Thinking · Newsletter
High-end creative still has a place, and it is not where you think
Everyone moved to cheap and relatable. That is exactly what makes the expensive asset valuable again.
The whole category moved to UGC-style production because it was cheap and it worked. Which means the feed is now full of it, and the scarce thing is the opposite.
The contrarian case
When every ad in a placement looks like it was shot on a phone, the one that clearly was not is the one that looks different. Difference is the mechanism. The production value is incidental.
Where high-end actually earns
Brand-adjacent moments. Launches, anniversaries, anything where the ad is also doing reputational work.
Categories where quality signals trust. If the product is expensive or the purchase is risky, cheap production reads as a warning.
The top of a long consideration cycle. Where the first impression is doing more work than the twentieth.
Where it does not
Volume testing. Anything where you need thirty variations by Friday. Anything where the audience is being addressed for the fifth time this week.
The portfolio view
Most accounts should run mostly cheap and a little expensive, and most accounts currently run all cheap. The mix is the decision, not the style.