Why same ad can work in one moment & fail in another, MediaKart’s Shahad Anand explains

Advertising has long been built around finding the right consumer and putting the right message in front of them. But Shahad Anand, Business Head, Skylight Mediakart, argues that there is another variable marketers need to account for: the moment in which that consumer encounters the message.

The same creative can prompt very different responses depending on what the consumer is thinking, feeling or doing at that point.

Anand illustrated the idea through something people encounter every day: money. A ₹500 note is familiar enough to be almost invisible, but its meaning changes depending on who is holding it. “What does 500 rupees stand for? A 500 rupee note in the hand of a child. Lots of money. A 500 rupee note in the hand of a billionaire. Nothing. A 500 rupee note in the hand of a gambler. You put 10 and got 500. A 500 rupee note in the hand of a waiter. It's appreciation.”

“It is the same currency. The context changes. Thus the attention that you pay to it.”

For advertisers, that distinction is important. Consumers do not encounter advertising with a blank slate. Their immediate state of mind can determine whether a message feels relevant enough to notice, process or act upon.

Context changes the effectiveness of the message
Anand argues that contextual relevance has become more important as marketers have gained access to increasingly granular data. “The second reason why context matters a lot in this day and age is because we have an abundance of data. We have so much data that there are multiple checkpoints that we have,” he said.

The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to identify who the consumer is, but to understand what state that consumer is in when the ad reaches them. “We can see that and make sure that relevant users tend to see our ads in the right frame of mind, in the right context.”

That means context can extend beyond the content a person is consuming. The surrounding environment can also influence how a message is interpreted.

Anand cited research involving a furniture e-commerce platform where different visual environments led consumers towards different product preferences. Those exposed to imagery associated with money were more likely to look for value, while those exposed to imagery associated with clouds leaned towards comfort.

His larger point was not that marketers should manipulate consumers through visual cues, but that seemingly peripheral elements can shape how people respond.

“When asked if the wallpaper image made a difference to their purchase decision, they said no. But it was a case of 65% of the audience reacting the same way, hence concluding that the data that we bought, particularly the visual context, creates a lot of bias towards one particular behavior.”

Knowing where not to advertise
For Anand, contextual planning is also about identifying environments that can work against the message. “The third point about context that's very important and we follow that is that negative context diminishes awareness. Not only are the inclusions important, but exclusions are equally important.”

He pointed to research where the same medical procedure was presented to patients in either positive or negative terms. Although the underlying outcome remained identical, the framing dramatically altered how people responded.

“The outcome was exactly the same. But it's the negative context that changed the behavior.” For advertisers, that creates a second responsibility. Contextual relevance is not simply about finding more places where an ad can appear. It is also about understanding the environments in which the message may lose its effectiveness.

Context opens the door. Creativity keeps attention.
But relevance alone cannot make an ad work. Even when the message reaches the consumer in the right moment, the creative has to earn their attention. Anand identifies emotion and unexpectedness as two important ingredients.

“There are two aspects that come to creativity that arouse emotions and we find unexpected. The first being storytelling, second being images that are extremely compelling. That's what a good creative does.”

That puts creativity in a different relationship with media planning. Context may determine whether the consumer is receptive to a message, but the creative determines whether there is anything worth paying attention to once the message arrives. Anand also sees storytelling as particularly powerful because advertising rarely provides a completely closed narrative.

“The human mind remembers incomplete stories, completely forgets completed stories. Incomplete stories remain in our conscious mind, completed stories go to our subconscious.”

For advertising, he argues, this unfinished quality can create a reason for the consumer to stay engaged. “A well-told advertising reaches a level where it requests people to try it out and the story only finishes when somebody has tried the product out. That's the importance of creatives because a creative needs to tell a story.”

Ultimately, Anand's argument is less about choosing between contextual advertising and creativity and more about making the two work together. The right creative in the wrong moment can be ignored. The right moment with an unremarkable creative can be equally ineffective.

As Anand puts it: “We combine the contextuality and creativity to give the best option.” For marketers, that could mean moving beyond the familiar question of who is seeing the ad to a more nuanced one: what is happening when they see it?