How to ensure the effectiveness of creative solutions
From the outside, it seems that creativity is something quite difficult to assess. However, as with any instrument, it has fairly clear criteria for effectiveness. Vladimir Kobets, Creative Director of Digital Choo international marketing agency and a member of the KIAF 2019 jury for DIGITAL & MOBILE, MEDIA, BRANDED CONTENT & STORYTELLING categories discusses the basis for effective creative solutions and how to evaluate their results.
Conveying a clear message
Creativity for the sake of creativity does not make any sense. Behind every worthy bright and bold decision, there must be a Big Idea that a) is aimed at fulfilling the client’s business goal and b) clearly conveys the message that we want to communicate to the customer.
How to make sure the idea is present? In judging, it’s simple: first, you take a look at the entry and answer the questions: what is it about? how do I feel? does it excite? Then you read what the creators themselves say about their intention. If the insight matches the impression and the idea led to the desired result, then everything worked out well.
The creative team needs to track their product’s working process at every stage. When a task is received, the team has to think about its business goals and doublecheck with the customer. Get out of your “box” and evaluate: is creativity the best way to achieve this goal? Sometimes the client wants creativity, but in fact, it is necessary to invest in another area. In that case, it is important to guide, to find a middle-ground, instead of just chasing the budget. In the process of creation, the team has to look for words, images, sounds, videos that really convey the essence. Do not be afraid to get rid of unnecessary things and, at the same time, ensure that the meaning is preserved.
For companies that hire agencies for creative solutions, the most important thing is to honestly and clearly articulate what the business needs are in each particular case. The better the agency understands this, the easier it will be to generate an effective solution. And yet, don’t be afraid. The Ukrainian market is still often cautious. It rejects some ideas with a hint of provocation. For various reasons. But correctly, I emphasize on the word “correctly” here, distinguished peculiarity allows the brand to stand out among advertising competitors and reach its audience. Therefore, you need to learn to trust the expertise of professionals, to take risks and develop. One of the latest cases for our client Parimatch, the communication platform “Fired up to win,” is an excellent example of the risk being justified due to the professionalism of the team, while bright bold decisions perfectly fulfill business goals.
Extremely precise targeting
Further, in the process of creative production, the contact with the eventual user comes into play. No matter how good the campaign is, it needs to be shown to the right people at the right time. If it is so, that is excellent. It is a sign that you have taken care of the success of your product, as well as addressed the recipients of advertising.
In fact, these are the two sides of the same coin. The better you study TA, immerse yourself in its problems, personalize the time of receipt of the message and its form, and ensure data security, the higher the effectiveness of the campaign. As I have always said, sincere concern for the recipients of advertising creates real trust and love for brands and receives the greatest response.
Rethinking Analytics
Many of the approaches used today, such as the number of impressions, CTR, LTA, and others, are, frankly speaking, outdated. The American study Rethinking Creative Measurement reviewed more than 60 advertising campaigns of different categories (Travel, Media, Telco, Gaming, Energy and others), comparing the most and the least successful ones. The correlation turned out to be negative in almost all cases. CTR of less effective campaigns was more than twice as high — 0.017% and 0.007%, respectively.
This clearly explains why, no matter how much you want to satisfy yourself and customers with high achievements reports, you just need to take reality into account. It is necessary to consider the constant development of technology and rely on measurements of customer experience along the way, at all touch points of contact with the brand, constantly mastering modern metrics. And in the coming years, another challenge will have to be solved. We have to develop a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of not only the post-factum but also in the process, which will allow us to accurately adapt creative strategies to the realities and be in contact with the audience.
