DAIVID 🦩

Thank you to Contagious for publishing our founders Ian Forrester 🦩& Barney Worfolk Smith 🦩. TL:DR: #Emotions not very well understood. Improve that and improve the quality and variety of ads. PLUS generative AI is JUST around the corner. Understanding what makes us more human is the antidote to that. Creative, media, strategy, data, tech. Unite, tribes. Plus some solid LotR puns from Barney Worfolk Smith 🦩 #CreativeEffectiveness #Emotions #CreativeImpact https://lnkd.in/e3mRkQB2?

Our CGO, Barney Worfolk Smith 🦩here in Digiday on the topic of generative AI in ad creative. Our view is that there always needs to be a hand on the AI rudder, mirroring the realities of the creative process. Choppy seas ahead for sure, though. Thanks for having us Marty Swant

Linear and looped. A better way of thinking about creative testing. People tend to think about creative testing in a 'pre or post' way, following the linear creative process. Of course, we help loads of clients this way but the magic happens when you think about testing in a looped way. Previously cost prohibitive, this is what we're doing for partners: assessing lots of creative from multiple platforms and funnel stage for effectiveness. Then all that goodness is looped back in to the creative process, essentially creating a virtuous upward spiral of creative effectiveness. Linear is good. Looped FTW. hashtag #CreativeEffectiveness

That's nearly a wrap on '24. Have a flamboyant break everyone. Thanks to our clients, our team, our investors, our friends and to everyone who's made '24 such a great year. Flamboyant things coming in '25...

#WheresDAIVID? London flamboyance out out for Christmas. Look at their lovely faces. New invention last night. You have to stand on one leg to down a shot. Got harder as the night went on.

When people tell me to stop behaving like a flamingo I have to put my foot down. Sorry - Christmas party today and we're excited. As you were.

If AI Can Decode Pig Sounds, What Can It Do for Your Ads? 2024 has been a year of AI breakthroughs, with applications ranging from the astonishing to the downright bizarre. Decoding pig sounds? Definitely one of the more out there ones. In my world of creative testing and effectiveness, I’ve been blown away by several developments: Branding Many clients have asked about AI’s ability to spot subtle branding differences across ads, emails, and more. I’ll admit, I was sceptical at first—I wasn’t sure how reliable it would be. But time and again, it’s nailed it, revealing what’s working and why. MMM At last, it’s possible to integrate a creative signal into media mix models (MMMs). AI has made it cost-effective to analyse historical ads at scale and include creative data in the model. This simply wasn’t feasible before now. Quicker, Faster, Better Usually, you’re forced to pick two out of these three—quality being the first casualty. But we’ve seen this myth debunked. With AI, you really can have all three. More Than Testing This trifecta of speed, efficiency, and quality means the data (or DaaS) can go far beyond simple A/B testing. Predictive modelling, for instance, is now a reality. By processing huge volumes of sales data and ads, we can model and forecast hard sales outcomes. One of the biggest criticisms of creative testing—its lack of real-world impact—no longer holds true. You Want an API with That? Emotional data in real time, delivered via API? What seemed impossible is now standard. Integrate this data into your CDP to supercharge audience insights, segmentation, customer journey mapping, and personalisation. That said, there’s still a vital role for humans in the machine. AI-driven creative excels at brand recall and attention metrics but often falls short on emotional connection. And this is where the DAIVID 🦩 superpower comes in: emotional data. It unlocks the 'why' behind consumer behaviour, giving you the competitive edge to craft campaigns that connect and convert across every channel.

#Emotions day on a Tuesday. We've just got off a call with a bank and it was amazing to see that a suite of their content all had the same emotional signature: Warmth and Trust. Why is that important? Well firstly, Trust a powerful calling card for financial institutions. Next, the consistency of it across comms shows that this is the message constantly presented to customers and potential customers. That's a strong superpower in a sector where getting people to change providers is notoriously difficult. Finally, it reminded me of the research we undertook with WARC in Cannes this year to see which emotions were most associated with LIONS 'Enduring Icons'. And there they are: Warmth, Trust and Knowledge. The type of emotions you might associate with friendship. This is just one of the many things we've been able decipher about emotional response to sectors/platfomrs and players in them. Hit us up if you want to get emotional before Christmas. #CreativeEffectiveness

#Emotions day on a Tuesday. We've just got off a call with a bank and it was amazing to see that a suite of their content all had the same emotional signature: Warmth and Trust. Why is that important? Well firstly, Trust a powerful calling card for financial institutions. Next, the consistency of it across comms shows that this is the message constantly presented to customers and potential customers. That's a strong superpower in a sector where getting people to change providers is notoriously difficult. Finally, it reminded me of the research we undertook with WARC in Cannes this year to see which emotions were most associated with LIONS 'Enduring Icons'. And there they are: Warmth, Trust and Knowledge. The type of emotions you might associate with friendship. This is just one of the many things we've been able decipher about emotional response to sectors/platfomrs and players in them. Hit us up if you want to get emotional before Christmas. #CreativeEffectiveness

There's a lot of talk about ads being differentiated. We test at a lot and can tell you that the tropes by sector are highly predictable, though. It's an odd tension as in our hearts, we all know that when something stands out we're more likely to remember it. It might feel risky (see Jaguar) but it's basic behavioural science in the from of the Von Restorff effect at work. 'Bold' on briefs get eroded a lot by the time it gets to execution. Don't let it. #CreativeEffectiveness