Bridging the gap: Aligning advertising creative with digital-first best practices

The digital advertising world moves fast. Blink, and you might miss a new best practice, a shifting algorithm, or a fresh consumer behavior trend. Our VP, GTM Strategy, Max Massengill breaks down how to make sure your creative hits digital-first best practices.

As much as things change, one thing remains a constant: your creative execution and media strategy need to play nice with each other. Unfortunately, the reality is media experts and creative experts often approach campaign development from totally different angles.

Media teams obsess over audience behaviors, platform-specific performance metrics, and optimization levers. Creative teams, on the other hand, focus on storytelling, brand identity, communicating the SMP, and, let’s be honest, making things look and sound awesome.

These differences can sometimes lead to friction, especially as digital-first creative best practices evolve at breakneck speed. Many senior creative professionals built their expertise in a pre-digital world where traditional storytelling reigned supreme. Meanwhile, platforms like Meta, Google, and TikTok are constantly dropping data-driven insights that challenge long-standing creative conventions.

So, how do we bridge the gap? Let’s dig into three key areas where media and creative minds don’t always see eye to eye – and more importantly, how they can find common ground to create better-performing campaigns.

1. The role of attention: Short-form impact vs. narrative build-up

Media perspective: Hook the audience instantly

Media experts live and breathe performance data, and one thing is crystal clear: you have milliseconds to make an impression. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have conditioned users to demand instant engagement. If an ad doesn’t grab attention in the first three seconds, it might as well not exist.

That’s why media strategists champion front-loading key brand elements, keeping messaging punchy, and leaning into dynamic visuals that stop the scroll. Even with a strong creative hook up front, the majority of users will still not complete your video, for example. You need to ensure you are still adding brand value when people are only seeing the first 3 seconds of a video.

Creative perspective: Storytelling needs time to build

Many creative professionals, particularly those who cut their teeth on TVCs or long-form video, see storytelling as an unfolding arc – set the scene, build intrigue, and then deliver the payoff. This approach doesn’t always jive with the fast-paced, skippable world of digital advertising. Cutting to the chase too quickly might feel like sacrificing depth and emotional resonance. Good creatives know they need to have compelling hooks up front, and this is definitely still critical.

My recommendation: Marry impact with storytelling

Let’s reframe this not as a constraint but as an evolution of storytelling. The challenge is to make narratives work faster. Think of it like a movie trailer – leading with the most compelling moment, using quick cuts, and layering intrigue while still delivering a complete message. Structuring creative assets to include modular storytelling – where a compelling hook leads to deeper content – allows campaigns to flex across different placements without losing their essence.

2. Format and context: Platform-specific user behavior vs. one-size-fits-all assets

Media perspective: Adapt creative to how people behave on each platform

It’s not just about resizing creative for different placements; it’s about understanding how people consume content on each platform. A LinkedIn user, for example, is probably in work mode, scrolling with a business mindset. A TikTok user? Likely looking for entertainment and distraction. Someone watching YouTube on their TV? Fully immersed.

Media teams advocate for tailoring creative to match these different user behaviors because an ad that works on Instagram Stories might flop on Connected TV.

Creative perspective: Consistency and craft matter

Creative teams worry (rightfully so) about brand integrity. Having to tweak creative too much for different platforms can lead to a fragmented campaign, where assets feel disconnected from the core brand identity. Plus, budgets and timelines don’t always allow for infinite versions of an ad.

My recommendation: Design for context from the start

The best approach? Think ‘context-first’ instead of ‘resizing after the fact.’ Rather than making one hero asset and forcing it into every placement, build adaptable creative from the beginning. That means considering different consumption behaviors and engagement levels upfront, ensuring that the creative complements – rather than disrupts – the experience. This way, media and creative work in tandem from the get-go.

3. Performance metrics: The right KPI vs. the right creative execution

Media perspective: Everything drives performance

Media teams live by performance data. Whether it’s a conversion-focused campaign or a brand-awareness play, they see everything through the lens of performance – it’s just a matter of measuring the right kind of performance.

A direct-response ad should drive sign-ups, but a brand-awareness video should increase awareness, recall, lift, and engagement. From the media side, all creative should be optimized for the KPI it’s meant to serve, whether that’s clicks, brand lift, or something in between.

Creative perspective: Message first, performance second

Creative teams, on the other hand, approach things with a messaging-first mindset. They understand that performance matters but tend to focus on nailing tone, key messaging, clever copywriting, and killer design. The challenge? A beautifully executed ad might be perfectly on-brand but not structured in a way that aligns with its intended KPI.

My recommendation: A/B testing and knowledge sharing

Here’s where the magic happens: media and creative teams need to work together to align on the KPI before the creative is even developed. If the goal’s brand awareness, the creative should focus on engagement and recall. If it’s performance-driven, the creative should be structured for action, with clear CTAs and an optimized layout. There’s an added challenge here for campaigns that have multiple KPIs or are trying to do it all (i.e., brand to demand).

And this is where collaborative measurement planning and testing comes in. Media teams have access to performance data that can help creative teams fine-tune their work. By running different versions of an ad – testing variations in copy, visuals, and structure – media can provide valuable insights into what works.

But that data shouldn’t live in a vacuum. When creative teams get access to performance insights, they can start designing with those learnings in mind. A regular feedback loop between media and creative helps ensure that future assets aren’t just beautiful, but also effective.

Final thoughts: A call for cross-disciplinary collaboration

At the end of the day, media and creative aren’t adversaries – they’re two sides of the same coin. Creative teams bring storytelling and artistry; media teams bring data and precision. When they work together (instead of in silos), the results are exponentially better.

So, what’s the takeaway? Creative needs to be optimized for digital, but that doesn’t mean sacrificing storytelling or quality. Media needs to be more than just numbers; it needs to champion the right KPIs for the right objectives. Both sides win when they speak the same language and collaborate from the beginning.

And hey, when that happens, you end up with campaigns that not only look great but actually work great. Isn’t that what we’re all here for?

If that’s what you’re here for, get in touch! We’d love to work together.