Why Creative Must Be Prioritised from Day One in Your Digital Transformation

Peter-James Dunne
Mar 25
4 min read

Creativity isn't an afterthought - it's the engine that activates every layer of tranformation. (AI Generated Image)

Digital transformation is often sold as a technology-driven process: think new data platforms, automated media buying, or next-gen analytics. However, focusing exclusively on the data and tech side without giving creative a seat at the table from the start undermines your whole strategy.

In fact, research consistently shows that creative is the single largest factor driving campaign effectiveness, accounting for up to 50% or more of in-market ad performance.

By treating creative as an afterthought, organisations miss the chance to integrate it seamlessly with data, channels, and measurement. This post will illustrate why creative should be top-of-mind. Especially with Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) and how early alignment can transform your ROI.

Creatively: The Greatest Driver of Campaign Performance

One of the most compelling arguments for early creative involvement comes from studies by Nielsen, Forrester, and others, revealing that creative alone can contribute 47–56% of a brand’s sales uplift from advertising. Media placement and data are also crucial, but they rarely match creative’s influence on engagement and conversions.

The Voice of Your Brand: No matter how precise your audience targeting or how advanced your analytics, if the messaging and visuals don’t resonate, you’re essentially pouring budget into underperforming ads. Avoiding the Race to the Bottom: Without standout creative, you rely heavily on media tactics (like bidding strategies) to generate results. Great creative cuts through the clutter, reducing your overall costs and strengthening brand perception.

Even in highly automated programmatic environments, an engaging, well-tailored message is what truly captures consumer attention. As the saying goes, technology sets the stage, but creative brings the show to life.

2. Early Collaboration and the Power of DCO

A prime example of how technology and creativity can work hand in hand is Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO). By integrating DCO from the start, you ensure that each audience segment sees the right mix of visuals and copy, powered by real-time data signals.

Seamless Teamwork: DCO requires alignment between creative, data, and media. If creative teams know from day one which headlines, images, or calls-to-action are likely to be swapped in or out, they can design assets specifically for dynamic use.
Personalisation at Scale: DCO excels when you have a robust creative library. Rather than a single static ad, DCO can deliver hundreds of variations on the fly, each uniquely relevant to the viewer’s context.
Live Feedback Loop: Because DCO serves multiple creative variants simultaneously, you gain instantaneous insights about which elements resonate best. This data is invaluable for in-campaign optimisation—and it helps shape future creative strategies, too.

A Digiday report showed that automotive brands using DCO from the beginning of their campaigns saw click-through rates jump by 50%, largely due to closer collaboration among creative, data, and media teams.

The “One Size Fits All” Trap

One major reason creative often lags behind is the assumption that the same ad will work across every platform. In reality, each channel has unique characteristics:

Social Platforms and Tools like Smartly.io automate and optimise social ads. But automation is only half the battle; you need creative assets designed to flex for different audience segments and ad formats.
Connected TV & Emerging Channels: Formats like OTT (Over-The-Top) and digital out-of-home demand different creative considerations. everything from video length to layout. You can’t just resize a standard banner and expect results.
Consistency vs. Adaptation: Brand consistency is crucial, but that doesn’t mean identical creative everywhere. Adjust headlines, imagery, and calls-to-action to fit each platform’s native style, while preserving your brand DNA.

If you lock in your creative too late, you’ll likely spend time and budget retrofitting assets that weren’t built for each channel’s nuances.

4. Consequences of Leaving Creative Until the End

When you finalise your data infrastructure and media plan before bringing creative into the conversation, you could be undermining your investment in several ways:

Missed Personalisation Opportunities

If creative assets aren’t developed with personalisation in mind, you can’t effectively serve unique messages to different segments, squandering the potential of your data stack.

Higher Costs & Delays

Scrambling to adapt creative at the 11th hour can mean extra production costs—and can also delay campaign launches or limit your ability to pivot mid-campaign.

Fragmented Brand Identity

Siloed creative efforts often produce inconsistent messaging and visual styles, confusing audiences and weakening brand recall.

Lower ROI

According to McKinsey, organisations embedding creative thinking early in digital transformation are 1.5 times more likely to see above-average revenue growth. If you wait to involve creative, you risk falling short of your own potential.

Conclusion: Creativity as a Catalyst for True Transformation

The bottom line? Creative alignment from day one isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’. it’s a critical accelerator. By weaving creative thinking into your transformation journey, you’ll unlock richer personalisation, more efficient ad spend, and a brand experience that resonates across every channel.