For those of you that do a lot of online advertising, you know how effective A-B testing can be.

Online Creative A/B testing is based on the classic model of testing against a control. For example, one basic element in a banner ad creative is changed to enable an apples-to-apples test. Alternate versions of the same creative with that one element changed are produced and tested to determine which performs best under normal circumstances. The most effective creative then becomes the control to insert back into the cycle.

While it is common to do A/B testing for refining online creative, I don’t think a lot of agencies or advertisers are using this methodology for testing overall campaign creative before going offline into more expensive media.

Online media, particularly SEM (Paid Search) and CPM display advertising, is very inexpensive. What better way to test creative before going out to more expensive traditional media such as TV, radio or OOH? You can test copy, art/visuals, and overall concepts without burning through a lot of media budget.

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