Dynamic creatives are ads that can change content on the fly at any time.
Data-driven creatives use information about a customer to inform creative messaging.
Thus, a creative can be dynamic and data-driven if the same creative puts content in the ad that can be changed at any time, AND the content was chosen is based on data.
A creative may be dynamic but not data-driven if it simply changes content without regard to who the targeted user is.
For example, a dynamic, non-data-driven creative could be putting a sale ad that you can update with higher discounts at your discretion at any time without running a new creative through the media platform. Dynamic ads require that the creative unit calls out to another server for assets rather than store all the possible assets with the final creative object – that is how ads can be refreshed for any impression without re-trafficking.
A creative can be dynamic but data-driven if the creative was built for a targeted user but made as a standalone file that would require re-trafficking the creative through media to replace. For example, an advertiser might make a static ad built for low credit individuals and that can be targeted via a platform to an audience segment of low credit individuals. This ad would be data-driven because it takes advantage of data signals about the consumer but it isn’t dynamic because in order to change the static ad, someone would need to go back and re-upload a new creative file. There isn’t a way to update one asset without replacing the whole ad.
This ad would be data-driven because it takes advantage of data signals about the consumer but it isn’t dynamic. This is because in order to change the static ad, someone would need to go back and re-upload a new creative file. There isn’t a way to update one asset without replacing the whole ad.
One common example of a dynamic, data-driven creative is product re-targeting ads. It is dynamic because different product SKU information and photos can be dynamically inserted into a template based on what a user had previously seen (data signal).
Do you need to use dynamic creative?
Dynamic ads don’t necessarily mean the ad is better performing or more eye-catching. They make sense if you consider it important to have content in the ad that may rapidly change. For example, if you need to be able to take down a sale but you don’t know when it’ll end and you still want to serve something else afterward with the purchased media, then you will want dynamic ads. In another example, you’ll want dynamic capabilities if you want to put real-time content like today’s temperature inside of the ad itself.
You don’t need to make an ad dynamic if you’re simply targeting based on variables and serving different ads based on those variables. For example, you could target users in hot temperatures and serve a static ad to them (it just couldn’t contain the exact temperature of the moment) which may contain some copy or imagery relating to the heat – doing it this way also may save you media dollars if you only want to serve an ad when it’s hot and not when it’s any weather.
One famous example of utilizing weather data for targeting is showing ads for liquor before a storm – you don’t want to just buy extra media everywhere but only in storm-affected zones. As a result, you set the targeting in the media platform and upload a creative that touches on the storm and your product.
Do you need data-driven creative?
Most modern marketers need to be data-driven. They have invested in data management platforms, demand side platforms, and other digital media technologies to help target audiences. As a result, they should be serving unique messages to the each targeted group which means they need a data-driven creative strategy.
You may not need a data-driven creative if you do not have any data on your customers and you don’t buy digital media that includes data on the audience. For example, if you buy run of network ad network space where you don’t know who your audience is and you don’t have any targetable data yourself to overlay on the inventory, then you are willing to serve anything to anyone.
