Insights
· 4 min read
creative is half the result.
Most ad budgets are spent arguing about targeting. The research says the bigger lever is the ad itself.
what the research found.
Nielsen Catalina Solutions analysed around 500 consumer packaged goods campaigns that ran in 2016 and early 2017 across major media platforms. Creative accounted for 49% of the sales lift from advertising: 47% from the creative itself and 2% from the context it ran in.
Media planning and buying accounted for 36%. Brand factors such as price and how widely the brand was already bought made up the remaining 15%.
It's a US study of packaged goods from several years ago, so treat the exact split as a guide, not a law. The direction is what matters: the ad itself does more of the work than where you place it.
what we do about it.
- Make several ads, not one. One ad is a guess; three is a test.
- Keep new creative coming, so the winners always have something to beat.
- Build ads for the feed, not for a brochure: real products, real hands, a clear offer.
- Read results every week and move budget to what's working.