Debunking the Pre-Testing Vs. Creativity Myth

How can we reverse the current trend of declining creative effectiveness in advertising?

In an Effectiveness Week blog post Rod Connors (Co-Founder, System1 Agency) shares how pre-testing can play a role in reversing this trend. It is not your traditional kind of pre-testing which focuses on USP’s, differentiation and product messaging. Rather, it is pre-testing that measures emotion and feeling, as brand choices are largely driven based on these elements.

Judging the emotional appeal of a piece of creative can be tricky. It becomes a bit more challenging compared to the traditional pre-testing approach of searching for a product message or USP. However, using pre-testing which focuses on emotion and feeling can quickly predict a creatives potential at the earliest stage of the creative process.

A great example of this can be seen from Guinness “Basketball”. By using BrainJuicer’s System1 pre-testing supported by the BBDO creative team, Guinness created an execution that allowed the actions to speak for themselves. This form of pre-testing allowed them to predict 5-Star performance and guaranteed profitable brand growth, placing it at the top 4% of all Ads globally.

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At System1, we help the world’s largest advertisers make confident creative decisions that lead to transformational business results. Our powerful ad testing platform (Test Your Ad) and our concept testing platform (Test Your Idea) help brands predict the commercial potential of ads and ideas. Complementing TYA and TYI is Test Your Brand, our brand testing platform which measures the impact of ads and ideas on brand health, ensuring long-term brand growth through predictive success.
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