Creative QA Beyond the Dimensions

A creative can have the right dimensions and still be wrong for the campaign. It might contain an outdated offer, open an incorrect destination or obscure a page control. Creative QA checks both the asset and the experience it creates.

Confirm the specification

Start with the placement's requirements: dimensions or aspect ratio, accepted format, file weight, animation limits, duration and integration details. Record the approved asset version.

Common pixel sizes are useful shorthand, but they are not a complete specification. The IAB New Ad Portfolio also addresses flexible, aspect-ratio-based formats. Confirm what the receiving environment supports.

Check the message

Compare the creative with the approved brief. Review brand, offer, dates, currency, disclaimers and call to action. Open every asset rather than relying on filenames: similar names often hide different versions.

For video and audio, review the full asset. The opening can be correct while the closing offer is outdated. Confirm any required captions, language or alternate versions.

Test the destination

Follow the actual click path in a suitable test environment. Confirm that redirects end at the intended page, required parameters survive and the destination works on the target device.

Check whether the landing page matches the creative's promise. A technically valid link to an irrelevant page is still a poor launch outcome. Check the experience after any consent or region-dependent step.

Review behaviour in context

Test the asset where it will appear. Look for clipping, unreadable text, unexpected audio, broken controls and interactions that interfere with surrounding content. Review desktop and mobile separately when both are in scope.

A preview may not reproduce every live condition. Record that limitation and plan a controlled post-launch check. If an issue cannot be reproduced, keep the device, browser and observed conditions with the report.

Keep an approval record

Store the asset version, test date, environment, issues found and final approver. A replacement after approval is a new version and needs the relevant checks again.

“Looks fine” is difficult to reuse a week later. A useful QA record tells a colleague what was checked, which limitations remain and where the evidence can be found.