If we believe in advertising's effectiveness, we need to be prepared to prove it

Good evening, everyone.

It is a real honour to be here tonight at the prestigious IPA Effectiveness Awards.

As Chair of Judges, I have had the privilege of seeing some truly outstanding examples of what happens when great creativity is matched with clear commercial purpose.

And what makes these awards so special is that these aren’t simply campaigns that have made a splash. They have changed minds, shaped behaviour, delivered commercial payback and, ultimately, changed the fortunes of the businesses and non-profit organisations behind the brands.

So, to everyone on this shortlist: you should be incredibly proud to be here.

Because to make it into this room, your work has had to stand up to the scrutiny, the challenge and the debate of some of the most esteemed minds in our profession.

You have demonstrated that the work is brilliant, but also effective.

And when we looked across the papers, we saw some clear principles behind that.

First: Effectiveness is a team sport

I recently came across a simple but powerful articulation of this from Dave Trott:

It's not enough to make a great ad if nobody sees it. Media has to put it in the right place, at the right time, so that it gets noticed.

It's no good creating brilliant work if the client doesn't buy it. Account handling has a role to play in bringing the client with us.

And before all of that, we need the right brief. Strategy has to make sure we're solving the right business problem in the first place.

The point is great advertising is never just about one department, one person or one brilliant idea. Effectiveness should be embedded throughout the process. From which the whole is then greater than the sum of its parts.

Second: Have the courage to change the narrative

The strongest marketing doesn't simply accept the way a category has always been understood.

It asks: what if?

What if we looked at the problem differently? Challenged the assumptions? Put the customer at the centre?

Sometimes the most powerful thing marketing can do is change the question.

Third: Build trust

The most effective marketing builds something that lasts.

Trust between brands and consumers. Trust between agencies and clients. And trust within organisations that marketing can genuinely deliver growth.

That doesn't happen through one campaign. It happens through consistency, distinctive ideas and proving, time and again, that what we do makes a long-term difference.

These aren't just advertising ideas anymore. They become business assets.

Fourth: Prove the value

To enable businesses to make a choice, back an idea and challenge convention, we need to make the case for marketing beyond the marketing department.

As Cressida, who chairs the IPA's Effectiveness Leadership Group, says, advertising investment ultimately depends on the confidence of people beyond the marketing department, and that creativity can sometimes struggle in those conversations because its value isn't always easy to express in the language of P&L.

That's exactly why these awards matter.

They give us something incredibly valuable: Proof.

This proof allows us to make marketing value tangible for the boardroom.

But those numbers only exist because clients were prepared to share them.

And this is where I want to set my fellow client leaders a challenge:

Help your agencies enter the IPA Effectiveness Awards in 2028.

Share the evidence. Share the data.

The IPA tells me the biggest reason potential entries don’t make it into the competition is lack of client approval, often because key data cannot be included.

So, let's not be the barrier. If we believe in the effectiveness of advertising, we need to be prepared to prove it.

And finally, there's one last thing I don't want us to lose sight of:

The human magic

For all the change happening around us, there is something precious about what this industry does.

We imagine new possibilities. We find human insights. We turn them into ideas. We make people feel something. And sometimes we make them laugh.

That human ability to find a new way of seeing the world is one of the great strengths of our industry.

And that is what I have taken away most from judging these awards. The best work combines the rigour of effectiveness with the power of creativity. It understands the business problem but never loses sight of people. It delivers the numbers, but gives people something they want to see, hear, feel or remember.

So, let's keep making the case for investment.

Let's bring marketing into the heart of business decision-making. And let's keep backing the creativity, insight, bravery and humanity that make our industry so valuable.

To every winner, and everyone behind the work we're celebrating tonight, thank you for reminding us what advertising can do when it is truly effective.

Here’s to you. Have a wonderful evening.

Suzanne Quinn is UK Customer Director at Tesco and Chair of Judges for the 2026 IPA Effectiveness Awards. All winning case studies are available to download from the IPA website or from WARC.

The IPA Effectiveness Awards are sponsored by Analytic Partners, System1, Thinkbox and WARC.

Be among the first to hear from the team behind this year’s Grand Prix-winning IPA Effectiveness Awards case at the IPA Effectiveness Conference on 7 October

 

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