Improving creative effectiveness through in-flight optimisation

Only 2.6% of marketers stated they had enough information to take decisions around creative effectiveness mid-campaign.

Compounding Creative, a whitepaper conducted by Automated Creative in partnership with WFA, urges advertisers to focus on in-flight optimisation to improve media value now that we are heading into Q4. For this whitepaper, Automated Creative surveyed more than 200 senior marketers; context has been added added by WFA. The whitepaper finds that:

1. Over one third of marketers are not optimising digital campaigns in-flight at all;
2. A majority of marketers surveyed said they do not have enough information mid-campaign to take decisions around creative effectiveness; and
3. Many point to a lack of collaboration or understanding between media and creative partners that would allow them to act in a timely fashion.

WFA member? Download the paper here.
Not a member? Access the paper here.

“As is often the case with huge cultural shifts, getting started is what counts.” – Matt Green, Director Global Media Services at WFA.

At WFA, we are committed to bringing the state of the nation with regard to marketing effectiveness to the client community. In our latest report, Creating a Global Culture of Marketing Effectiveness, we identified four key areas that marketers need to address in order to deliver effectiveness:

1. People;
2. Focus;
3. Data, Tools & Measurement; and
4. Process.

Of these four effectiveness ‘quadrants’, it’s Process where there’s perceived to be room for improvement. Breaking the Process down into its constituent ‘steps’, we found that there’s a weakness in the ability of marketers to ‘measure the impact of marketing activity in a timely manner’. This scored lowest of all areas.  Activating campaigns, meanwhile, is where marketers excel.

It is fascinating to see these results reflected in the survey data from Automated Creative, but this time with a particular focus on creative. The majority of respondents to this new survey feel that they do not have sufficient data on creative effectiveness that would allow them to make changes mid-flight.

Frankly, few global organisations are able to instil new processes and indeed, cultures, overnight. But as we often hear from our members, these things are a ‘journey’ and we advocate learning by doing.

We hope that the recommendations shared in the WFA report, which are well-amplified by Automated Creative, are useful for marketers as they enter the busy Q4 period. Only 94 days to go.

WFA member? Download the paper here.
Not a member? Access the paper here.