Recoupling Creative and Media: A renaissance

Peanut butter and jelly. Dinner and a movie. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

Some things just go better together.Creative and Media are no exception. In an industry that has kept these two disciplines separated for decades, the power of the pairing is bringing about an evolution and a re-ignition of supercharged campaign strategy.

Adweek recently brought attention to the reunion of Creative and Media in its July 26, 2021 issue: “Remarrying Creative and Media” (subscription required).

The article outlines that in the early 1980s, due to the disruption of cable TV, the advertising industry decided that creative and media worked better in separate silos. Creatives relished in the expanded creative freedom. Media companies were content with consolidating media buys and amassing money. “Separating media from creative was the worst blow the agency business has ever sustained,” Keith Reinhard, chairman emeritus at DDB Worldwide told Adweek.

But much as cable disrupted the industry three decades ago, digital is bringing about a similar sea change.

Data integration can inform every aspect of the campaign, and these insights must be applied to all components of a campaign — creative included. “We are living in a world where distribution method and message are so intertwined… how you say something will totally be affected by where and when it will be said,” George Dewey, president of Maximum Effort told Adweek. “To have them separate is to hamstring yourself.”

Though some may see this recoupling as a new trend in digital advertising, Subset established itself on this fundamental principle more than three years ago. Be it messaging creation, audits and optimizations, Subset has the team and resources to ensure creative messaging pairs perfectly with media deployment. When working in tandem, media and creative combine to iron out all performance details to maximize campaign efficiency and effectiveness.