The true beauty of any marketing effort executed on the World Wide Web is the ability to measure the results. Truly, you will know if it was a success or if the campaign failed; there are no secrets.

However, I often times hear of companies blaming the medium (banner ads, search portals, social networks) for the lack of results before taking a critical look at all of the possible causes that impact the final results. While the placements of the ads will impact on the overall campaign results, the creative can make or break the campaign’s success.

Peter Minnium, President of Ipsos Connect, leads the US in helping companies measure and amplify how media, brands, and consumers connect through compelling content and great communication. In a recent Marketing Land article, he explains that quality creative can be the deciding factor in measuring the success of an advertising campaign.

“Great strategy without great creative is like clapping with one hand.” – Peter Minnium

In my blog today, I’m going to outline three areas that quality creative can impact your campaign’s performance.

#1 Engagement

The Power of Creation,” the most comprehensive study of perception and impact of online display creative in the German market analyzed 270 studies and 40,000 survey participants to provide more insights on the effect of quality creative to the engagements of campaigns. They concluded:

“Creative quality is a key driver of the awareness and impact of an ad. Specifically, high-quality creative increases ad viewing time six times (5.8x) and nearly doubles purchase intent (+93%) vs. low-quality creative. In addition, up to half of the probability that an ad will be looked at depends on the creative itself (47.3%).” Read more.

#2 Revenue

A recently published study in Harvard Business Review wanted to correlate the role of the ad in driving revenue. What they discovered was that campaigns which included better quality creative had a direct impact of the sale’s revenue on that campaign. The article explains:

“A euro invested in a highly creative ad campaign had double the sales impact of a euro spent on a non-creative campaign.” Read more.

#3 Brand Recall

Ipsos Connect recently published an article which explored the relationship between creative and the ability for an advertisement to create brand awareness. The article “Who’s Killing Creativity Now?” concluded:

 “75% of an ad’s ability to leave brand-linked memories is due to creative.” Read more

In The End

The goal of every campaign should be three-fold: the right message, placed in the right medium, at the right time. The bottom line? Test various designs, messages, calls to action, and colors to see what will resonate with your clients and buyers. You may be surprised by what you find.

Want more resources on how to develop great ads for your digital campaign? Check out Peter Minnium’s recent post on the “10 Best Practices for Digital Ad Breakthrough.”

If you’d like to learn more about how KeyMedia Solutions can optimize your advertising campaign, click here to talk with us today. Or, download our free whitepaper by clicking the link below to learn how to stay top-of-mind to your customers even after they leave your site.