By Rania Robinson, CEO at QuietStorm
Tuesday 28th November 2025
Right now, advertising should be in its golden era.
Brands can reach consumers directly anywhere and at any time. Armed with our deep understanding of who consumers are, what they want, and how they behave, not to mention the vast array of highly sophisticated tools and tech for targeting them, cutting through should be easy.
So why are today’s brands struggling to connect?
We’re falling short because the new tools and tech at our disposal have, ironically, caused us to lose sight of the magic in what we do. In our rush to reduce costs and improve efficiencies, we’ve sacrificed lasting effectiveness at scale on the altar of ‘provable’ performance now. The lure of ‘personalisation’ has led us to overlook the core human principles required to truly connect with each other. This shift to rationality and short-term selling, and away from emotion-led advertising, is putting the future of our industry in jeopardy. Only 6% of ads are proving truly effective in terms of long-term business impact, according to System1.
The industry has become so focused on targeting consumers that it is overlooking the necessity of actually engaging with them. Technology may have evolved beyond recognition, but human beings have not. We still respond to the same emotional triggers that our ancestors did. We’re fundamentally emotional creatures, and there are stacks of scientific evidence supporting that our decisions are driven by feelings, not cold rationality. We respond to human qualities such as honesty, integrity, and humour, and it’s these qualities that drive trust and loyalty in us.
I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise that brand trust has been declining, with a recent PwC report showing only 3 in 10 consumers highly trust companies. As online ads become increasingly targeted and persistent, consumers are switching off in their droves. As Sir John Hegarty has pointed out, digital technology has led to brands' obsession with stalking consumers rather than inspiring them. Whilst there is no doubt AI will unlock huge potential, this isn’t without scepticism, with over half of people contributing to Nielsen research showing discomfort with the increased use of it across media.
To rebuild trust and change negative perceptions of advertising, the industry must refocus on core human and advertising principles that are being increasingly overlooked.
To compete in this cluttered landscape, we need to work harder at entertaining and engaging people and creating an emotional impact. This means addressing our overreliance on short-term sales tactics, which Orlando Wood, founder of the online course Advertising Principles Explained, describes as ‘salesmanship’, and doing more to harness the power of emotion-driven storytelling that builds brand fame—what Wood calls ‘showmanship’.
In a talk presented earlier this year with Orlando Wood, we outlined the key elements of highly effective creative work. These include finding the magic in your product (the human insight at the heart of your brand), using a fluent device, which means an idea that is repeatable, and, last but definitely not least, humour.
The most effective creative work displays all or most of these mechanics. Twix’s “Bears” and Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” are masterclasses in how to put these key elements to work. These are long-running campaigns that centre on a key insight at the heart of the product. They entertain and engage audiences because they are built around a repeatable, innately funny idea.
We’ve also done this with our Haribo “Kid Voices” campaign. A humorous idea that gave us the potential for almost limitless interpretations to suit different countries and cultures all over the world. We started with the human insight that whether you are 18 or 80, we all have an inner child waiting to be let out. Put a pack of Haribo on the table, and everyone – regardless of age – dives in, unleashing their inner child. Instead of writing scripts, we let kids do the talking. We give children the space to be free, creative and inventive. It’s these spontaneous and authentic elements that have made this Haribo campaign so potent, delivering lasting reach and engagement in different global territories for over a decade. The campaign has been such a success that people parody it on social media, doing the advertising for us.
So as we go further into the application of AI, which I’m sure will prove to be an increasingly powerful and necessary tool, let’s ensure we don’t lose sight of the importance of human creativity.
If you missed the brilliant ‘ How to unite creativity and science to unleash the magic’ discussion at the UK Creative Festival check it out here now.
By Rania Robinson, CEO at QuietStorm
Tuesday 28th November 2025
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