Creativity
Creative thinking, ideation techniques, and inspiration for bold advertising.
The Strategy Behind the Tears: The 5 Best John Lewis Christmas Ads
John Lewis built a festive monopoly by weaponising nostalgia, soft toys, and indie covers. Here is the strategy behind their iconic Christmas ads.
Why the 2026 Christmas Ad Season Finally Killed the Tearjerker
The 2026 Christmas ad playbook traded forced tears for physical craft and Norwegian cynicism. Here is why John Lewis lost its crown to Prada and VisitOSLO.
These 5 Golden Drum Winners Will Make You Laugh
When global ads bore people to death, these five Golden Drum winners used local quirks, fake mourners, and itchy cows to steal the show.
5 Golden Drum 2026 Winners That Solved Friction Instead of Buying Attention
Most award shows reward corporate vanity. Golden Drum 2026 picked campaigns that hacked WhatsApp, forged legal contracts, and built functional products.
Dull Is Expensive. Here Is What Entertaining Earns.
The Cost of Dull priced the waste. Entertain or Die 3.0 measures the other side: +39% memory lift, 2.8x image lift, 17 of the top 30 brands with double the preference, and awareness that buys you no fun at all.
Entertainment-First in Practice: Fandoms, Series, Clips and a 25% Rule
The working half of Entertain or Die 3.0: build from the edges in, make shows instead of spots, design for clipping, and only boost a post once shares hit 25% of likes. A cheap test is the best answer to the fear of bold work.
Caution Is the Expensive Option: The Three Taxes on Safe Marketing
New Contagious x FleishmanHillard data on 1,000 marketing leaders: cautious brands get backlash at the same rate as bold ones (20% vs 21%), bold work waits 7 days for sign-off vs 3, and 85% of leaders admit delayed decisions beat imperfect ones. Safe work is the costly kind.
How 118 Cannes Winners Turn Threats into Growth
Contagious x FleishmanHillard analysed 118 Cannes Lions winners that turned live macro threats into brand growth: 92% brand-building, earned-first by design, 61% leading with information. The three hallmarks, three drivers and the diagnostic for your next post-mortem.
The Engagement Trap: Creator Metrics Point the Wrong Way Two-Thirds of the Time
Kantar analysed 15,000+ pieces of sponsored creator content: platform engagement and effectiveness align in only 1 in 3 cases, and just 6% of content is both highly engaging and strongly brand-building. Here is what to measure instead.
A Deeper Look at the D&AD 2026 Yellow Pencil Winners
The 2026 D&AD Yellow Pencil winners proved one thing: when you strip away algorithmic optimization, pure creative friction is what buys unfair share of mind.
Best Super Bowl Ads of All Time
A brutally honest look at the math, the madness, and the actual creative strategy behind the greatest Super Bowl ads of all time.
The Creator Effectiveness Playbook: Brand Memory Over Cheap Views
New data from 1,217 paid ads and $70M in spend proves creators build brands - but only if you measure what actually sticks.
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