The Advertising Paradox: More Creative, Less Media
New research from CreativeX suggests that brands may be moving through digital creative too quickly, without giving ads enough time or media investment to have the desired impact.
The study analysed more than 633,000 ads and $2 billion in media investment across 143 brands. It found that performance ads run for an average of 32 days, while brand-building ads run for only slightly longer, at 40 days.
This matters because brand advertising needs time and repeated exposure to build recognition and stay front of mind. While there is often concern around creative fatigue or “wear-out”, the research suggests marketers may actually be at greater risk of not giving creative enough time to “wear in”.
The research also highlights a wider issue around the volume of creative being produced. As brands create more ads without a corresponding increase in media budgets, investment is being spread across a growing number of assets. This can leave individual ads with less budget behind them and fewer opportunities to reach audiences consistently.
What does this mean for us?
It is a useful a useful reminder for us that more creative doesn’t necessarily mean better results. Across Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Reddit, brands can have a large volume of creative available for a campaign. The question is whether all of those assets are genuinely needed, particularly where adding more creative risks spreading the available media budget too thinly.
It’s also worth looking at the data before assuming an ad needs to be refreshed. If creative is still performing well, changing it simply because it has been live for a certain amount of time could mean replacing it before it has had the opportunity to build familiarity and recognition.
This is particularly relevant for brand activity, where repetition can be a good thing. Our role is to help brands to find the right balance between keeping advertising fresh and giving strong creative enough time, exposure and investment to do its job.