New Kantar and WARC evidence proves that creative and effective ads generate more than four times as much profit.

With marketing budgets under increasing pressure, it is more important than ever to ensure that precious investment will lead to profit. New evidence from Kantar and WARC shows the important role creative quality can play in driving ROI.

We know that brands can ‘go dark’ for a short time without causing too much harm, but longer periods off-air can be damaging. And once the decline in your brand’s visibility sets in, it can be difficult to reverse. Unsupported brands are more vulnerable, and the leap of faith that is advertising needs more support now than ever before. So, from the editing suite to appearing on the chosen media channel, marketers need to carefully evaluate their creative, to avoid costly mistakes at a time when wasting money is least advisable.

We know that early-stage ad testing progresses it towards a creative and effective finished result, but we now have empirical evidence that testing ads with Kantar’s Link ad testing solution also leads to a better return on marketing investment (ROMI) ‘profit’. Link has been validated ongoing over 30 years and is the only ad testing research solution recognised by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board MASB based on a rigorous evaluation. Link’s creative quality measures have long been validated against sales volume and long-term brand equity outcomes and it remains the foremost cutting-edge ad testing tool. Now we have new evidence that the combination of those two metrics, short-term sales likelihood and future brand demand, can predict campaign profitability.