MAM
For those Cupid struck, and didn’t, JWT sees a market
MUMBAI: Lovers around the world may be celebrating Cupid’s annual visit today 14 February. However, a new study conducted by J. Walter Thompson uncovers that in the US and UK all is not as comfy and cozy between the sheets.
If time were no object, 44 per cent of American and British men would like to have more passionate sex.
Bad news, lads: It turns out that there’s one thing that would make women’s hearts go pitter-patter. Alas it’s not spending more time in the bedroom with you. American and British women agreed (45 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively) that the one thing they would like most to do more, if they only had the time is … read.
However, there is a glimmer of hope for sexually frustrated men. A sizeable minority of women in both countries (30 per cent Americans and 37 per cent Britons) would like to engage in passionate sex more often. Moreover, when combining the scores of men and women, the British put spending a day or weekend in the country at the top of their want-to-do list, while the Americans put it second.
JWT Worldwide CEO Bob Jeffrey says, “This JWT study is a part of our ongoing exploration into how people are spending their time. By better understanding how consumers are allocating their time, we can create ideas that are worthy of it. We are anthropologists first, and advertising people second.”
The study surveyed a random and representative sample of 1,003 Americans and 1,005 Britons to get their perspective on time. Conducted online by Market Probe International during the second week of January, the research has a margin of error of less than 3.2 per cent.
The Intimates: The survey also found that people who are most interested in having passionate sex and cuddling with loved ones more routinely — what JWT calls the “Intimates” — are the very same ones who are already most engaged in those activities. These people are also more likely than others to term themselves ‘Time Poor’ and also ‘Cash Poor.’
Jeffrey says, “The Intimates are of real interest to us as marketers because these are the men and women who have a real appetite for physical and emotional interaction and who have the greatest sense of being short-changed. This represents a real opportunity for companies able to relieve their frustrations and make these consumers feel they’re getting more for their time and money.”
Time Wallet: To find out how people would allocate extra time if it became available, JWT provided an imaginary Time Wallet containing $1,000 or 1000 pounds with each dollar or pound being equal to one minute’s time. Once again, the Intimates stood apart from the rest of their national samples. In the US, the Intimates would devote $139 (i.e., 139 minutes) to having passionate sex the following week, significantly higher than the $83 the overall U.S. sample would spend on that activity.
The situation was similar in the UK, with Intimates earmarking a total of pounds 114 to the cause of passionate sex, compared with just pounds 70 allocated to that purpose, on average, by their national sample as a whole.
MAM
India wins big at the 2025 Global Best of the Best Effie Awards
The Womb and McCann India take home Global Grand Effies, putting Indian advertising on the world map
MUMBAI: Indian advertising just had its moment. At the 2025 Global Best of the Best Effie Awards, the most rigorous test of marketing effectiveness on the planet, two Indian agencies beat out campaigns from over 130 markets to claim Global Grand Effies, the sport’s equivalent of a world championship medal.
The Womb won for Piramal Finance with a campaign called “NEEYAT: India’s Real Credit Score,” a purpose-led push that took direct aim at systemic bias in the credit sector and reframed how creditworthiness is measured. McCann India won for ESAF Small Finance Bank with “Saving Her Savings,” a campaign centred on financial inclusion for marginalised women. Both wins came from a shortlist of 47 contenders, all of whom had already won gold or grand prizes in their home markets. Only 11 Global Grand Effies were handed out across seven markets. India got two.
The highest honour of the night, the Iridium Effie, awarded to the single most effective marketing campaign in the world, went to eos Products and Mischief @ No Fixed Address for “Women’s Shave.” Remarkably, it was their second consecutive year taking the top prize.
Other global winners included Oreo and Mondelez International for “Oreo Codes” in commerce and shopper marketing, Flamin’ Hot and PepsiCo for “Poker Face” in experiential marketing, and ALDI Australia for “Shop ALDI First” in retail.
The Best of the Best is no ordinary awards show. Entry is restricted to campaigns that have already won a gold or grand Effie at a national level, making it, in effect, a champions’ league of marketing effectiveness. Indian agencies are no longer just brilliant at cracking local markets. They are now setting the global standard.
The world’s best advertisers had better start paying attention.
