The truth is, not having highly creative advertising is the greatest risk.
The simple reason is this. People pay more attention to creative ads, recall them better and talk about them more. Clients who utilize them spend less on media and sell more. According to research conducted by Peter Field for the Institute of Practitioners In Advertising (IPA), creative ads are 11 times more efficient at selling stuff than other ads. What’s more, consumers have more positive feelings about companies and their products that utilize more creative advertising.*
Don't believe us, check out this article from the Harvard Business Review titled Creativity in Advertising: When It Works and When It Doesn’t. They found the following to be true:
"Our findings confirm the conventional wisdom that creativity matters: Overall, more-creative campaigns were more effective—considerably so." more
Still not convinced? Take a look at the chart on the left summarizing research from Nielsen. 47% of ad effectiveness is directly correlated to the creative idea and 15% to the brand itself (62%). While only 22% of an ad’s effectiveness is due reach and only 9% to targeting. Yet most companies value media (reach) and targeting more than creativity and branding.
Developing legendary creative is hard work. Only a very small percentage of agencies digital and traditional have the strategic, creative and production chops to make advertising people actually pay attention to and like. Because most shops can’t do it, they’re the first ones to tell you how risky it is.
*The Case For Creativity, James Hurman