The world’s most successful marketers have a secret-ish system that powers their success

Hullo.

Two announcements:

1. Cannes Lions confirmed ABInbev as its 2026 Creative Marketer of the Year - the first company in history to be honoured with the award for a third time.

2. Effies have just announced Kraft Heinz as the US’ Most Effective Marketers.

What links the two?

“𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢” - 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘀, 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿, 𝗔𝗕 𝗜𝗻𝗕𝗲𝘃

To perform at this level you can’t just roll the dice and hope you have just the right mix, at the right time, of people, brands and operating environment to deliver creative effectiveness. You need a more systematic approach. Something more repeatable, more predictable, more scalable.

Both ABInBev and Kraft Heinz use a bespoke version of the Creative Ladder System (which I describe in detail HERE) to improve their ‘hit rate’ of excellence. Kraft Heinz call theirs the 'ACE Scale', while AB InBev went with the 'Creative Spectrum' (both proving that a boring name doesn’t have to get in the way of success)

I’ve been working with Creative Ladder systems for over a decade, first as leader of the Contagious team that built the original one for Heineken in 2014, and then for the likes of PepsiCo, Mars and, yes, Kraft Heinz. The most effective implementations tend to follow four stages:

𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 – develop a bespoke Creative Ladder, supported by a practical playbook and hands-on workshops that bring it to life.

𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 – make the system visible, memorable and reinforced through regular exposure to inspiring external examples.

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 – embed practical rituals that improve output. For example a ‘Creative Council’ to review finished outputs or a ‘BrainTrust’ to strengthen work in progress

𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 – reward the behaviours and outputs we want to encourage, while being careful not to only reward success but also the ‘right kind’ of failures.

Of course, there are plenty of creativity systems available. But if you're going to invest the effort, why not use the one proven by the world's most successful marketers?

Wherever you are on the journey, we can help - currently my team are creating a Creative Ladder system from scratch for one client, while refreshing the system of another who’s used theirs for many years.

And speaking of my team, we've created a home for all the Creative Ladder stuff I keep wanging on about. Very soon you’ll hear more from us at www.thecreativeexcellencecompany.com

Another boring name with (hopefully) great results.