As with all AI technology, the results are only as good as the data you train your AI model with. At Kantar, we have a rich heritage of generating macro insights from our huge LINK+ database of over a quarter of a million ads viewed by real people. LINK AI, our AI creative testing solution, is trained and validated against this database. With LINK AI, brands can quickly evaluate hundreds or thousands of ads and uncover meta learnings specific to their category or market, or for a specific media context. It provides verified intelligence to gauge ad effectiveness and identifies creative elements through meticulous analysis of each ad’s visual and audio components.
This automated and consistent review allows us to analyse detailed attributes, including colours, branding elements, logos, and more, far beyond what human compilation alone can achieve. For example, while the benefits of product demonstration in ads are well established, our AI-driven tagging system, that highlights the different features in the ad, can offer enhanced granularity on the most effective ways to execute this.
Crafting effective and impactful ads requires a blend of creativity, strategic planning, deep understanding of consumers needs and insightful data analysis. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for success, the human touch remains essential to bring authenticity, that layer on top of unique thought, needed to differentiate.
By identifying recurring elements across thousands of high-performing ads, marketers can skilfully combine creative and analytical approaches for optimal results to help keep them ahead of the competition with ads that resonate with audiences and drive ROI.
Effective creative features vary by metric and objective
AI-based testing and tagging is deepening our understanding of what works and bringing to light new insights. With AI-based tagging for creative, we can identify features such as whether a character in the ad is angry, sad or joyful. Here we observe that angry characters increase overall impact by +5 percentile points vs ads which do not feature an angry character, i.e. angry characters are more likely to make ads engaging and remembered for the brand. However, this additional impact comes at a potential cost to overall persuasiveness (-11). An angry character can be beneficial, but only when it aligns with a strategy aimed at greater overall impact.Effective creative features vary by category
While showing the product, service or promotion is a well-known way to create effective ads, not every category achieves the same level of persuasion. As a brand owner you need to find the balance between effectiveness and persuasiveness.
Some of the most effective ads feature the product itself, and demonstrating it in action can be even more powerful. But, is that true for all categories? Food and drink, and medical brands that spotlight the product in their ads, appear more persuasive, while this is less evident across other categories.
Results of showing the product via ‘Spotlighting’ across categories on TV
A simple, yet attention grabbing, example of this is KitKat’s ‘Locked Out Face ID’ ad that was #7 in the digital/social category in Kantar Creative Effectiveness awards 2024.
KitKat’s ‘Locked Out Face ID’ ad
Another way to feature the product is to highlight 'a sense of urgency' around it. We see this more frequently used in ads for retail and service brands, however, on average it proves slightly less persuasive than for other categories. Food and drink, and household brands see higher average persuasion results when the product is introduced in this way.
Results of showing the product via 'A sense of urgency' across categories on TV
Effective creative features vary by media channel
It is well known that creative should be customised for the media channel in which it will appear because what drives effectiveness varies by channel and format. Is there a style or technique that can be used across TV and digital media channels? We see evidence that close-up shots can help persuade and are slightly more enjoyable, regardless of media channel, whereas faces, more specific close-ups of faces, can make ads more enjoyable but don’t necessarily persuade. We also see other editing techniques, such as the use of extreme wide shots, helping with enjoyment regardless of media, but only prove more persuasive when used in digital ads.
Editing techniques results by media channel
A great example of close-up shot usage can be seen in ‘Dettol HSC – Let Life Flow’ ad, complemented by sensory ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) sounds. Another winner of Kantar Creative Effectiveness Awards.
‘Dettol HSC – Let Life Flow’
Effective creative features vary further by both category AND media channel.
What happens when we cross analyse features by the different elements the ad needs to consider? Will the rules still apply? Would a food and drink ad still be persuasive in both media channels?
Earlier we saw that personal care brands spotlighting the product in TV ads are not generally more persuasive. However, when we look at digital personal care ads we see a large increase in persuasiveness.
Similarly, when a brand identity shot is included, again no difference is seen in personal care TV ads, but persuasiveness is stronger for ads on digital platforms.
Results of showing the product via ‘Spotlighting’ by media channel
Results of ‘Including a brand identity shot’ by category and by media channel
Digging deeper into the cross sections of different characteristics can identify further variations, whether by industry, brand, market, media channel or any other sub sample of the data. This provides you with new opportunities to further investigate the interplay of different creative approaches in an extremely granular way.
Data quality is the foundation of creative intelligence with AI
It is never simply a case of inclusion or exclusion; success depends on executing these elements well and appropriately, ensuring a strong brand fit and relevance, and tailoring them to the media channel on which they will appear. Our database of over 260,000 ads provides us with a wealth of learnings on how key creative elements, such as humour, music, slogans, celebrities, etc. can feature effectively in advertising.We are taking this to the next level with our AI capabilities, further deepening our understanding of what makes great advertising. However, the few examples we have discussed here also highlight how we consistently observe that what works for one industry, brand, market, or media platform may not necessarily work in the same way for another.
Marketers looking to take their campaigns to the next level, need to start with meta-analysis learnings from AI-led creative testing and tagging data as the foundation of their creative effectiveness programmes.
Kantar has the largest ad data set in the industry training our AI capabilities to give you quality, reliable data to help you optimise your creative to maximise your budget. Contact us now to find out more.