What is Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)?

Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) is a type of advertising technology that helps advertisers create personalized ads based on real-time data and user data analytics. Instead of showing every user the same version of an ad, advertisers can tailor certain elements of the ad to target specific audiences according to their preferences, interests, demographics, etc. 

This programmatic advertising approach results in more effective ads that better resonate with consumers. 

The goal of DCO is to make ads hyper-relevant – think of it as intelligent advertising that customizes the ad for the eyes of the consumer looking at it. Consumers see countless ads per day, which is why it’s so important for brands and publishers to engage with them by delivering more meaningful, impactful, and relevant ad experiences that will resonate better. 

Show them a poncho if it’s raining

Imagine a man seeing an ad that promotes a sports jersey. The ad promotes jerseys for men, women, boys, and girls of a popular New York team because the advertiser is targeting New Yorkers based on their IP address. The problem? This man is single, and his favorite team plays in Dallas, so this ad has little relevance for him.

Enter Dynamic Creative Optimization – the ad can intelligently configure itself to make itself more relevant to this particular viewer. In this case, the man will see an ad that shows jerseys for men only, and even more specifically, based on his purchase history, he will be served an ad for the jersey of his favorite team in Dallas. Furthermore, the ad can be made contextually relevant by replacing the jersey with a poncho – in case it’s raining.

How does DCO work, and why should advertisers use it?

DCO is based on real-time analytics and testing. This powerful tool analyzes multiple data inputs, including the viewer’s gender, age, location, weather, device, past shopping habits, and more. Based on this information, DCO technology can suggest which ad iterations should be shown to the individual consumer to deliver the most relevant ad experience.

In turn, the most powerful DCO solutions can analyze how consumers respond to the displayed personalized ads and suggest even further optimizations for the future. 

Adapting certain ad components based on collected user data results in hyper-personalized ads, significantly improving engagement and ad performance.

It’s worth noting here that you shouldn’t confuse personalized ads with personified ads – a term coined in 2015 that refers to a digital experience that’s based on customers’ inclusion rather than their personal identity. Contrary to personalized ads, personified advertising offers insights into audiences without collecting personal data.

Why is Dynamic Creative Optimization complicated to implement?

As you can imagine, Dynamic Creative Optimization requires vast amounts of data to achieve its objectives, not to mention hundreds, if not thousands, of creative units for a single ad placement. 

Creative units or creatives consist of images, video, audio, or other formats that serve as ads to the consumer. With the explosion of countless channels, audiences, sizes, and formats that advertisers, brands, marketers, and media teams need to take into account, the production of personalized ad creatives can’t keep up with the demand without advertisers drastically changing creative production processes.

Luckily, there are tools, such as Celtra’s Creative Automation platform, that can help advertisers get the most out of DCO technology by helping them produce high-impact, on-brand creatives at scale as well as automating repetitive and laborious tasks.

Support your DCO strategy with Creative Automation

The numbers speak for themselves: Creative Automation is transforming digital advertising workflows by helping companies increase their creative volume by 70% and go to market 5 times faster.

With the use of automation and AI, teams can now launch digital campaigns faster across all markets, platforms, and channels. The best part? No need to sacrifice quality for quantity – Celtra’s cloud-based software solution helps ensure brand consistency at the largest scale.

Teams can collaborate more easily as all workflows are streamlined in a one-spot platform. On top of that, even non-designers can use centralized modular design templates to make easy adaptations on the go across messaging and visuals.

Want to learn more about how Creative Automation can support your DCO strategy and help you create high-quality personalized creatives at scale?