Choosing the right Advertising System for you

Introduction

Developing great ads require continuous, data-driven insights—early and often. Zappi offers two advertising systems that equip insights teams and marketers with actionable consumer feedback through iterative learning, ensuring campaigns are optimized before they go to market. More importantly, they provide valuable insights and learnings that can be leveraged repeatedly to drive continuous development. 


Zappi offers two robust ad systems:


Both systems provide essential consumer insights to help you create and optimize the most effective advertising. The best choice for your team depends on your priorities and goals. Explore the key strengths of each system below to determine which one aligns best with your needs.


Industry & Content Compatibility


The Amplify Ad System is specifically tailored for industries such as Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Quick-Service Restaurants (QSR), Retail, Telecommunications, Finance, and Technology. It supports developing video content for a wide range of channels and stages of development, including TV ads, digital videos (across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok), storyboards, and early-stage ad concepts.

On the other hand, the Creative System is designed for all industries and verticals, offering broader flexibility to accommodate all categories. In addition to TV, YT and  social video ads, it supports other formats such as digital video, digital static and Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising


Key Actions & Decision Support


Both systems are designed to help marketers and insights teams make informed creative decisions, but they serve slightly different needs:

  • Iteration & Version Testing: Both the Amplify Ad System and Creative System allow you to research multiple versions of an ad (so long as they are meaningfully different from one another to make the results useful), helping to identify the best-performing creative.
  • Sales Impact Validation: The Amplify Ad System offers 60% higher predictive accuracy than other pre-testing methods that exist in the market for TV ads, ensuring teams can act with high confidence when they invest in the creative. The Creative System provides a strong validation as well, with 94% accuracy in aligning with industry-standard copy tests.
  • Creative Optimization: Both systems offer moment-by-moment emotional insights and open-ended consumer feedback, helping brands refine the storytelling, messaging, visuals, and branding to maximize engagement. However, the Amplify Ad System provides more granular, in-depth emotional analysis, brand recall measurement, and viewer retention tracking.
  • Long-Term Learning: Both systems enable brands to build a library of ad insights over time, consolidating knowledge and improving future creative decisions.

Budget Considerations


Budget constraints can play a crucial role in selecting the right ad system.

  • Amplify Ad System: Higher in price but still competitively positioned, with costs around $7,000–$9,000 for TV testing and $2,500–$5,000 for other solutions.
  • Creative System: A more cost-effective option, priced at $2,500–$5,000 per solution.

Exposure & Sample Robustness


  • In-Context Exposure & Behavioral Data: The Amplify Ad System provides in-context exposure and behavioral tracking for both TV and digital ads, while the Creative System only offers this for digital formats.
  • Sample Size & Robustness: The Amplify Ad System utilizes a more robust sample size (standard n=400, flexible from n=200–800), providing deeper subgroup analysis and more precise insights. The Creative System operates with a smaller sample size (n=150), which limits subgroup analysis unless additional quota boosts are applied.

Ease of Use & Customization


  • The Amplify Ad System is more complex due to its in-depth diagnostics and robust sample design.
  • The Creative System is simpler and more user-friendly while still providing strong insights.

Both solutions allow for customization, ensuring that brands can tailor their research approach to their specific needs.


Diagnostic Capabilities & Success Metrics


  • Moment-by-Moment Analysis: Both systems offer emotional response tracking.
  • Open Consumer Feedback: Both systems collect open-ended consumer responses, providing qualitative insights to complement quantitative data.
  • Validated Analytical Framework: The Amplify Ad System follows the Reach, Resonance, and Response (3Rs) model, ensuring a structured approach to evaluating creative effectiveness.
  • Measuring Risk & Reward: The Amplify Ad System assesses both the risk (potential for offense) and reward (viral potential) of an ad. The Creative System only measures viral potential unless customized with additional questions.
  • Ad-to-Ad Statistical Comparison: The Amplify Ad System allows for direct statistical significance testing between different ads, while the Creative System does not support this feature.

Comparison Table


Amplify Ad System Creative System
Industry and content compatibility

Vertical/industry   All focus industries: CPG, QSR, Telco, Finance, Tech  All industries/verticals 
Content type   TV, Digital video (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok), storyboard, early idea  TV, digital video (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok),  static (digital/OOH), storyboard, ad concept 
Key actions/decisions

Iterate - Choose the best/test  versions  Yes   Yes 

Validate - Know likely sales   

impact 

Yes - 60% more predictive than other pre-testing approaches (TV)  Good confidence - 94% cases match with  other copy tests in industry 
Optimize creative   Yes - moment by moment emotional insights, and verbatims to bring depth, in-context measurement of brand recall and viewer retention Yes - moment by moment overall emotion  and verbatims to bring insight 
Learn   Yes - all ads on one platform to build learnings over time   Yes - all ads on one platform to build learnings over time 
Budget   Higher price but still extremely competitive (~$7-9k for TV, ~$2.5-5k for other solutions)  Lower price (~$2.5-5k per solution) 

In context exposure and   

behavioral data for TV 

Yes   No 

In context exposure and   

behavioral data for digital 

Yes   Yes 
Robust sample   Very robust (standard n=400, flexibility n=200-800)  Robust (n=150) 
Simple/easy   Some complexity  Yes 
Sub group analysis   Yes   Some - limited by sample size unless  boost and quota 
Moment by moment diagnosis   Yes - granular emotional emoji response  Yes - overall emotional responses by  moment 

Granular consumer open   

responses 

Yes   Yes 
Validated analytical framework for evaluation and diagnosis  Yes - Reach, Resonance, Response (3Rs) and one Creative Effectiveness score  Headline measures for success 
Risk (offense)/reward (viral)   Yes   Viral only unless add as custom question 
Customizable   Yes   Yes 
Ad-to-ad statistical significance comparison  Yes  No 

So which Ad System is right for you?


  • Choose the Amplify Ad System if you need higher predictive accuracy, in-depth diagnostics, robust sample sizes, and statistical comparisons for more data-driven decision-making.
  • Choose the Creative System if you are looking for a cost-effective, simpler solution that still provides valuable consumer insights across a broad range of ad formats and industries.

Both systems are designed to support your creative development process and ensure that your ads resonate with consumers before launching. The right choice depends on your specific priorities, budget, and the level of insight required to drive campaign success.