The study was published by Meta, the tech company which owns Facebook and Instagram, and also by analytics provider CreativeX, and research firm Kantar.
Why creative effectiveness matters
Creative is proven to be a critical driver of advertising effectiveness. While it requires unique and compelling ideas linked to deep insights, top-performing creative work does have various common traits.
Four creative “levers”
The study defined effectiveness as incremental sales volume per impression, impact on sales and how ads impacted brand equity, which then drove sales. Based on analysis of 20 creative “levers” and over 56,000 ads, it outlined four key creative contributors to positive results:
1. Human connection
- Two of the four elements were related to “intimacy”. The first is described as a “human vibe”. Most important among the creative features here was the presence of a single person (as they are visually larger, clearer and more in focus) and eye contact.
- Ads that embraced this creative principle registered 81% greater effectiveness in the short term and 51% in the long term.
- On average, however, 69% of the campaigns assessed by the study did not leverage human connection while 31% did.
2. Integrating brand and product
- The second outsized creative contributor identified by the report was seamlessly “integrating brand and product.”
- Demonstrations of this idea in action are humans interacting with a product, close-ups of a product and packaging, and integrating logos and brands into the body of creative.
- Effectiveness was 46% higher in the short term, and 45% in the long term, from such creative features – but only 36% of analysed campaigns employed this approach.
3. Visual dynamism
- Two “immediacy” levers were outlined by the research. The first was visual dynamism, such as the use of animated superimposed creative elements like text and graphics.
- Quick pacing and shot changes – with four different scenes in the opening six seconds of an ad, for example – were also found to be impactful.
- This approach yielded 74% higher effectiveness in the short term and 73% in the long term, but average adoption levels only stood at 37% for the campaigns studied.
4. Distinctive atmosphere
- The semiotics of storytelling, including a distinctive colour palette and music, were important, as they were associated with a “distinctive atmosphere”.
- Of the top four drivers of creative success, this element saw the highest average adoption rate, featuring in 53% of campaigns on average.
- This approach generated 67% higher short-term effectiveness, moderating to 19% in the long term.
About the study
Source: warc.com
