Swayable Insights

The next frontier of marketing optimization: Creative

Written by Michelle Wiles | Mar 30, 2023 4:00:00 AM

We joined our clients Cesar Brea and Zak Prauer from Bain & Company, and Mike Jensen from BBU (parent of Thomas' English Muffins, Entenmann's, and more) to discuss the future of marketing optimization.

The key takeaway? Optimization is moving to upper funnel marketing.

Per Bain Partner Cesar Brea:

“In 2022, the easy money in optimizing digital advertising in the performance marketing end of the funnel is well-tapped, if not yet fully-exploited. The bigger channel now lies in better investing at the top of the funnel, where the signals are weaker and more indirect. Yet, as we drift into a recession and awareness ad budgets will be among the first to be squeezed, it’s especially critical to make them accountable and effective. With media weight and mix being closely studied for some time, the next frontier is creative, which research shows to be even more important to outcomes. What are the latest practices in understanding these investments? Who’s doing this well, and what can we learn from them?”

In other words, most marketing optimizations look fairly similar. They cover SEO, A/B testing creatives, and setting up optimal retarteting. But once every brand is set up, you are no longer differentiated.

The future of marketing optimization isn't about getting to the baseline of digital tracking. It’s standing out. It’s out-marketing your competition. It’s better creative.

How do you optimize that?

It’s possible. But you don’t optimize ads for clicks or digital tracking. You optimize ads for brand lift. Interest. Humor. Surprise. Liking. Persuasion. The elusive upper metrics.

Right. If only I could test and optimize brand lift in real-time.

Turns out you can. With Swayable. If you’re ready to start creating more standout messaging — book your Swayable demo here.

Otherwise — check out the discussion and video with Bain & Company on optimizing creative with Swayable.