did the cut beat the animatic?

On every metric but one. Sentiment is up 14%, recall up 9 points, and the second-19 reveal holds. Offer clarity slipped 4 points once the legal super came in — a timing fix, not copy.

compare to category norm

Against 38 comparable spots the cut indexes 112 on sentiment and 104 on recall. Branding by second 12 sits on the norm; the animatic was below it, so the change worked.

quotes from lapsed customers

“I forgot they did this.” “The ending is the first time I believed it.” “Too much talking at the start.” 58% said they would look the offer up.

Welcome to your plan.

“The :30 airs in six weeks. Right now it’s a storyboard and a hunch.”

see how we test ads at every stage

step 01

choose your tested audience

category buyers

cord-cutters 25-44

the client’s target

We recruit the people your client has to win.

Multiple panels field at once without duplicate respondents.

Don’t worry about bad respondents. We catch that in real time, so every reaction is a real one.

26M

vetted respondents

30+

countries fielded

duplicate respondents

24/7

quality detection

mars reel × pizza hut

branded video

319 respondents

US sports fans

step 02

kickoff

Test the idea before you spend the production budget.

Know which of three boards is worth producing.

goal 01

Find the seconds where the animatic loses the message.

goal 02

Prove the finished cut beats the category norm before air.

goal 03

A request form quicker than email auto-prices your study and books the kickoff call.

step 03

fielding

The same audience at every stage, securely.

Each version fields to matched audiences until every quota is hit, so stage two is compared to stage one.

:30 spot — animatic v2 · react while you watchdrm · watermarked

viewer 4471 · mobile

0:14 / 0:30

step 04

results

Every second of the spot, scored. We’ll tell you which ones to fix.

Board, animatic and cut on the same dial, so you see where the message lands and where it goes missing while there is still time to change the edit.

max norm

min norm

0011230

😳😍🥱🤨

category buyers

lapsed customers

The product reveal at second 19 is the high point in all three stages — it held from board to cut. Protect it; the client will want a shorter setup, and the setup earns this.

dianne kamin

director, APAC consumer insights

The voiceover’s second claim lands flat with lapsed customers in the animatic and again in the cut. Rec. swapping the line for the visual proof you already shot.

nina goetzen

consumer insights manager

step 05

reporting

Let’s get deliverables to your client.

We don’t dump data. We tell stories.

Pilotly’s advertising specialists turn three rounds of reactions into one story the client can act on.

Benchmarked against category norms, in your deck’s format, delivered in days.

Talk to your study in plain language.

and ask it anything

which board should we produce?

Board B. It leads recall by +11 over A and lifts intent with lapsed customers. C loses the brand by second 12.

don’t leave just yet

come to the Pilotly side

We support agencies & media in several ways.

Storyboard & animatic testing

use case

Trailer & promo testing

use case

Rough-to-locked cut screening

methodology

Virtual focus groups

methodology

Brand lift studies

methodology

Ads in a streaming break

use case

Ready before the shoot is.

Book a demo and we’ll walk this exact study through before it goes in front of your client.

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