Chapter 1
Cracking the Code to Creative Success
Creativity is an essential ingredient in the digital F&B industry. There is constant pressure to keep up with changing consumer demands, an ever-expanding range of products and new ways of selling. Creativity is a cheat code that helps brands stand out in a fragmented consumer market.
To do so, business must measure the performance of their creative campaigns to ensure they are driving consumer engagement and conversations. Our survey respondents shared that social media engagement (63%) and brand awareness surveys (52%) are their most reliable metrics for measuring success. These help brands connect with their community in a more personal way, attracting new customers while keeping existing ones happy.
To stay ahead of the game, industry leaders candidly shared they are benchmarking their creative performance against competitors on a monthly or quarterly basis. This practice allows them to gain valuable insights into consumer interactions, ambassador selection, relatability, social media expansion, content quality, and reach.
However, success cannot be dependent on competitors - businesses must understand the effectiveness of their own creative assets. Our survey showcased a strong focus on monitoring customer interactions with answers such as tracking participation in rewards schemes, reviewing feedback, and utilising email heatmaps. A common theme is the emphasis on understanding how customers are engaging with the brand and its content.
As expected, the biggest challenge to ensuring creative assets stand out is fragmented consumer attention (64%), closely followed by brand inconsistency (59%). Creative assets form the foundation of a successful marketing campaign. And with the rise of short form video, brands have only seconds to grab their customers’ attention before they scroll on. Brands must overcome this challenge through dynamic creativity and innovative visual storytelling to connect with customers on a deeper level.
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Question 1: How often do you benchmark your creative performance against competitors, and what insights have been most actionable?
Question 2: How do you currently measure the success of your creative campaigns in driving consumer engagement and conversion
Question 3: How do you currently measure the success of your creative campaigns in driving consumer engagement and conversion
Question 4: What are the biggest challenges you face in ensuring creative assets stand out in crowded digital and retail environments
The survey highlights a growing gap between creative storytelling and functional clarity in e-commerce imagery. Brands often prioritize high-quality lifestyle visuals, but consumer behaviour suggests that speed of information retrieval is just as important. The challenge is finding the right balance—ensuring product images are compelling enough to stand out, while also instantly communicating essential details like product benefits, size, or ingredients.
Are brands designing for consumers or for internal brand aesthetics? Often, the pursuit of visually stunning content can inadvertently obscure clarity. The most effective e-commerce strategies will be those that acknowledge that attention is a finite resource and optimize content accordingly. Future success will come from brands that test not just what looks good, but what is immediately understood by the consumer.
Steve King, CEO, Dragonfly AI
Question 2: How do you currently measure the success of your creative campaigns in driving consumer engagement and conversion? (Respondents were asked to select all that apply)
Social media Engagment Metrics (i.e Share, Likes, ETC)
Brand Awareness Surveys
Website Traffic & Time Spent On-Site
Influencer Campaign Performance Metrics
Email Open & Click Through Rates
Customer Feedback & Sentiment Analysis
User-Generated Content Volume
Conversion Rates (e.g Purchases, Sign-Ups)
Video View Counts & Completion Rates
Click Through rates on Digital Adds
A/B Testing Results
"Survey data suggests that packaging design is becoming an increasingly decisive factor in consumer purchasing behaviour, especially in competitive retail environments. This shift is likely driven by cognitive overload—with consumers bombarded by choices, packaging acts as a visual shortcut for decision-making. This raises important questions about what elements truly capture attention in a split-second glance.
For brands, the challenge is not just designing for aesthetic appeal but understanding how design elements interact with human perception and cognition. Neuroscience research suggests that high-contrast visuals, minimalistic layouts, and intuitive information hierarchy can significantly improve visual processing speed. As competition on the shelf intensifies, the brands that succeed will be those that approach packaging not just as a branding tool but as a functional communication asset that aligns with how consumers naturally process information."
Giles Smith, Head of Key Accounts at Dragonfly AI
"Sustainability continues to be a major factor in consumer preferences, as indicated by the survey results. However, do sustainability claims register at the point of decision-making? Many brands invest in eco-friendly materials and messaging, but if these elements are not visually prominent or intuitively understood, they may fail to influence purchasing behaviour.
Visual literacy around sustainability is still evolving. While certain cues like green colour palettes or certification logos may signal eco-friendliness to some consumers, they are not universally understood. Brands that approach sustainability as not just a messaging exercise but a behavioural design challenge will be better positioned to turn consumer intent into action."
Steve King, CEO, Dragonfly AI
What are the biggest challenges you face in ensuring creative assets stand out in crowded digital and retail environments?
(Respondents were asked to select up to three options)
Fragmented Consumer Attention
Brand Inconsistency Across Channels
Measuring Creative Effectiveness
Evolving Customer Expectation
Oversaturation of Content
Lack of Personalisation
"Fragmented consumer attention continues to be a major challenge, especially with the changing digital landscape and the short attention spans caused by constant scrolling on mobile phones.
When users scroll through their timeline or digital store, you only have a couple seconds to grab their attention which makes standing out incredibly difficult. So, how do you capture attention while also driving desirability? It is about starting with the basics and ensuring that your brand is visible and compelling from the very first moment."
Erik Liebe, Head of Marketing & Digital Commerce, Unilever
