- Creative
- 3 min read
The Creative Advantage, Part 2 of 4
The 12x ad: what great creative is actually worth
A brilliant ad can produce twelve times the return of an average one.
Same brand. Similar media weight. Similar budget. Very different result.
That is not agency hype. An analysis led by econometrician Paul Dyson reviewed evidence from around 28,000 global campaigns, including about 7,000 UK campaigns. When the researchers compared different creative executions for the same brand, they found a potential 12x creative ROI multiplier.
In other words, the message you put into the market can change the value of every dollar behind it.
Creative is not the decoration
Creative is often treated as the final layer of a campaign. The audience has been chosen. The channels have been booked. The budget has been approved. Now somebody needs to make it look good.
That thinking gets the order backwards.
A recent NCSolutions analysis of almost 450 consumer-goods campaigns found that creative contributed 49% of incremental sales, ahead of brand factors and the combined media factors of targeting, reach and recency.
| Driver of incremental sales | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Creative | 49% |
| Brand | 21% |
| Media: targeting, reach and recency | 30% |
Creative is not the pretty layer added after the important decisions. It is one of the important decisions.
Great targeting cannot rescue an average message
Modern media platforms can place an ad in front of a highly specific audience at a highly specific moment. That precision matters. But precision only creates the opportunity for attention.
If the creative is irrelevant, confusing or forgettable, better targeting simply helps the wrong message reach the right person more efficiently.
Nielsen's earlier analysis reached the same basic conclusion. Strong creative produced stronger sales lift and relied less heavily on media to carry the result. Weak creative produced weak sales lift, even when the campaign had media support.
Media buys the moment. Creative decides what happens inside it.
The hidden cost of playing it safe
Average creative rarely looks like a disaster in the approval meeting. It looks sensible. Everyone understands it. Nobody objects. The logo is large and every product feature is included.
Then it enters a feed full of people who were not waiting to see it.
Safe creative can be expensive because the media spend continues whether the idea earns attention or not. A weak ad does not only underperform. It reduces the return on the planning, targeting and placement attached to it.
The goal is not to be different for the sake of it. The goal is to be more useful, more relevant or more memorable to the audience you need to move.
Invest in the multiplier
A strong campaign still needs smart media. It needs appropriate reach, timing and context. But when the creative can change ROI by a factor of twelve, it deserves time, testing and a serious share of the campaign investment.
Before increasing the media budget, ask a harder question: is the idea strong enough to multiply it?
The next post examines the most common reason advertising fails that test. Most ads begin with what the advertiser wants to say rather than what the audience needs to hear.
Next in the series
Your Customers Don't Care About Your Business.
AdaptAd combines audience-led creative with precise media planning so the right message reaches the right person and earns the attention it needs. Talk to us at adaptad.com.au or email hello@adaptad.com.au.
References
Thinkbox, The Drivers of Profitability: https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/thinkbox-research/the-drivers-of-profitability
MarketingCharts, Creative's Still the Biggest Driver of Sales: https://www.marketingcharts.com/advertising-trends-230468
Nielsen, When It Comes to Advertising Effectiveness, What Is Key?: https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2017/when-it-comes-to-advertising-effectiveness-what-is-key/
