WARC Advisory, in collaboration with global communications firm Edelman, has released a new white paper titled “Beyond the Buzz: Examining the Effectiveness of Earned Media.” This report explores how the prevalence of digital media and “advertising pollution” has positioned Earned Media as a key player in enhancing both creativity and effectiveness in marketing.
Over the past two decades, the digital cultural shift has transformed how Earned Media is integrated into the marketing mix. The report suggests that Earned Media serves as a powerful tool for creatively connecting brands with customers, prompting marketers to reassess the balance between Earned, Paid, and Owned media strategies.
A major finding of the white paper reveals that culturally relevant creative work significantly outperforms non-culturally relevant campaigns in terms of profit, sales, and market share. This underscores Earned Media’s ability to forge connections at scale, driving brand recognition. Additionally, culturally salient campaigns extend budget efficiency; the report shows that the “Halo Effect” results in increased sales for a brand’s other products, with culturally relevant campaigns generating “halo effects” that are 11 percentage points larger than those from less relevant campaigns.
Brent Nelsen, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, Edelman, says: “Earned Media uses cultural saliency to cut through the noise and drive business effects. Earned’s unique ability to take action in culture – participating in, creating, and changing culture – enables brands to drive greater levels of brand trust through actions that drive greater levels of growth.”
The white paper discusses how brands are navigating an era of digital coexistence. While traditional media like TV remains valuable, social media has surpassed paid search to become the largest advertising channel globally, according to the report.
WARC Media forecasts that global social media ad spend will reach $247.3 billion in 2024, marking a 14.3% increase year-on-year. Additionally, the average time spent on social platforms has grown to over 2.5 hours daily—up 50% since 2014—while worldwide user numbers on these platforms have surged by 169% during the same period.
Data analysis from WARC’s global rankings reveals that the top marketing campaigns, recognized for their creativity and effectiveness, heavily utilize Earned Media strategies. Notably, 71% of the most awarded campaigns incorporated PR value, compared to just 29% of all awarded campaigns. This trend is also evident in other tactics associated with Earned Media, such as Word-of-Mouth and Advocacy.
In a time when the environments we frequent are flooded with low-quality advertising, the analysis indicates this has led to a phenomenon of “communications pollution.” As a result, it’s increasingly challenging for messages to capture the attention necessary for brand growth. Currently, 63% of Americans, 63% of UK Gen Z, and one-third of the global population use ad blockers. This trend is evident across various channels, including podcasts, streaming services, and live TV.
Key takeaways from “Beyond the Buzz: Examining the Effectiveness of Earned Media” include:
Shifting Hierarchies of Paid, Owned, and Earned
With the digital cultural transformation of the past two decades, marketers must reevaluate how they balance activities across Earned, Paid, and Owned media.
Maximize Effectiveness with The 5 Rs of Earned
To harness “Earned Effectiveness” in an interconnected world, brands should leverage the various spaces where customers engage. “The 5 Rs of Earned”—Reach, Relevance, Reputation, Response, and Revenue—identify essential objectives for Earned campaigns, helping brands achieve widespread visibility and build trust.
Connect Culture with Creativity for Top Results
As the lines between media, message, culture, and commerce blur, there are outstanding examples of effectiveness driven by earned creativity. The white paper showcases best practices in using Earned Media to enhance effectiveness through various case studies.
Beware the “Earned Fallacy”
In today’s landscape, where marketers must pursue every avenue for effectiveness, there is significant potential to leverage Earned Media campaigns. While the report presents strong evidence of Earned Media’s contribution to brand-building and commercial success, many brands are not utilizing it effectively. This gap is termed the “Earned Fallacy,” highlighting how top campaigns in WARC’s Creative Effectiveness Ladder successfully use Earned Media, despite many brands relying on it less effectively at lower levels.
Aditya Kishore, Insight Director, WARC, added: “Earned media offers marketers a way of engaging with their audiences and finding creative ways to stand out in today’s very noisy media landscape. Its ability to participate in cultural trends, and to potentially lead rather than only follow, allows brands unique opportunities to develop connections with their audience.
“This report spells out the media landscape marketers face, and the clear benefits that a well-thought out earned media strategy can offer brands, providing insight for marketers on the benefits of an effective earned media approach.”
