When creative beats targeting in the performance game

Creative is no longer a downstream output in digital marketing—it is fast becoming the primary driver of performance.

This transition is being reflected in industry estimates, with creative now believed to drive two-thirds of campaign performance, prompting major brands to increase allocation to creative production budgets. 

These shifts point to a deeper structural reset. As platform intelligence standardises access to audiences, creative is emerging as the new targeting layer—the factor that determines not just engagement, but increasingly, delivery itself.

Abhirup Datta, CEO, Performance Practice Media Solutions, dentsu India & CEO, Sokrati India, estimates that creative now contributes nearly 70% of campaign outcomes, a sharp shift from 12–18 months ago when targeting precision dominated results. As platforms move toward automated, broad targeting, he argues, differentiation has compressed—leaving creative as the most decisive variable.”

According to Nikhil Kumar, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, affle – India & Emerging Markets, creative is taking centre stage in marketing as data, and AI-driven personalisation turn it into a scalable, performance-driving engine rather than a static output.

The implications of this shift go beyond tactics—they point to a redefinition of marketing itself. The old playbook was built on precision targeting. The new one is being written around speed, storytelling and scale. And in that equation, creative is no longer just part of the system. It is the system.

“That shift is also being felt on the ground,” says Aalap Desai, Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder, tgthr. He explains, “After years of tactical, performance-heavy communication, brands are hitting a saturation point. Much of the output has become “uninteresting” and easy to ignore. Making cut-through creativity the only reliable way to capture attention in cluttered feeds.”

Automated Delivery Erodes Targeting Advantage

The rise of AI-led ad systems has fundamentally altered how campaigns are optimised and scaled. Platforms now process behavioural and contextual signals at a scale that manual targeting cannot match—making audience selection faster, more efficient, but also less differentiated.

Datta points out that this has effectively levelled the playing field. With broad targeting defaults and algorithmic optimisation, “everyone is operating with similar audience capabilities,” shifting the burden of performance onto creative.

Sayak Mukherjee, CEO and founder of Brandwizz Communication and Creator Cult, sees this playing out most clearly in short-form ecosystems. Creative quality now drives 60–70% of performance, he says, as platform AI prioritises content based on engagement signals such as watch time and interaction. “It’s less about finding the right audience first, and more about creating content that the algorithm wants to push,” he explains.

The knock-on effect is visible in campaign dynamics. Creative fatigue cycles have shortened dramatically, forcing brands to constantly refresh assets to maintain performance. This is pushing marketers toward fewer, broader campaigns—where targeting ensures reach, but creative determines response and scale.

AI scales creative, boosts performance

Nikhil Kumar says the company has long followed a multi-creative, multi-outcome model, where formats, messaging and engagement strategies work together to drive results. “Combined with strong targeting signals and a verticalised, vernacular-first approach, this has consistently delivered stronger engagement and outcomes,” he says.

He adds that creative optimisation has been driven by DCO frameworks, enabling a shift from static assets to responsive, variation-led campaigns based on audience signals and performance data.

What’s changed is the scale. AI is now amplifying this foundation—powering real-time creative refinement and replacing limited asset pools with always-on optimisation. Tools like Opticks AI generate thousands of hyper-personalised creatives, dynamically adapting formats and messaging based on user behaviour and context.

From a budget lens, the shift is about efficiency, not higher spending. “AI reduces manual iterations and fragmented localisation, cutting waste while enabling significantly higher creative output,” Kumar notes.

The payoff is tangible—brands are seeing 20%+ uplift in Click Through Rates (CTRs), alongside similar improvements in customer acquisition costs, he quips. 

From Big Ideas to Creative Velocity

Brands are reconfiguring how they produce and deploy creatives. “High-performing brands are now allocating 15–20% of budgets to creative, up from 5–10% earlier, to support always-on production and rapid iteration. This includes building dedicated creative strategy, production and analytics layers to continuously test and optimize content,” Datta noted. 

This multi-asset approach is gaining traction. Performance marketing leaders estimate that nearly 50% of brands are already adopting it, with clear gains in efficiency, engagement and scalability. In many cases, strong creative is enabling brands to scale media spends by 30–50% year-on-year, executives say. 

Desai, however, emphasises that the more important shift is philosophical—clients now expect creativity and efficiency to work in tandem, rather than as trade-offs.

Mukherjee highlights a parallel shift in the nature of creative itself. Brands are increasingly moving away from high-production assets toward UGC and creator-led content, which offers faster iteration and stronger relatability. Instead of one master creative, campaigns now involve multiple assets across formats, languages and hooks.

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