Perspectives
Advertisers are increasingly reliant on pre-testing to guide them on the long road to ad effectiveness, yet this has inadvertently, and ironically, weakened the creativity that powers greatest, and most effective, ad campaigns. While most advertisers will agree that optimising creative is incredibly valuable, it shouldn't come at the expense of creativity.
Katie Warwick, Partner at insights agency Hall & Partners, examines how we got here. From demand for short term performance metrics, through the availability of fast and simplistic one number scores and traditional rational persuasion models, creativity is being stifled, hindering innovation and long-term brand growth.
As marketers drive faster down the road to delivering short term results, creativity has become roadkill.
The mere mention of pre-testing can make even the most confident of creatives break out in sweat. It is perceived as a high-stakes exercise where creative ideas subject to pass or fail verdicts based on consumer feedback.
For decades researchers have felt the sting of blame. Yet the reality is more nuanced. Too often, pre-tests adopt a ‘one-size’ fits all approach based on algorithms, one number black box scores, and rational persuasion models that too often stifle innovation, hinder creativity and effectiveness.
It is time to reframe pre-testing as an opportunity for iterative learning rather than a judgment day for creativity. If we can do this, we can allow creativity to flourish in a way that will have a profound impact on long-term brand growth.
To get the best out of measuring the effectiveness of campaigns we must:
Fight to give consumers a seat at the table
Incorporating consumer insights into creative development is essential. They balance the perspectives of creative teams, the business and other stakeholders, providing a diverse and ‘real world’ view that can act as a guide for how their audiences are engaging with the brand communication.
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s research emphasises the importance of consumer insights to help marketers understand how advertising contributes to brand perceptions and loyalty. This underscores the importance of consumer input in predicting advertising effectiveness accurately. At the same time the research acknowledges that non-traditional pre-testing methods offer promise.
Recognise that not all tests are the same
There is more than one way to develop and evaluate creative work. Traditional pre-testing approaches can homogenise advertising output. The pressure to achieve high scores or pass the test can often lead to formulaic ads, characterised by ubiquitous TikTok trends and predictable ‘new news’ narratives. This trend reflects a broader phenomenon of converging on familiar and generic content driven by the quest for optimisation. While optimisation is valuable, it should never come at the expense of creativity.
Rather than chasing high scores, pre-testing research should focus on nurturing creativity, pushing boundaries – always with the strategic intent in mind.
Vignettes and poignant narratives may not always score highly in traditional tests, but they have the power to captivate audiences when executed well. Good creative development research can help to evolve them, stretch them, and push great ideas further.
Similarly, every new product launch or campaign will have its own objectives and unique strategy. It simply makes sense that customising how to test this must be bespoke rather than standardised.
Rather than chasing high scores, pre-testing research should focus on nurturing creativity, pushing boundaries – always with the strategic intent in mind.
Prioritise quality over conformity
Creativity thrives when researchers work with brands and their agency partners to break away from the established patterns of sourcing consumer insights. By embracing risk-taking instead of reinforcing conformity and favouring safe choices over ground-breaking ideas, the consumer perspective can help creative ideas to grow and develop.
Aligning the right methodology to the right stage of the creative development process to ensure we gain the best quality insight possible to develop and optimise is key.
It is notable that early pre-testing of animations or story boards can kill great ideas before the magic has been allowed to happen, particularly when the research tries to distil complex insights into a rigid one number score. This doesn’t help great creative ideas to grow and develop and it makes it near impossible for advertisers to derive any meaningful guidance on where and how to evolve.
Great creative deserves to be measured by humans
While only a few ads are creative and effective – and the two are not mutually exclusive – it is clear that good creative is one of marketing’s best secret weapons to supercharge brand growth.
It deserves to be measured properly and, critically, by researchers who use real human insights rather than synthetic data, which is only as reliable as the human thinking it is based on.
There is still a vital role for pre-testing creative, but it's time for a reset. The research industry needs to promote the importance of robust pre-testing methodologies that champion innovation and creativity, rather than stifling it. In the same way that creatives are cautious about taking the human element away from creative development, we must also be wary of taking it out of measurement.
By challenging the shortcut culture and embracing creativity, research can truly elevate the standard of advertising and brands can ensure that they develop impactful campaigns that ensure their long-term survival.
6 key takeaways for marketers
Incorporate consumer insights early – Integrate consumer feedback early in the creative development process to ensure diverse, real-world perspectives that help guide the creation of great content. This approach helps balance the viewpoints of creative teams and business stakeholders, making the final product more resonant with the target audience.
Utilise bespoke testing methods – Move away from one-size-fits-all pre-testing approaches. Instead, employ methods of testing methods tailored to the specific objectives and strategies of each ad or campaign. This customisation can prevent the homogenisation of ad content and foster more creative, innovative and engaging advertising.
Prioritise creativity over high scores – Shift the focus from achieving high pre-test scores to nurturing and pushing the boundaries of creativity. Recognise that salient vignettes and unique narratives, even if they don't score highly in traditional testing, can captivate audiences and contribute to long-term brand growth when executed well – research plays a key role in helping us to achieve this.
Embrace a brave culture – Encourage collaboration between researchers, brands, and agency partners to break away from safe, conformist choices. Emphasise quality and innovative risk-taking over conformity, allowing creative ideas to grow and develop without being prematurely judged or stifled by oversimplified rigid metrics.
How our brand growth framework unlocks the power of creativity
When Mike Hall founded Hall & Partners 32 years ago, having started his career in media planning, he was passionate about bringing creative strategies to life. He was also curious about how brands could unlock the power of creativity to build long term brand growth alongside the short term goals. From the outset he wanted to ensure that any ad testing did not snuff the very creativity that would ensure brands created long-lasting powerful memory structures that would ensure they continued to be desired by consumers.
We focus on brand growth, measuring the impact associated with any advertising is fundamental to our approach. Typical approaches measure whether campaign is “good” rather than whether it achieves what it set out to do & drives desired behaviours – from the very start we have been different.
He created the bespoke Strategic Growth Framework that Hall & Partners still uses today. The framework is informed by behavioral economics and the latest in social science – resulting in a proven process that allows our clients to develop communications that can drive brand and business growth
This flexible and highly tailored approach to research works on the principles that:
- Healthy, strong brands must be seen. This awareness and salience should be distinctive and build mental availability.
- That communications should also make consumers feel something if they are to evoke a strong emotional connection. They must pay attention to authenticity and relevance, particular to the real world that people are living in.
- They must also make people think about the brand by conveying meaningful brand benefits.
- Ultimately, brands must drive some sort of action or behaviour. Ultimately, brands must drive some sort of action or behaviour. In order to grow your brand, you ultimately need people to do something – to choose your brand, recommend your brand or at least interact with it.
This framework was developed with both media planners and advertisers. It ensures that research delivers useful and impactful insights so that brands can create relevant and emotionally engaging human connections over time. We think this is the most effective way to drive growth.
Creativity matters
High-performing creatively awarded campaigns are eight times more effective than low-performing campaigns in terms of the number of business effects they generate, and almost 16 more times more likely to bring major profitability growth - Source: IPA Databank, 2008-2018 creatively awarded cases.
The IPA Effectiveness analysis has deeply rooted the knowledge that the most powerful and effective advertising campaigns are driven by creativity to grow brand strength and, ultimately, drive business growth.
Sadly much of the communications consumers are exposed to today has moved even further away from being the sort of highly creative and emotionally engaging human stories that appeal and engage consumers; and successfully promote longer term brand building.
