Many people agree that creative awards are one of the best benchmarks of pure creative excellence. Creative awards are motivating and stimulating to creative people who operate for more than just money. They are the tools for an industry to set high standards. For the most part, however, advertisers are unconvinced of the value of creative awards. Some argue that it is not right to judge advertising without considering business results. Many people view creative awards with a great amount of skepticism. In the awards ads are frequently judged on their artistic rather than their selling merits. Some critics express negative opinions about creativity in advertising. They say that creativity is unpredictable and can upset the appearance of stability and predictability.

Then, what is the statistical relationship between award-winning ads and sales? The Leo Burnett Company conducted a unique study of the 200 most-awarded commercials in the world from 1992 and 1993, asking the question: "Do award-winning commercials sell?"

To better understand the results, the procedures of the study need to be mentioned. First, the company established which particular ads had done best at awards ceremonies in 1992 and 1993. They chose the international festivals such as Cannes, Eurobest, and D and AD, as well as national events, such as the British Television Advertising Awards. After defining the subjects for the survey, they started by calling the chief executive and creative directors of the 103 agencies and their clients, who were given questionnaires asking them to define the campaign's objectives, whether they were achieved, and if not, why not.

However, there was a fundamental problem which should not be ignored; no single set of criteria could be applied to judging effectiveness because each commercial had its own goal and standard, from raising sales to image and awareness. Despite this difficulty, the study revealed that 86 percent of the 200 ads were associated with marketplace success, with 117 of 172 commercials backed by statistical objectives and the rest by studies on image-related goals. On top of this finding, three or four were made just for the award ceremonies, and, therefore, they had no real campaign objective such as sales, or awareness. In conclusion, an award-winning ad is more than two-and-a-half times more likely to sell the product than one that is not award-winning. This result seems to show a strong and positive relationship between creative commercials and sales, based on statistical figures, even if the objectives of the commercials are not just sales.