We’re a Cake. You Biscuit Says @JaffaCakes

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

Jaffa Cakes’ new comedic campaign has achieved the highest scores yet for long-term commercial effectiveness in Out-of-Home advertising, according to System1, the Creative Effectiveness Platform that harnesses the power of emotion to drive growth for the world’s leading brands.   

“We’re a cake” You Biscuit” scored an exceptional 5.0 Stars, while “Clue’s On the Box” scored 4.9 Stars. System1 also tested Global Street Art’s painted version in Stockport, which achieved 4.7 Stars amongst a nationally representative sample and 5.1 Stars amongst a Stockport audience.

System1’s Star Rating provides ads with a score of 1.0 to 5.9 Stars based on long-term brand-building potential.

Andrew Tindall, Senior Vice President Global Partnerships, System1 told us “A first-class example of how to build brand on one of the last standing truly broad-reach mediums, out of home. Playing off a long-standing idea that’s come from the consumer in a simple, emotional and visual way. Impressive.”

The scores mean the creatives perform toe-to-toe with some of the most effective TV advertising. Though OOH performs in line with the TV norm for Star-Rating, outdoor ads usually only attract an average of two seconds of attention, and only 44% brand recall within that time, 20% less than UK TV campaigns. Tested in real-life contexts, Jaffa achieved an exceptional two second brand recall of 88%, double the norm for outdoor campaigns.

Adam Woolf, Marketing Director, McVitie’s said “This campaign is particularly special to us as it taps into Jaffa’s distinctive heritage of boldness and boundary-pushing, while staying true to its classic British humour roots.  We are delighted to see that the light-hearted nature of the campaign is bringing fun and enjoyment to people, with the provocative stance on the cake vs. biscuit debate.”

The creative’s success is attributed to strong distinctive assets, minimal high-impact copy, and large logo placement, all features known to drive brand recognition, as identified by System1 and JCDecaux in their latest research.

System1’s Test Your Ad (TYA) and Test Your Innovation (TYI) solutions quickly predict the short and long-term commercial potential of ads and ideas, giving marketers confidence that their creative concepts will resonate with consumers and drive profitable commercial growth.  Complementing TYA and TYI is Test Your Brand (TYB), which measures the impact of ads and ideas on brand health.  With a database of over 100,000 ads, System1 allows brands to compare their ads against competitors, and System1’s expert guidance helps brands improve the effectiveness of ads and ideas. System1 was founded in 2000 by Founder & President John Kearon and has operations in Europe, North America, Brazil, Singapore, and Australia. 


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