‘Non-Working’ Can Work Wonders

‘Non-working’. Ten words that are among the most harmful in marketing.

Ten words that reinforce the perception among CFOs and CEOs that creativity is not a serious business, that it doesn’t truly bring value, and that it’s not accretive for growth.

As a creative industry that prides itself on developing compelling narratives to enhance brand perceptions, we’ve done a very poor job at our own branding.

No wonder that in times of crisis, creative budgets are the first to be cut. If it’s ‘non-working’, it’s also probably deemed non-essential, right?

I’m not sure how we allowed our industry to be associated with the ‘non-working’ label, it’s
like saying that to cure someone, what matters is where you put the syringe, not what’s inside.

Beyond hurting our pride (which we can get over), this is harming brands and clients for three key reasons.

1 - Cost of Dull

A 2024 study by System 1, building on foundational work from Adam Morgan and Peter Field, showed that it costs significantly more to achieve the same business impact with a dull ad than with an interesting one. An interesting ad is more effective and memorable, so its media spend goes further. Said differently, you need to spend more when you invest in an ordinary ad just to get the same results.

Overall, to achieve the same predicted results as non-dull ads, brands running extremely dull ads would need to invest an additional $189 billion. That’s considerably more than the entire annual US TV advertising spend.

Isn’t it interesting that ‘non-working’ can make ‘working’ cost less?

2 - Fame Campaigns are the Most Effective

Looking at the other end of the ad spectrum, fame-driving campaigns outperform others across all business metrics, including sales, market share, price sensitivity, penetration, and profit, as demonstrated by Peter Field and Les Binet in ‘The Long and Short of It’.

Fame sits at the top of the creative ladder with enduring campaigns like ‘Real Beauty’ from Dove, ‘Think Different’ from Apple, and ‘It Has to Be Heinz’. This type of work not only creates brand awareness but also builds word-of-mouth advocacy and earned media for the brand - getting it talked about.

It’s the kind of work that makes your brand popular and an integral part of cultural fabric.

In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, especially with the rise of social media where most of the spending is directed (over $250 billion in 2025 according to WARC), having creative work that gets talked about organically across platforms and generations is going to be more crucial than ever.

Isn’t it amusing that ‘non-working’ can make ‘working’ even more effective?

3 - Good Creative is Less Prone to Wear Out

In the age of generative AI, where content can be created rapidly and inexpensively, why would you spend more on ‘non-working’? Why not just produce a lot of generative AI content and hope something catches on?

While it might be tempting, it’s not effective.

According to System 1, the most boring ads (those in the one-Star and two-Star categories) don’t improve the longer they run, whereas more interesting ones (four or five stars) can be effective for years, sometimes even increasing their ratings over time. This underscores the importance of developing strong brand-building content that drives mental availability rather than producing wallpaper content that’s either very quickly forgotten or often even unnoticed.

Not only do great ads resist wear-out, but according to Mark Ritson, they also transcend cultural constraints across different markets and media because they draw on universal insights that resonate across cultures.

Isn’t it ironic that ‘non-working’ makes ‘working’ last longer and go further?

When you examine the evidence, labelling creative outcomes as ‘non-working’ is senseless, particularly because, according to Kantar in partnership with WARC, creative and media contribute equally to effectiveness.

In fact, there is only bad creative work that doesn’t work and good creative work that works wonders. So, for everyone’s sake, let’s stop calling creative outcomes ‘non working’, as this is not only inaccurate but also damaging. It's damaging for our clients, for the brands, and for the talents who strive to produce work that works, not something deemed ‘non-working’.

Simply put, what will truly work is a great creative strategy combined with a great media strategy. Anything less will indeed be ‘non-working.’