Creative consistency is key to building stronger brands, according to new research from System1 and the IPA.
The study Compound Creativity analysed brands across channels for 13 new creative consistency features, looking at 4,000+ ads from 56 brands spanning five years and representing £3.3 billion in TV ad spend.
It showcased a new brand metric, Creative Consistency Score (CCS), which is linked to creative quality, brand strength, brand and business effects
These findings are derived from System1’s Test Your Ad platform, which tests consumers’ emotional responses to advertising to predict short- and long-term brand-building potential, and business effects reported from the IPA Effectiveness Databank.
The findings revealed that the most creatively consistent brands average a Star Rating of 3.3, predicting ‘Good’ long-term brand-building potential, compared to 2.8 stars for somewhat consistent brands and 2.6-stars for the least consistent brands.
It also revealed that advertising from consistent brands improves in creative quality year on year, creating a compound effect.
The most consistent brands saw their average Star Rating increase annually (+0.2 Star Rating), whilst the least consistent brands saw no growth in their creative quality.
After five years, advertising from the most consistent brands is expected to grow market share more than twice as effectively than the least consistent brands (given the same media spend).
It revealed that campaigns from the most consistent brands create +27% Large Brand Effects, generating more brand awareness, differentiation, brand values and salience.
In linking the IPA Effectiveness Databank metrics against the brands’ creative, the study found that the most consistent brands (top 20%) achieve +28% more Very Large Business Effects, including sales value gain, profit gain, market share gain and more.
Brands that are ranked as somewhat consistent, or the least consistent, have to spend more to achieve the same level of growth as the most consistent brands. The cost of change is estimated at £3.47 billion over the next five years.
Find the full findings here.