WPP Creative Capital Index Arrives at SXSW Sydney
In a move aiming to reaffirm the importance of creativity in business, WPP, the global creative transformation company, launched the WPP Creative Capital Index during a special event at SXSW Sydney last week.
The new index measures the value of creativity and its impact on brand performance. The announcement was accompanied by a panel discussion featuring WPP's president for Australia and New Zealand, Rose Herceg, chief strategy officer of WPP Australia and New Zealand, Katie Rigg-Smith, and head of mass brands and content, Suncorp, Rapthi Thanapalasingam.
The WPP Creative Capital Index aims to quantify the often intangible asset of creativity, showcasing its potential to drive tangible growth.
The index combines influence and creativity scores to demonstrate how brands with high Creative Capital scores consistently outperform others regarding financial performance, stock market returns, and consumer advocacy.
The methodology behind the Creative Capital Index is based on survey research of a globally representative sample of consumers who rate brands in their local market on key image, equity, and advocacy metrics, ranging from reputation to innovation to popularity.
The event highlighted some significant findings from the index, including substantial shareholder returns and enhanced customer engagement.
Katie Rigg-Smith, WPP's chief strategy officer for Australia and New Zealand, emphasised the importance of data-driven insights in harnessing creativity for brand success.
"The WPP Creative Capital Index provides our teams with data-driven instruments and tools they can harness to make more informed insights about their client's brand, delivering superior strategic output,” she told LBB.
“In doing so, we enable our clients' brands via their creativity investments to outperform the Australian marketplace on financial metrics."
Data revealed that over five years, the ASX200 saw 16% growth, while the top Creative Capital brands in Australia achieved an impressive 163% return.
Brands with higher Creative Capital not only perform better financially but also connect more effectively with consumers, with high-performing brands recording 1.2 times higher consumer advocacy, 1.4 times more brand love, and 1.1 times greater pricing power compared to their peers.
Michael Sussman, PhD, chief product officer of BAV, echoed the sentiment that creativity is the driving force behind income growth, surpassing other brand fundamentals like trust, innovation, purpose, and status.
"Creative brands drive incrementally greater consumer interest, positive attitudes, and proactive and engaging consumer behaviour," Michael said.
While some other companies have rolled out similar indices aiming to quantify and ultimately monetise creativity, WPP hopes their index can provide the best value to clients.
Katie Rigg-Smith said, “At WPP, creativity sits at the heart of everything we do as the creative transformation company.”
This index is poised to become a valuable resource for marketers, helping them navigate the evolving landscape of consumer engagement and financial performance through the power of creativity.
