Blog

Chevrolet’s 4-Star Success Shows The Limits Of Authenticity

The Strange Death Of The American Beer Ad

Banking: The Best Ads From Britain’s Big Five

MassMutual: 5 Stars Go A Long Way

Hired Devices: Should Brands Bet On A Famous Face?

TMRE 2018 In Its Own Words

We spent this week out in the desert at TMRE. Here are 33 notes, quotes and challenges from the blockbuster insights event.

Saved By The Baby: Binet And Field On Effectiveness In Context

Fluent Devices 2: This Time It’s Digital

How To Craft Memorability In Multi-Platform Advertising

Six Big Insight Trends From ESOMAR

Faster, cheaper, better, sharper, slicker… smaller? We took the pulse of insights at ESOMAR this week. Here’s what we learned.

The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Characters

What makes a great brand character? We use Fluent Devices examples to illustrate.

Emotional Advertising in Financial Services: Driving Brand Growth

At this year’s TMRE, Brent Snyder and a major financial brand will present the results of a meta-analysis asking how effective emotional approaches in financial services advertising really are in driving growth.

Did Nike Turn Its Back On Customers?

Nike’s poster and video starring Colin Kaepernick are the most talked-about ads of the year – but how did they score on ad effectiveness in the long term?

Volvo Solves The Self-Drive Innovation Puzzle

Getting self-driving cars from anticipated idea to mass-market technology is a classic Fluent Innovation problem. Volvo might just have solved it.

Dilly Dilly: Return of the Fluent Device

You’ve been there, you’ve heard it, and some of you may have even bought the T-Shirt…

Reinventing The Condiment

Is there a need to reinvent the condiment?

August Highlights: 10 Of The Best And Worst New Ads

We test every UK and US ad that airs in 25 key categories for System1 Ad Ratings. The service is launching to customers later this year: meanwhile here are ten of August’s most interesting new campaigns – and how they scored.

“Wanna Buy A Scandal?”: Unpicking The Response To Controversial Ads

German brewer Astra became the latest brand to run into social media scandal and accusations over an ad. What do the public think – and why does it matter?

Rise Of The Machines

In our most recent case study, we look at twenty-four innovative tech releases: there’s something in here to satisfy everyone’s sci-fi needs.

Desert Island Reads

Here at System1 we love a good book… or 15. Check out the reads we’ve been enjoying, covering a range of subjects from social evolution to fungi.

New 5-Star Ad: Mentos’ “Say Hello”

Mentos is the first confectionery brand to release a 5-Star ad on UK TV this August (so far). Find out what made this ad so popular.

The Behavioural Science Behind “Share A Coke”

2018 marks the fifth US summer of Coca-Cola’s “Share A Coke” marketing campaign, when the soft drinks giant releases thousands of limited-edition bottles showing names, places, occasions, or even song lyrics. It’s probably the most famous, and longest running, mass personalisation campaign in the world, and Coke have regularly credited it with big returns. Back in 2014, following its successful launch, the Ogilvy-run campaign was linked to Coca-Cola’s first sales increases in a decade.

Maintaining Cats And Dogs

Using our Ad Ratings data we look at what works and doesn’t in the Pet Insurance category – and what people insurers can learn from it.

Marketing Legal Weed: Everybody Might Get Stoned

What do you do when you’re launching a product that already has very strong – and very unhelpful – brand associations?

There’s No Next If You Text

This week, System1 Agency released a powerful 90 sec film to help change people’s attitudes and behaviors around texting and driving.

System1 Finalists in The MRS Operations Awards

Find out how System1 became finalists in the MRS Operations Awards with Ad Ratings

Conference Season Preview: Take Marketing’s Pulse

The keynotes. The awards. The case studies. The golf tournaments. From the IPA to TMRE, find the events you won’t want to miss.

A Crucial Snapshot Of Media Change

Ofcom’s “Digital Nations” report sheds some light on the biggest questions in media. We run through its most useful insights.

Less Is More For 5-Star KitKat

Sharp editing turned an Australian KitKat ad into a 5-Star US Ad Ratings winner. We break it down.

Around The World In 25 Places

A new study reveals a startling truth about the places humans visit, with big implications for brands and mobile marketing. It’s just one example of the power of habit.

Thirty Million Viewers. Twenty-One Ads.

Last week saw the highest commercial TV audience in UK history. System1 Ad Ratings exclusively reveals which brands made the most of it.

Do More With Less, In An Efficient And Valuable Way … MRMW APAC

The MRMW APAC conference in Singapore at the end of June took “digital disruption” as its theme. It was a great opportunity to measure the pace of research change in the part of the world with more experience of ultra-fast change than any other. System1 was in attendance, with Maria Spinelli, Glaucia Marques and Alice Arnould reporting back.

IPA Effectiveness Shortlist: What We Loved

Other ad awards may have the glamour, but for us, the IPA’s biennial Ad Effectiveness Awards are the classiest in the industry. Tying the awards to specific business impact and bottom line effects means the IPA awards have rigour to go with the creativity. And that creativity covers a genuinely wide field – from the cleverest examples of digital wizardry to broad-based, populist ads which put a smile on millions of faces.

Best Of The1: Our Most-Read Pieces

As a thankyou for reading our newsletter and blog, here’s our ten most-read pieces of the last three months, from voice branding to the power of dogs.

How To: Tap Into Patriotic Feeling

As the USA celebrates the 4th of July, we look at how brands and advertisers can handle the hot potato that is patriotism.

The 5 Best World Cup Ads 2018

We tested dozens of ads for the World Cup. Here are the best (and worst!).

How To: Compete With Private Labels

With Amazon investing heavily in private labels, brand marketers are feeling the heat. Here’s how to manage own-label competition.

What Happens If You Test Everything?

We’re launching Ad Ratings, our creative benchmarking system. It’s our biggest research project ever – find out more.

Book Review: Amber Case – Calm Technology

Amber Case’s ‘Calm Technology’ is a manifesto for coping with the coming age of ubiquitous computing. Innovators should take heed.

Fannovation! Why Supporters Have The Best Ideas

Brands come up with limited-run innovations around every World Cup. But it’s the fans who really understand how you need Fluency to move the crowd.