Do GenAI-created ad creatives outperform those crafted by humans?
A new paper from researchers at NYU and Emory investigates that question and finds that GenAI-created ads see 19% higher click-through rates than human-created ads. The study uses a field experiment conducted through Google Display advertising campaigns and a lab study in which participants are asked to rate their purchase intent when exposed to GenAI or human-crafted ad creatives.
In both settings, the authors of the paper find that ads created entirely by Generative AI outperform ads that 1) are entirely created by humans and 2) are created by humans but modified by Generative AI. Further, the authors find that allowing Generative AI to influence the representation of product packaging also improves creative performance. The authors conclude that removing creative constraints from Generative AI tools allows them to produce ad creatives that perform better than when conditions or limitations are imposed.
However, the authors find that *disclosing* the use of Generative AI in ad production reduces ad effectiveness by ~32%, which poses consequential considerations for how to communicate the provenance of ad creative.
Full link to the paper below. Additionally: I interviewed two of the paper's authors today for a podcast episode that will go live on Wednesday!
Go look at your ad library. Be it Motion, Facebook Ad Library, or wherever you can see everything you've launched on Meta over the last 30 days.
If all the ads generally look the same:
UGC actor talking to an iPhone camera, same text overlay, same general background (in a house / outside), and same gender...
That's not creative diversity, that's creative iterations and are best lumped together in Meta's flexible ad format.
The same goes for statics. If your statics contain the same branding, same product, same text overlay fonts and generally look the same lump them together.
There is a BIG difference between iteration and variation. What does Meta want more of?
VARIATION!
It's better for you to launch 4 concepts that are entirely different than one another.
Get out of the habit of launching 12 ads of the same creator doing a different hook as separate ads. Meta will likely pick one and just run with it and you'll just waste $ chasing everything else.
If your cost per 1,000 account reach has increased YoY it's more than likely this is your biggest culprit.
If you're still confused drop your ad library link to me below and I'll tell you.
Your content isn't diverse enough and it's hampering your ability to reach the scale you desire with your ads on ad platforms like Meta.
Too many brands are stuck iterating on the same concepts over and over and killing themselves trying to figure out why they aren't converting the same.
It's because Meta will put those creatives in the same bucket as the last one. Sure, you'll pick up some new sales. But over and over again? Your net new rolling reach slows, your frequencies increase, your reach becomes non-existent to new customers and you slowly whittle away into listening to the Tron soundtrack on repeat over and over trying to understand what the heck just happened.
When I say creative diversity I'm saying that your ad library should look more like the for you page on TikTok and Reels. Every post should be materially different.
Different angles
Different hooks
Different concepts
Different creative types
Don't make the same static image 12 times with different headlines, this may work for a short time but Meta will quickly figure out what works and stop focusing on the rest.
It's a ticking time bomb.
2024 is NOT what Meta was in 2023-2022-2021-2020-2019. With the new AI Meta is MORE focused on this than ever before.
Fin.
Here’s the deal
Most of you don’t have a content creation problem
You have a creative diversity problem.
On one end, constantly trying to think up fresh angles AND fresh creatives to match those angles is going to wear you out, wear your team out, and the quality (and your revenue) will suffer.
On the other end, those that go about creative diversity the WRONG way end up with a bulk order of creatives that all look the same, feel the same, and sound the same.
And all you’re doing here is hurting your ad account and driving your audience in the wrong direction.
So how do we manage to test 30-50 NEW creatives every week at Obvi that don’t
- Look the same
- Feel the same
And are definitely not 30-50 completely new angles.
Here’s how:
Before anything else, you need to organize your shit.
Separate your ads into 4 different quadrants:
- Static lo-fi
- Polished Static
- Lo-fi Video
- Polished Video
All you’re doing here is taking your CURRENT ads and putting them all in their respective boxes
Now you’ll have a solid idea of where the majority of your creatives are, where you need to pick up some slack, and so on.
Alright - now you’ve been running your ads for some time and picked up a few winners. What’s next?
Take those winners and spend 20% of your time iterating on them, making sure you have creatives that fit into all 4 quadrants
BUT spend the other 80% of your time coming up with new angles altogether
(That also fill up those quadrants)
It’s. That. Simple.
Yes, this takes quite a bit of effort and understanding to do this efficiently and correctly.
But
When you do it right, you’ll be generating a ridiculous amount of winning content that is 100% unique.
Creative diversity problem? Solved.
If you follow everyone that shares information about DTC on this site I guarantee you're more confused than ever.
Here's the only thing you really need to understand.
Your data warehouse + diverse creative + simplifed offer.
1. CAPI strength is everything at scale. Do it, know it, hire someone to manage it. And no, that doesn't mean just hire Elevar. Hire Elevar + someone to oversee it. This is a daily operation the bigger you get.
2. Diverse creative. This isn't 25 UGC pieces of content. It's 25 different types of creative. UGC is just ONE piece. Not all of them. Think outside the box!
3. Simplify your offers. No buy 2 get X, buy 3 get X. Get 15% off. That's it, that's all people want. Stop overcomplicating it.
Campaign set-ups, channel diversification, SaaS tools, etc etc.... worry about these three things more.
I'll be on this hill.
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🎧 Just in: Our CoFounder David dropped some insights on the @dilliegroup podcast! From creative automation to AI's role in marketing, it's packed with good stuff. Worth a listen for anyone in the digital space.
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