Key Themes in great creativeElevating for Channel Context
Principles for strong digital creative
In North America, data shows that roughly 75% of total media budget is going against digital content. This means it is even more essential to get creative right in a complex channel context. Rules that have previously applied to the digital space, when it was more of a supporting medium, that often focused on lower funnel goals need to be rethought.
Digital must now carry more of the load for brand-building, so guidelines that have driven channels with that goal in the past need to be reevaluated and redesigned. And we must recognize that Digital is no longer a ‘channel’, but an ecosystem of channels, with fragmenting platforms, formats and styles. All of this means that digital advertisers face new challenges in terms of optimizing ad length, channel customization and contextual fit.
Our 2024 Digital/Social winners include some great examples of Elevating for Channel Context and provide guidance and inspiration for powerful digital creative strategies.
More than ever before, effectively using the limited timeframes digital audiences are willing to allow is a key consideration. We know that viewers will skip or scroll in all channels, so efficiency is paramount. But short for the sake of short isn’t going to be enough. Great digital content must still work to optimize its intended narrative structure. If a story is worth telling, it may need more than a few seconds.
The balance is essential – it must be no longer than necessary.
Johnnie Walker’s digital creative ‘Bold Steps’ continues a long-standing and successful campaign, a previous global Creative Effectiveness winner. The content sets out to convey both meaningful brand personality and purposeful philosophy, and it achieves this in a confident and efficient, digital-friendly 15 seconds.
Attention is a precious commodity in a digital context. All channels see a decline in viewing over time, albeit at different rates.
Attention is always going to be highest in early seconds, however, whether initial viewing is forced or not forced. This doesn’t mean we must create only short-form content, but it does imply that these early seconds matter the most for the largest part of our audience.
Great digital content uses its early seconds effectively.
It should rapidly set the desired tone, create a level of interest, or quickly shorthand what the rest of the ad will deliver.
The ‘Aveeno® Baby Generation’ ad wastes no time in unapologetically setting its agenda. We are immediately wrapped in warm and cuddly baby imagery and within the first 2 seconds are encouraged to ‘imagine’. For the intended brand target, it’s hard to see how they can pull themselves away.
Digital advertisers can no longer assume that a single piece of creative will transfer effectively across channels. With channels all seeking to maximize ad opportunities, the more content can blend into its character and purpose, the more acceptable and persuasive it can be. This could mean a perfect conceptual fit, or even an ad which can blur the lines and take on the appearance of native channel content.
Great digital creative, therefore, is customized to fit channel context.
The Instagram ad ‘Perrier-Jouët Be More Flower 15s’ is bright, colorful and dreamlike, with simple strong and bold imagery. This is an example of an ad which fits into the context perfectly. Instagram has a casual and fresh personality and favors very visual content that is high-quality and attention-grabbing but still needs to be clear and simple.
Given the more limited attention digital content will receive, branded memorability requires a focus on what is being advertised. The brand must be prominent and clear.
Great digital creative should go beyond a simple ‘show and tell’.
There is no excuse for unengaging presentation. It can be playful, highly imaginative, fun and stunningly visual.
The Digital ad, ‘Introducing a Wild, New Flavor’ by Absolut vodka, #3 in our Digital/Social list and tested in Facebook context, is at root a product intro, but use of movement, color, inventive visuals and engaging music turns it into an imaginative journey through ingredients.
The digital ecosystem means consumers are ever more likely to gravitate towards community, via channels which both fit their personality and connect to their interests and mood.
Digital creative must therefore also carry a clear recognition of its audience to be effective.
Successful digital content captures the essence of the target audience.
The audio brand JBL has several ads from its ‘Authentic sound. Authentic you.' campaign in the best performing NA content for 2023, each with music and tone customized to fit its particular audience. This creative, K-Pop’, tested in a YouTube context, is a perfect illustration of digital content which quickly and effortlessly captures and conveys a mood and illustrates a compelling sense of brand personality.
Our Other Digital Winners
Kahlúa’s ‘Kahlúa Playful Treat – Espresso Martini’ ad, tested in Facebook context, is at root a product demo, but using fast cuts, fun sound effects and animation, it becomes an imaginative and compelling way to showcase the brand.
Maybelline New York’s ‘Maybelline Master Precise Liner’ ad, tested in YouTube context and also a global digital winner, has many of the hallmarks of a make-up ad, but by using teens, even well-known celebrity teens, to outline and demo product benefits it also takes on the look and feel of an influencer-style story.
