With increased demand for video and digital content across a variety of platforms, testing that creative to ensure that it’s being deployed as effectively as possible has taken on a new importance for campaigns.
What’s needed in an environment where TV is far from the only creative medium that matters, according to Kai Chen Yeo, a partner at Echelon Insights, is going beyond mechanisms like traditional dial tests.
“I think we’re all pretty aware of the decline, or at least the fact that a lot of viewer attention is now split between TV and other mediums,” Yeo said in an interview with C&E. “Now that we’re not just testing ads for TV, we’ve got to think of YouTube, social media, and other ways to reach consumers or voters.”
Robust ad testing across all formats is what Echelon preaches to its clients. A piece of creative that’s particularly impactful on TV may not demonstrate the same effectiveness in a different format.
“It’s important to come in with the mindset of, if we have the budget, we should be testing ads across all different types of platforms and mediums,” said Yeo. “It might save you money down the line to realize that a certain type of ad or certain type of messaging really doesn’t play that well, let’s say, in a YouTube format.”
That same piece of creative may be much better structured to capture more attention from someone scrolling on a mobile device.
Something that’s also important to remember in this environment: Just because an ad gains viral status doesn’t mean it’s actually persuasive. The most attention-grabbing content on social platforms like Instagram or Facebook are quite often not the content you want to focus on deploying elsewhere.
Watch the full video above for additional best practices on testing digital spots and getting the most out of your ad testing budget.
