Meaningful brand lift for Clearpay on quality PIQ inventory.

Identical creative across two PIQ-scored inventory sets. Brand consideration landed 2.7 points higher on the high-quality set, measured independently.

Back2School Clearpay Back to School brand campaign, schoolchildren in uniform

The challenge

Does the ad environment change how people feel about the brand?

Clearpay wanted to remind UK customers that buy-now-pay-later stretched to back-to-school costs. The reach plan was simple. The harder question is one programmatic rarely tests: does the inventory a brand runs in change how people feel about it?

Sitelists, viewability and brand-safety flags say a placement is "safe". They don't say whether the page makes the brand more considered. So Clearpay, Goodstuff and Picnic ran a controlled test.

Clearpay ad on a cluttered, low-PIQ page

Low-PIQ <30

High-PIQ 30+

A bit about PIQ

PIQ scores the environment before the bid.

The same Clearpay creative, audience and delivery window ran across two PIQ-scored inventory sets, high quality (PIQ above 30) and low quality (below 30). PIQ grades the page a brand runs in before the impression is bought, so the buyer gets to choose which environment they fund.

2.5×better average PIQ Score

+18.9points higher domain trust

−14.1%ad density on the page

−13.9%page load time

The results

High-quality inventory drove 2.7pts more brand lift.

Viewability and CTR were broadly consistent across both arms, which isolated environment as the variable that moved the brand metric.

Brand consideration vs Cint benchmark

Same creative, same audience, same window.

Benchmark

2.7pt spread

+0.7%

High-PIQ

−2.0% Low-PIQ

+0.7% High-PIQ inventory lifted brand consideration into positive territory vs Cint's benchmark.

−2.0% Low-PIQ inventory, running the same creative on cheaper supply, landed below it.

A 2.7-point swing on environment alone, the same ad, working harder on better inventory.

“It was great to collaborate with Picnic on this test to show how we can more effectively drive consideration for our clients, and the importance of quality over quantity in digital advertising. This research will help further those conversations with clients, where the performance of their marketing spend continues to be under ever-increasing scrutiny.”

Vicky Farley

Group Digital Director

What's next

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