Introduction: Creative Diversification, why is it so important?
Creative diversification has been the secreat weapon of top spending advertisers since the term was coined in 2022. It is no longer optional—it’s a necessity. As the media buying landscape becomes an even playing field, the place that advertisers can get ahead is through their creative.
While increasing Creative Velocity can deliver the biggest jumps in overall return, in terms of lowest hanging fruit the best opportunity is using existing creative assets and increasing your diversity.
This Creative Diversification Audit can be used to self audit your own creative ad libraries and output a strategic plan focussed on the highest impact vs lowest effort changes to make.
Diversifying your ad creative helps keep your brand relevant, boosts engagement, and ultimately maximises your profitability.
Our Diversification audit is built upon best practices from the platforms, not simply our opinions - specifically Meta’s Performance Five, TikTok Best Practices, and YouTube’s ABCD framework.
What is Creative Diversification?
Creative diversification involves creating multiple versions of your ads tailored to different audiences, placements, and platforms. It means going beyond adjusting colours or headlines—it’s about systematically reviewing the range of creative formats available on each platform vs your own brands coverage.
This does also include the mix of style from campaign or lifestyle creative, user generated content - for which Meta regularly shows at least 50% of creative should be in the lo-fi style. Along with your mix of static vs video ads.
rethinking the ad’s format, tone, and content to suit where and how users will encounter it. For example, what works on YouTube may not work on TikTok, and vice versa. By diversifying, you reduce ad fatigue, enhance relevance, and keep your audience engaged across their journey.
Why Diversification is Critical in Digital Advertising
It used to be the case the biggest advantage in an ad account was from technical media buyers who could understand individual settings for optimisation better than the average.
Between Google's Performance Max and Meta's Advantage+ it signalled a massive shift in the ability for advertisers with many of those manual settings being removed from the power of advertisers.
Instead today and the trend is the best performing campaigns are likely to be Broad targeting - relying on the algorithm to find your best customers at the best acquisition cost.
The advertiser now who can win on increasing their creative output and diversity is now more likely to achieve better than average performance.
Creative Diversification is the first step to developing a killer creative strategy
Applying Platform-Specific Best Practices
Each major platform has developed its own creative framework to help brands optimise their ads:
- Meta’s Performance Five – This framework highlights five key tactics for better ad performance on Facebook and Instagram. These include optimizing for placements, keeping messaging simple, and building for direct response. Learn more about Meta Performance Five here.
- TikTok Best Practices – TikTok’s guidelines recommend creating “native” ads that blend with organic content, using trending sounds, and incorporating real people for authenticity. Explore TikTok’s Best Practices here.
- YouTube’s ABCD Framework – YouTube’s ABCD framework stands for Attract, Brand, Connect, and Direct, emphasizing a creative approach that captures attention and drives action. Read more about YouTube’s ABCD framework here.
Creative Diversification Yields Long-Term Benefits
Ultimately, investing in creative diversification across ad platforms provides a competitive edge.
By tailoring creative assets to the specific strengths and best practices of each platform, you maximise their impact and create meaningful connections with your audience.
Diversified creative not only prevents ad fatigue but also keeps your brand fresh, engaging, and relevant across every channel.
In a world where consumers are constantly switching between platforms, creative diversification is your strategy for staying top-of-mind. It’s the key to making your brand resonate, from the first impression to conversion.
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