About us

Creativity =

effectiveness

Today, the data proves creative thinking is one of the most powerful business tools (check out the figures); but it’s been buried in noise around digital clicks and cost-cutting and short-termism.

Businesses are suffering because they’ve been told to look for ‘efficient’ advertising (low ROI at low costs). And we get it; every penny counts and needs to be accounted for. But this model has only led to business getting better… at doing worse marketing, for less. They’re chasing small and smaller returns, and missing the end goal – big business effects. It’s wasted opportunity for them, for their staff, shareholders, communities and our whole economy.

And that’s why we set up Creative Commerce: A creative agency that’s simplifying the science, and making effectiveness gettable, affordable, quick, easy and doable within your company. And it might even be fun! But most of all, it can give you up 12x more business effectiveness than more literal, quick click, salesman-like work alone.

Because creativity = effectiveness.

Here’s a little secret… there’s a lot of scientific effectiveness stuff on here - we didn’t come up with this stuff. We’ve borrowed it from the world’s best researchers and marketing thinkers who were using it mainly in measurement alone. We saw it, and thought; OK, if we know the goal, why build it into the top and middle and rest of the process too?! Why not align everything to reach that target, better, faster, cheaper and simpler? Why not streamline our planning, creative and delivery - because we already know what type of answer will work best? This isn’t about restricting thinking; it’s about focusing it on the types of thinking that works’ best. And it feels good.

An agency built different. For different results

Learn more about the claims made above:

  • ·   Highly creative campaigns are 11× more efficient at driving market share growth than non-award-winning work.
    (Hurman, 2016; IPA Databank, 30-year analysis)

    ·  “The Cost of Dull” found that creatively effective ads generate 5× the ROI of “dull” campaigns, at similar or even lower budgets.
    (System1 & LinkedIn B2B Institute, 2023)

    ·  Creative ads are more emotionally engaging, better remembered, and more likely to influence buying decisions (System1, 2024; Heath, 2007).

    “Creativity is the strongest multiplier of effectiveness we know.”
    — Hurman (2016)

    “The commercial difference between the best and the dullest ads is vast — and it’s getting wider.”
    — System1 Group (2023)

  • IPA data shows that since 2008, the average effectiveness of UK advertising campaigns has halved — largely due to a shift toward short-term, performance-focused tactics.
    (Binet & Field, 2019. “Effectiveness in Context”)

    ·  Brands are overinvesting in low-ROI, short-term channels (like digital activation), while underinvesting in brand-building, which generates the largest long-term effects.
    (The B2B Institute & LinkedIn, 2021. “The 95:5 Rule”)

    ·  System1’s 50,000+ ad database reveals that chasing short-term gains leads to low emotional engagement, which caps long-term growth potential.

    ·  Campaigns that pursue large business effects — i.e., profit, share, penetration — are far more likely to use brand-building, emotional storytelling, and broad reach (Binet & Field, 2013).

    “We’ve become brilliant at making cheap, ineffective work — efficiently.”
    — Orlando Wood, Look Out (2021)

    “There’s a growing bias toward short-termism. But short-term metrics are weak indicators of long-term effectiveness.”
    — Binet & Field (2013)

  • Hurman, J. (2016). The Case for Creativity: Three Decades of Evidence on the Link Between Imaginative Marketing and Commercial Success.

    o   Analysis of 435 global campaigns (1980–2016): creatively awarded work was found to be up to 12× more effective at driving business results than non-awarded campaigns การตลาดวันละตอน+12The Case for Creativity+12ETBrandEquity.com+12WARC+1InPublishing+1.

    o   “Creatively awarded campaigns had campaign efficiency of ~5.7 vs. ~0.5 for non-awarded” — nearly 11× difference in efficiency mentions support this multiplier InPublishing+2www.slideshare.net+2Contagious+2.

    ·  WARC analysis (2025) confirms that creative excellence remains the most powerful actionable lever, with a 12× uplift in profitability compared to weaker creative counterparts Direct New Ideas+15WARC+15Contagious+15.

    ·  IPA / Peter Field (1996–2008): creativity was historically 12× more efficient, though recent research shows this has dropped to ~4× due to short-term trends — reinforcing how rare true creativity must be to reap full benefits InPublishing+2Contagious+2Contagious+2.

    ·  WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness Ladder: a visual framework showing that creatively outstanding work delivers higher-level business outcomes — from sales spikes to enduring brand value Kantar+14CMOs+14WARC+14.

  • Orlando Wood, Jon Evans, Andrew Tindall, Peter Field, Les Binet, James Hurman, Byron Sharp, Jenni Romaniuk, Daniel Kahneman, Mark Ritson, Kantar, IPA, WARC and more.

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