New research carried out for Ad Net Zero Ireland shows that strong TV advertising creative maintains its effectiveness for years after without significant decline, challenging long-held industry assumptions about creative “wear-out”.
The study, titled “The Sustain/Ability Gain: How Impactful Creative Can Take You Further with Less,” analysed 162 TV campaigns aired in Ireland between January 2022 and January 2025 using neuroscience methods and behavioural psychology frameworks. The research provides the first localised data on creative longevity in the Irish market and offers guidance for reducing advertising’s carbon footprint while maintaining campaign effectiveness.
The report is a collaboration between Ad Net Zero Ireland and a collection of trade bodies made up of IAPI, AAI, MII, CPI, and IAB Ireland and “reflects the shared commitment of the sector to act decisively on climate and sustainability.”
Developed by Havas Media, WPP Media and Futureproof Insights with robust Irish quantitative and qualitative data supplied by Amarach, the research “provides actionable insights that will empower advertisers, agencies, and media owners to reduce emissions from media planning and buying while strengthening creative effectiveness.”
It also aligns with the global Ad Net Zero 5-Point Action Plan, particularly Action 3, which focuses on reducing the carbon impact of media choices, and adapts it to the unique realities of the Irish market.
The research found that campaign performance remained steady across all lifecycle stages, from under six weeks to more than three years post-launch, with no evidence of decline. The research indicated that well-crafted creative delivered consistent impact scores regardless of campaign age or heavy exposure levels, contradicting the widespread belief that high media weight accelerates creative fatigue.
“The assumption that creative inevitably wears out over time or with high media weight is not supported by the evidence presented in this report,” the study concluded.
The pattern held true across multiple product categories, from fast-moving consumer goods to financial services, utilities and public sector advertising. Older campaigns in traditionally less emotional categories like utilities and public sector often matched or exceeded the performance of newer campaigns in more commercially aggressive sectors, according to the research.
Media Weight Shows No Erosion Effect
Researchers tested campaigns at varying media weights, including levels exceeding 100 television ratings points per week that media planners typically avoid due to wear-out concerns. The data showed no systematic decline in creative effectiveness at high exposure levels. Performance remained stable and in some cases improved across key outcomes, including engagement, memorisation and purchase intent.
“High media weight does not diminish creative effectiveness; well-crafted assets thrive under scale,” the report stated.
Neuroscience Reveals Success Factors
Using electroencephalography and eye-tracking technology, researchers identified critical drivers of sustained effectiveness. The study examined how 600-plus participants’ brains processed advertising content during simulated TV viewing experiences, capturing both conscious and unconscious responses.
Simpler, more clearly structured creative consistently outperformed complex executions across all key outcomes. Lower cognitive load enhanced attention, memorability and behavioural outcomes, while excessive complexity impaired memory encoding and weakened behavioural response, the research found.
High audience engagement proved essential, serving as the gateway to memory formation and behavioural change. Without sustained attention, advertising failed to build mental availability or influence future behaviour, according to the research.
Emotional resonance supported effectiveness but only when paired with clarity and structure. Ads combining moderate to high emotional intensity with strong memorisation scores and clear brand linkage delivered the strongest outcomes. High emotion without structural clarity, meanwhile, produced weaker downstream results.
Sustainability Implications
Reusing effective creative assets rather than continually producing new campaigns can extend return on investment, reduce production-related emissions and allow media planners to support fewer, stronger assets more confidently. The practice also helps address resource waste, as industry data suggests some creative assets are never used despite production costs.
“Reusing creative helps lower the overall carbon output of your brand and ensures its impact maximizes return,” according to Jill McGrath, CEO of TAM Ireland, in the report’s foreword.
Practical Guidance for Advertisers
The research also offers a six-point checklist for brands considering creative reuse, including assessments of brand consistency, market relevance, performance data, legal clearances, adaptation costs and competitive landscape.
The research’s authors recommend brands explore iterative updates involving subtle changes to visuals, messaging or calls to action rather than wholesale creative replacement. They emphasise that the goal is not to run identical creative indefinitely but to capitalise on existing equity while maintaining freshness.
Future Research Directions
Researchers identified several areas for future investigation, including cross-media wear-out studies extending beyond TV to digital and social platforms, analysis of different media scheduling strategies and their effects on creative effectiveness and carbon emissions, and assessment of personalised versus standardised creative assets.
The scope of the current research was limited to TV due to availability of information on TV ratings, air-time and creative executions. By sharing these findings, Ad Net Zero Ireland hopes to stimulate further discussion and research on sustainability in media.
Outlining the methodology, Kerrie Patten, Havas Media said, “By partnering with Future Proof Insights and Amárach Research and combining neuroscience tools like EEG and Eye Tracking with large-scale behavioural psychology research, this study goes beyond self-reported measurement approaches, to capture both conscious and unconscious responses to advertising. The result is one of the most robust and scientifically rigorous analyses of wear out and advertising effectiveness ever undertaken in the Irish market”.
Chris Cashen, WPP Media added “We urge every professional in Irish commercial creative sector to engage with this research. It’s a topic and subject that there has been a huge deficit of Irish data, and now we have the most robust study we could bring to brands and agencies alike. We are usually asking for practices to change, but now we have validated that continuing long term work that delivers is best for brands but also for sustainability.”
“This report is a vital step forward for our industry. The climate crisis demands urgent action, and our sector has a central role to play in driving positive change. By bringing Irish-specific data and insights to the table, we are providing the tools needed to make informed, impactful decisions – ensuring our industry is part of the solution,” concluded Siobhan Masterson, CEO of IAPI.
