If it’s predictable for too long, it gets boring. We’ve all been there before, flipping through channels, scrolling past movie titles, toggling between stations — always looking for something fresh and new to entertain us. It cannot be denied; humans love new things and get tired of the old. We love seeing, tasting, smelling — discovering and trying things that are new and different. Novelty in objects inspires a sense of adventure in the human brain.
Well the same logic is true of ad creative. It’s hard enough as it is to gain the attention of your consumer. Once you have the attention of your ideal customer, the last thing you want is for them to immediately tune out. With average attention spans on the decline, marketers are fighting an uphill battle as it is.
Unless it is fresh, exciting, and interesting, consumers grow tired and disengage with ads. They tune out and stop paying attention, rendering the hard work and budget all for naught. This can be tricky when advertisers continuously lean into best practices and trends — once the digital landscape becomes saturated with the same techniques, it’s no wonder consumers feel as if they’ve seen it all before. In other words, they experience what we call ‘ad creative fatigue’.
Creative fatigue is exactly what the name implies–when viewers grow tired of seeing the same “creative” content repeatedly. This can happen in a number of different ways. The audience can grow familiar with your specific brand’s ads and ad styling, to the point where it feels like they’ve seen the ad before, even if content has changed. Alternatively, they can be familiar with the brand creative style to the point where they find the ad or the narrative predictable.
Outside of the brand specific styling, there are also trends and best practices that get heavily leveraged across the industry. Competitors may follow similar tactics and marketers may borrow techniques from other brands. The result is a lack of originality where the audience also feels as if they’ve seen the ad before. In other words, your audience stops paying attention.
While creative fatigue cannot be completely eliminated, there are tactics that advertisers can employ to minimize it and contain it. Here are the top tips our team compiled to address this issue:
The landing page is the source of the action. This is where you have to keep a close eye to ensure that the results continue to trend in the direction that you want. After all, the landing page is where the conversions happen… or don’t happen. At the beginning of a campaign, the landing page is typically what you monitor to measure the success of a campaign. Over time, it is also a great way to monitor the resonance and creative fatigue levels.
Creativity is considered a talent for a reason! In the world of marketing, a large part of the job is tied to entertaining and persuading the audience. Delivering campaigns that tell a strong story that resonates with viewers is a delicate art form. Not only do marketers have to think about a message getting through to the audience, they have to consider the longevity of the campaign. For example, a campaign with a shock and awe element may prove largely effective when it first runs, but over time, the impact will wear off once an audience has already seen the ad.
This is not a new problem. Creatives in advertising and marketing have battled with this area for a long time! And while it cannot be completely eliminated, it can be mitigated and minimized. Careful monitoring of a campaign and knowing what signs to look out for will prevent you from letting an ad run too far into the creative fatigue zone. This will protect your brands from spending coveted ad dollars pushing an ineffective campaign. If you have any questions about how to further optimize your campaigns, contact our team to chat!