Horrors of bad online creative

I can’t think of a better expression of creativity than carving your own pumpkin. And my eight year old carved two of these.

This activity reminded me of a recent AdAge.com article I read. According to this article, a study from online-ad-research group Dynamic Logic says the quality of online advertising creative is as much as 50% to 75% responsible for campaign success or failure.

It is a good reminder that the best media placement can quickly be nullified by a poor creative execution. So when you think about how much emphasis is placed on the size and placement of an online ad it is a good reminder about what really drives a reader to action.

Here are a few recommendations from the article for better-performing digital creative:

1. Highlight the brand prominently throughout the ad. “Intrigue is rarely a good strategy in online campaigns,” the report says. Ads with omnipresent logos had the highest brand and online ad awareness.
2. Make each second count. Whether it’s brand awareness or a call to action, the ad should support the message at all times. The ad will probably only get one second with the user, so each one counts.
3. “Reveal” ads don’t work. Stay simple. Use no more than two messages per execution. 
4. Use people. People imagery was found to work especially well for financial services campaigns.