by Jamie Tolentino
Valued in the marketing and advertising industry, it’s believed that creative ads are more effective and increases brand value. In 2013, a study by Werner Reinartz and Peter Saffert confirmed that creativity can influence purchase behavior. The duo came up with five dimensions of creativity: originality, flexibility, elaboration, synthesis and artistic value—to score 437 TV advertising campaigns for 90 fast-moving consumer goods brands in Germany over the span of nine months in 2010.
Of the five dimensions, they found that elaboration, the inclusion of unexpected details or extensions of simple ideas to become more intricate or complicated, is the most effective dimension of creativity. This is followed by artistic value, the incorporation of aesthetically appealing verbal, visual or sound elements. Trailing behind is originality, where an ad contains rare or surprising elements; flexibility, where an ad smoothly links the product to a range of different uses or ideas; and finally synthesis where an ad connects normally unrelated objects or ideas. However, the study found that agencies primarily use originality or artistic value more than they use elaboration.
With a digital medium, creativity can be enhanced because of the following reasons:
Digital allows for elaboration without huge media costs
There are different sub-mediums within digital that you can integrate into your digital campaign to elaborate a certain ad concept or story to the consumer without seeming too intrusive. For example, you may want to show different display ads showing different details of elaboration which links to a website which can show the full picture to link back to your product. Various targeting methods of display advertising means that you only pay to reach the audience you want to reach. If this was done through radio, print or TV, you can only have one variation of the ad and you have to pay a set fee for the airtime which might cost a small fortune.
Digital allows for testing of the most effective original idea through optimization methods
Optimization is a big thing in digital. You can start a campaign with several variations of your PPC ad, display ad, website page and just display the one that’s most effective after the test period to maximize the value of your media spend.
Digital mediums are constantly evolving
You can be creative in the digital mediums you use to add an extra dimension of originality and artistic value. For example, you can use internet of things technology, 3D printing, or augmented reality to produce a novel experience for consumers that will leave a lasting impression on your consumers.
In conclusion, digital can enhance creative expression because you can test your creative variations without incurring a small fortune, to promote creative work that’s been tested in real time, in another channel to get creative with.
Illustration by Patrick Ganas
