Unlocking the Power of Performance Creative for Brands

In a world of fast-moving content and shrinking attention spans, not all ads are created equal. In our latest Performance+ webinar with Jampp, we explored a common but often misunderstood debate: Brand vs. Performance creatives.

They may share the same canvas, but they’re built for very different outcomes. While branding builds perception, performance drives action. During the session Webinar, our panel of experts Allita Crasto, Head of Creative at M+C Saatchi Performance, Melissa Yik, Country Director, Singapore at M+C Saatchi Performance and Benjamin Waters, Head of APAC at Jampp, explored how understanding the distinction, and knowing when to bridge the gap in creatives, is key to unlocking marketing success.

View full recording here

Brand vs Performance Creative: Why the Distinction Matters

Performance Creative is not just about adding in a CTA to a brand asset. It’s about staying true to the brand’s tone, look and narrative while being conversion focused.

“At first glance, it might seem like one creative can do it all. But that’s rarely the case.”

Allita Crasto, Head of Creative at M+C Saatchi Performance

Brand creatives are built to spark emotion, shape perception, drive action and stay in people’s minds. Think Nike’s iconic campaigns or Red Bull’s adrenaline-fueled storytelling. They are powerful, but not necessarily asking you to take immediate action.

Performance creatives, when done right, become a natural extension of the brand, just with a clearer direction and intent, and are designed for results. They’re laser-focused on driving installs, sign-ups, or purchases. That means clear messaging, strong CTAs, and a deep understanding of where the user is in their journey.

What Makes Performance Creative Work?

Performance assets must evolve with the user. At the top of the funnel, it’s about grabbing attention with bold visuals, tight storytelling. As users move down, creatives should educate, reassure, and eventually convert.

Top-funnel: Hook hard. Make them stop scrolling.

Mid-funnel: Educate and persuade, highlighting key benefits, features or social proof.

Bottom-funnel: Drive urgency and action with clear action-driven CTAs, offers, and testimonials that lead the user to convert.

The success of a performance creative comes down to its ability to resonate quickly and clearly with the user’s needs.

Why Creative is the Most Critical Lever

In performance marketing, Creative is everything. It’s the first impression. The thumb-stopper. The reason someone clicks or scrolls past.

When built intentionally, performance creatives don’t just sell, they still feel like the brand. The best ones marry brand identity with conversion goals, becoming a seamless part of the user experience.

Additionally, in an era of limited tracking and privacy-first frameworks, creative is one of the few things marketers can still fully control and test. That makes it more important than ever.

Performance Creative Best Practices

1. Know your audience: Their needs, their pain points, their triggers.
2. Build for platform: What works on TikTok won’t fly on YouTube.
3. A/B test constantly: From hooks and formats to CTAs and visuals, and optimizing based on results.
4. Keep it human: Make it relatable, real and directly a solution to your audience’s needs.
5. Keep it simple and organic: Especially with UGC/UGC-style creatives, raw, relatable content often outperforms polished ads.
6. Match goals with user motivations: Across key moments in the user journey.
7. Don’t recycle: Brand ads are not same as performance ads. Start with intent.
8. Adapt to context: A CTV ad works differently than a mobile banner. Design for the moment.

“I’m a fan of the KISS principle, which advocates for keeping things as simple as possible—especially when it comes to problem-solving, communication, and design. I think we can adopt it for all things creative too.”

Benjamin Waters, Head of APAC at Jampp

AI: The Future of Creative Personalization

AI in creative production: Currently, we live in a world where a single ad is shown to many users & it’s difficult to scale this approach, mainly because resources are limited. But now, with the use of AI, that limitation is no longer a barrier, and we can create highly personalised, dynamic creative content tailored to the unique needs of each consumer, which becomes particularly useful when you are showing ads across borders to different cultures & different languages. From automated ad copy to real-time personalization at scale, AI is helping marketers build thousands of variations faster and smarter.

Measuring Success with Creative Analytics

Great creative deserves great measurement. That’s where creative analytics comes in – tracking performance down to the hook, visual, format, or CTA. It’s like having a creative compass that points you in the right direction. 

But it’s not just about numbers. Qualitative analysis helps us understand the why behind the what. Was the tone off? Was the CTA confusing? Did the visual fail to connect? That means you can double down on what works, kill what doesn’t, and keep evolving your ads with data-backed confidence. When paired together, quantitative and qualitative data create a feedback loop that fuels better, smarter campaigns.

Key metrics to watch include:

• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Conversion rate
• View-through attribution (VTA)
• Ad visibility and video watch time
• Heatmaps and interaction data
• Video watch time

Final Takeaways: Building Creatives That Perform

• Hook fast: You’ve got 1-3 seconds, make it count
• Keep it simple: One message per ad.
• Test and learn: Iterate relentlessly.
• Talk like a human: Not a robot, ditch jargons.
• Make it personal: Relevance wins.
• Copy is king: A killer line can often do what a fancy graphic can’t.
• Watch your ads like a consumer: Not a creative/marketer.
• Steal from culture: The SMART way
• Let the platform be your playground: TikTok, Reels, Shorts – each has its vibe, don’t force fit.

In Summary

In today’s hyper-scrolling world, grabbing attention isn’t enough. Your creative needs to hold it, speak to the user’s needs, and drive them to act. That’s where performance creative shines. Unlike brand-led assets that focus on emotion and perception, performance creatives are built with clear goals: to convert, to engage, and to deliver measurable results. The secret lies in combining the soul of a brand with the precision of conversion-led messaging across every stage of the funnel.

From using bold hooks, persuasive storytelling, to sharp CTAs, high-performing creatives are intentional, tailored, and agile. Add to that the power of AI-driven personalization and creative analytics, and marketers today have a serious edge where every asset can be tested, tweaked, and optimized for impact. Simply put, creative isn’t just part of the performance equation. It’s the most critical lever.