Network Provided Creatives (13)
Hi guys, I was wondering if you would comment on the pros/cons of using network provided creatives. I know it's always going to be better to make your own but are they worth even considering to get something up quickly to test if an offer is worth putting in further work on? I've never actually used them but have wondered if they'd be useful for that reason or another I'm not thinking of.
Thanks
TC
Go with your own creatives. Personally I never seen a situation in a niche except gambling where network provided creatives are better / similar than your own. By going with your own creatives & landers, you normally are able to sell an offer as more interesting to a user - example: a generic broad dating offer can be sold as an offer for single parents, young people, older generation, basically you name it. Despite that, standard creatives are normally pretty generic and not really eye catching, at least I haven't seen many.
Creating creatives won't take that long once you get the hang of photoshop or the tool of your choice and for sure it's worth it.
Small comment about the creatives in gambling: the niche is totally different than most niches, as you won't convince somebody who's not interested in gambling at all to suddenly start gambling. Therefore, this might be the difference or maybe their design teams are just better, I don't know. But I'm pretty much confident in everybody agreeing with me about custom creatives being superior to provided creatives in almost any niche.
I've honestly never found a situation where network-supplied creatives even worked well enough to test the offer. I've tried it a few times on the "well, they must be useful for something" principle, but they've always bombed.
Originally Posted by caurmen
Gaming can be a little different - interactive and pimp ass looking gaming flash banners can be difficult to compare to a shitty gif/static jpg. Don't have data to back this up, only really starting to get into display ads + gaming. Just look at some of the Scarlet Blade ads...
Yeah I mean generally these network creatives aren't the best options, but there are some exceptions. If you're running some media buys/GCN to daily deals sometimes the creatives the advertiser gives you are perfect because they already fit the brand and in the case of what Zeno said above. How ever for most other verticals its always safer to use your own creatives as you can add your own unique twist and angles that other people haven't run before.
Just finish off the thread title with "are always crap" and then you have your answer 
Originally Posted by stackman
even if you just spend 3 minutes on photoshop to create a banner it will most likely perform better than the ones provided by networks. i never understood why networks even provide them
Now if only all networks were diligent with creative approval. I've seen hideous network creatives which I swear someone made in Paint. And not the good 'ugly converts' kind of ugly.
The only time pre-made creatives have worked for me was with gaming offers on Mochi Media (and a few small direct buys). As mentioned above, the amateur look isn't always ideal for gaming offers. Graphics can be important if it's seen as a key element of what you're selling. Even then though, you're still going to want to edit the text!
Most advertiser supplied creatives suck. We have someone make creatives after the deal goes up and then test them ourselves. You are always better making some and sending them in for approval.
When a publisher asks for us to make the creatives we usually assume that they are unable to actually drive any traffic and aren't worth our time. The affiliates that make their own are generally much strong and more successful publishers.
We do on occasion help to supply landing pages to publishers, and those have worked. Or, if it's a Google search campaign we'll supply the lander, but the majority of the traffic is going to go through the click to call feature, making the landing page irrelevant.
Also you usually need to make your own anyways to fit your unique campaign/angle! If not then something is already wrong
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