A Canadian study from comScore ARS says the creative quality of digital advertising campaigns contributes more to changes in sales than does media planning.

The study looked at several campaigns and found Ad Quality contributed up to 52% of sales changes, versus 13% for the campaign’s Media Plan.

“In the digital media industry in Canada, we tend to spend a great deal of effort on optimizing the media plan – and rightfully so, because it is extremely important,” said Brent Bernie, president of comScore Canada in a release. “When one considers, however, the fact that the quality of the creative used in the ad can have such a significant impact on sales outcomes, we can begin to see why it is also essential to optimize creative strategy and messaging on the front end of the planning process. While front-end testing may not be second nature to digital advertisers just yet, we ignore its importance at our own peril.”