Connecting Plots takes on wasted ad dollars with launch of new technology platform a.glo

Independent creative agency Connecting Plots has today launched a specialist platform called a.glo, dedicated to channel-specific advertising for social and digital to increase media efficiency and creative effectiveness.

The launch of a.glo supports the agency’s new positioning, ‘Imagination In Every Impression’ which challenges the industry’s old habits and specifically targets the recurring and systematic problem of wasting advertising dollars by using creative that isn’t fit for purpose.

In the current economy, proving a greater ROI has never been more important. This point has been further highlighted by the recent Next&Co Annual Digital Media Wastage Report which showed that approximately 41% of digital ad spend in the last year was “wasted”. Increasingly complex channel requirements means that clients need more tailored creative to ensure they are performing in these channels to achieve stronger results.

Says Tom Phillips (pictured above), co-founder and CEO of Connecting Plots: “If you think about Meta’s ecosystem alone there are upwards of 20 ad formats. And against those formats, there are 6 different strategic objectives you can buy against that each require tailored creative solutions. Anything from different messaging, allowances for sounds, moving image, different calls-to action and more. Multiply that again by Snap, TikTok and YouTube, and this number goes to well above 40. So a ‘matching luggage’ approach of creating a 30” TVC and a 15” and 6” cutdown simply doesn’t cut the mustard.”

Phillips believes the siloed approach of how advertising, media and production agencies are set up is to blame and is leaving money on the table: “Clients are approaching us directly or via our platform partnerships to fix the same problem – their creative for these channels isn’t performing and is often an afterthought.”

The new platform a.glo combines creative, brand, media and production thinking to deliver full-funnel, fit-for-channel and fit-for-purpose creative solutions that are proven to work.

But this specialist service is not new. The team behind a.glo have been doing this in partnership with Meta, Snap and other platforms for over 5 years across a variety of verticals including financial services, consumer tech, FMCG, retail and automotive.

The service utilises best practice marketing diagnostics to help unearth where the wastage is and what the opportunities are in order to devise a strategic roadmap based on the nuances of achieving the business objectives within different channels. Clients’ existing creative and assets can then be re-engineered to create optimised best practice creative that deliver to the varying strategic objectives without the need for extensive production requirements.