The Cure for Dull Advertising: New Research Reveals What Drives Creativity that Actually Works

Apr. 27, 2026

As part of the wider Cost of Dull collaboration, System1, the Creative Effectiveness Platform, has partnered with eatbigfish, Uncensored CMO, Peter Field, the IPA, and Amplified to uncover what separates effective creativity from work that leaves no emotional or commercial impact across both long and short formats.

Building on the earlier whitepaper, The Extraordinary Cost of Dull, this new report moves from diagnosis to prescription. Drawing on the effectiveness research of Orlando Wood, Chief Creative Officer at System1, it identifies the role of salesmanship and showmanship in creating advertising that engages and drives results.

The cost of getting it wrong is significant. System1 estimates that dull creativity, defined as work that generates no emotional response, is costing brands an additional $189 billion in media spend to achieve the same commercial impact as emotionally engaging campaigns.

Using its Test Your Ad platform, System1 measures audience emotional response, including happiness, surprise, fear, disgust and anger, and links these to long-term effectiveness through its Star Rating and short-term impact through its Spike Rating. At the centre of the issue is neutrality, the absence of emotion. In testing, neutrality is what dull looks like and it delivers no short- or long-term commercial effect. If it makes people feel nothing, it does nothing.

New findings include:

• 4 in 5 people cannot explain why they feel nothing, proving why measuring emotion matters more than claimed responses
• Category shapes dull, with business services, home and garden and car services lagging, while candy, desserts and convenience meals lead on emotion
• Showmanship features drive feeling while salesmanship alone falls flat, with storytelling, drama and music outperforming voiceover, on-screen text and testimonials
• Longer formats enable storytelling and drama, while shorter formats rely on melody and consistently used fluent devices like characters, taglines and jingles to create emotion quickly
• Humour is the most consistent antidote to dull across short, medium and long formats

 Orlando Wood, Chief Creative Officer at System1, said:

“Dull advertising leaves little trace. Our findings make clear that effectiveness comes from showmanship. It's story, drama and music that get you noticed, remembered and - ultimately - bought.” 

 

Adam Morgan, founder of eatbigfish, said:

“The Anti-Dull Dial was designed to help brands break category conventions. Emotion, drama and storytelling are a key component of that, and this report shows how to turn those principles into creative that drives real impact.”

 

Jon Evans, founder and host of Uncensored CMO, said:

“I speak to the least dull brands in the industry every day. What makes them different? They’re not guessing. They’re using insight, emotion and creative fundamentals. This report shows how to cut through the sameness.”