Ad concept bakeoff

Put multiple ad concepts in front of your real audience and watch how they react. Learn which angle, imagery, and claims create the strongest "I'd click that" response.

Category:

Creative / Ads

Type:

Talk through this recipe

Talk through this recipe

What this experiment answers


  • Which ad concept creates the strongest click intent

  • What creative angles resonate vs. fall flat

  • Which claims feel credible vs. too good to be true

  • How different audience segments respond to each concept

When Teams Use This

Common scenarios:

  • Before launching a new paid campaign

  • When refreshing creative that's showing declining performance

  • To validate which angle to lead with in a multi-channel launch

  • When agency partners present multiple concept directions

When not to use this:

If you only have one concept or minor variations (like color swaps), use a simpler A/B test framework instead.

How the experiment works


1: Inputs required

3–6 ad concepts (can be static images, video thumbnails, or copy + visual descriptions), target audience definition, campaign goal (awareness, consideration, conversion)


2: Study setup

Upload concepts to Mavera Audience. Configure the study to measure appeal, clarity, click intent, and brand fit.


3: What Mavera runs

Side-by-side concept testing with randomized presentation order, qualitative feedback on creative elements, quantitative rankings on key metrics


4: Outputs you receive

Ranked concepts with performance scores, element-level feedback (headline, visual, CTA), segment breakdowns showing which audiences prefer which concepts, verbatim explanations of appeal and concerns

What you get out of it

Clear winner and runner-up concepts

Element-level insights (which headlines, images, CTAs work best)

Audience segmentation showing divergent preferences

Example artifacts: creative brief updates, media buying recommendations, test-and-learn roadmap


Common Pitfalls

Don't test concepts that are too similar—small tweaks won't surface meaningful differences.

Make sure all concepts are production-ready or close to it. Testing rough sketches leads to feedback on polish, not substance.

Consider channel context. An ad that works for LinkedIn may not translate to Instagram.

Want to apply this to your product?

We'll tailor this recipe to your ICP, product, and launch timeline—and show you exactly what the output would look like before you commit.

Plan this experiment

Plan this experiment

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