional response, the campaign achieved strong memorability and clear distinction, proving that consistency and surprise can work together when grounded in brand truth.

Comedy With Cultural Impact 

Irn-Bru & Lucky Generals – Made in Scotland for Girders (Scotland)

Humor is a relatively rare, yet highly effective tool in advertising. When it is grounded in cultural truth and delivered with local relevance, it can create exceptional impact.

Irn-Bru has long been recognized for its cultural influence through comedy, and in partnership with Lucky Generals, delivered the most amusing ad of 2025. While the campaign resonated strongly with audiences across the UK, it struck an even deeper chord with Scottish viewers, where the brand’s cultural roots run deepest.

In a category that typically relies on familiar usage narratives, opening a drink on the beach or sharing a moment with friends, Irn-Bru stands apart. Few brands have achieved such consistent and distinctive cultural presence, where the product itself has become a national symbol, and a single monologue can generate widespread emotional response.

Sport Advertising With Universal Appeal 

Uber Eats & Special – Football Is for Food (US)

Advertising in sport is challenging. Campaigns built around specific leagues or events often resonate strongly with dedicated fans, but struggle to engage broader audiences. For non-fans, emotional response is frequently limited.

To overcome this, Uber Eats extended its Super Bowl platform Football Is for Food into the wider NFL season, evolving the idea while keeping its core intact. The creative remained consistent, with Bradley Cooper stepping in for Matthew McConaughey, allowing the brand to refresh the execution without losing recognizability.

The result was broad emotional appeal. Despite the inherent category challenges, Uber Eats achieved a 48% higher Happiness score than other ads in the sports arena, while reaching a mass audience. The campaign works because the link to sport is present, but not dominant. The focus remains on the service, the celebrity, and a simple, consistently reimagined joke that is accessible to both fans and non-fans.

Modern Tools, Meaningful Emotional Impact  

Volvo & Lion Creative – Come Back Stronger (Saudi Arabia)

AI returned as a category strategy in 2025, this time in Saudi Arabia, where Volvo achieved the lowest level of neutrality in its category. Automotive is often seen as a visually similar and emotionally muted category, where even impressive products struggle to inspire.

Choosing AI might initially seem at odds with a product rooted in human experience, but Volvo challenged that assumption. The technology was used not as a gimmick, but as a storytelling tool, enabling the brand to connect past, present, and future while signaling innovation and progress.

With just 12 percent neutral emotional response, the campaign demonstrated how modern tools can help reframe familiar categories. By using a contemporary medium to express a forward-looking vision, Volvo made a strategic choice that clearly paid off.

The Takeaway for Brands  

These campaigns highlight an important opportunity for marketers. There is no single path to creative effectiveness.

Success comes from understanding your category, recognizing what audiences typically experience, and choosing creative approaches that meaningfully oppose those norms.

For marketers navigating complex portfolios and diverse markets, this is good news. It means there is flexibility and freedom to find the creative strategies that work best for your brand, in your context.

Creative effectiveness is not about following a formula.

It is about making informed, confident choices and letting creativity do what it does best.

Every category plays by different rules. Talk to our team to understand yours, and explore how creativity can work harder for your brand.