How ADFX Winning campaigns PROVE effectiveness

TAM Ireland & IAPI joint report

In Sept 2015 TAM (Television Measurement Ireland) and IAPI presented a report on the value of advertising in Ireland. We demonstrated the commercial value and payback on business results using the ADFX (Advertising Effectiveness Awards) winning case studies over the last 18 years.

Using our databank of 106 case’s we investigated whether there is any overall evidence for the thorniest questions around Irish advertising.

  • Does advertising pay back?
  • Does media investment pay back?
  • Does creatively awarded advertising pay back?


The meta-analysis investigates the overall evidence between advertising investments and increases in value market share. These cases included FMCG, corporate and financial services, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and retail, automotive and pro-social sectors.

This report is broken into two parts;

A Line in the Sand’ written by strategic planning consultant Karen Hand and TAM CEO Jill McGrath, studies the commercial evidence for investment in Advertising, Media and Creativity.

Summary of Key Findings

The IAPI ADFX awards are related to strong increases in commercial value. There is an average of 6% increase in value share in ADFX winning cases, versus around 3% increases in value share in non-winning cases. This equates to value share gain of 0.8% versus 0.5% per month.

  • There is evidence that media investment pays back: based on a strong significant relationship between media spend and market share in the IAPI database.
  • There is also evidence that creativity pays back (as measured by Creative Awards) and delivers around 10 x higher levels of campaigns that were not creatively awarded. The meta-analysis provided a ‘Line in the Sand’ for the Irish marketing / media community and demonstrates the commercial return of Irish advertising. It gives us more confidence that best-practice marketing in Ireland is in-line with best practice globally and that Irish agencies and media are delivering commercial value to clients and brands. It should earn marketing more ‘share of voice’ within the boardroom.
  • These reports demonstrate that there is a direct link between commercial payback, media investment and creativity and the basic principal of effective campaigns within this industry.

‘I must be talking to my friends’ written by Smurfit Business School of Marketing brand lecturer John Fanning, demonstrates the principals and practices that are needed to develop outstanding effective advertising using case studies as examples.

If you require any further information regarding these reports or ADFX 2018 please do not hesitate to contact Jay Taberner at jay@iapi.com

How ADFX Winning campaigns PROVE effectiveness