While digital marketing is very focused on advancements in data, AI, and privacy, marketers still place an extremely high importance on the creative, and they are looking for ways to incorporate more creativity into their campaigns. In fact, 81% of marketers surveyed state that improving digital campaigns to show off their creatives more effectively is a high or critical priority over the coming year.

As marketers and advertisers look to the future, it’s clear that the relationship between “creative” and “digital” will be integral to brands’ overall marketing strategies. As for how they will tactically achieve this, 91% prioritize making digital ads more engaging to meet brand goals. So as brand campaigns increasingly shift to digital, creative teams must innovate to maintain the same creativity and storytelling achieved with traditional channels.

Wait a minute!

Does anyone really need research to tell them that most digital ads stink?  Marketers will spend a lot of time and money on getting TV ads just right, but when it comes to digital ads they just duplicate what they have already done with other channels.  They see digital as a billboard because there is so much fraud on online ads along with really bad metrics like impressions.

I had a client who is marketing a gourmet dark chocolate bar in health food stores.  He wanted a campaign that both communicated the benefits of dark chocolate and raised his brand awareness.  We tested two types of online ads.  One was a picture of his product with some key takeaways the other was a woman unwrapping the chocolate bar and eating it while key messages about the benefit of chocolate integrated with the video.  The ads with the integrated video not only tested really well, but the engagement level was 55% higher compared to the static ad. (Engagement level was tested by a number of people who clicked on the ad with time on site and bounce rates).

To blame the lack of creative in digital ads is nothing more than an excuse.  It also demonstrates the incompetence of ad agencies who still are struggling to understand engagement in a digital world.   However, the buck needs to stop with marketers who still are drawn into TV too much.  Digital, done well, is best when it’s integrated with your campaign and optimized for the channel not as billboards.