Testing the Message: Break-through Performance with Evidence-Driven Creative

Background & Challenge:

Leadnow is a national-scale advocacy non-profit. Founded in 2010, Leadnow has a rich history of harnessing digital tools to organize large-scale digital movements rooted in progressive values. 

Leadnow needed to increase  supporter acquisition and reactivate older lists. In the fall of 2025, their existing digital ads were underperforming, with cost per new supporters sitting at $13.92. The team needed clarity on what narrative resonated with their key audiences.

With limited time and a fixed budget, they needed a strategic approach that could quickly identify what messaging works and what could be retired, and build a repeatable framework for future campaigns.

Strategic Approach:

This project was delivered in partnership with Savanna Pelech Marketing and Simka Marshall Communications, integrating narrative strategy with high‑performance digital optimization to achieve campaign objectives. We worked closely with the client from the outset; aligning goals and shaping the hypothesis we wanted to test. 

In partnership with SPM, SMC led a structured messaging-testing program grounded in audience insight and narrative experimentation. The strategy focused on:

• Understanding our audience: 

  • building clarity around what people responded to and what motivated them

• Developing the story:

  • Exploring different ways to express the core message 

• Testing different creative directions to understand what resonated:

  • Putting multiple tones, visuals, and calls to action to see what landed

• A clear process for refining and improving the work

  • a feedback loop between creative and paid media that guided what messaging we retired and what we scaled.

This collaborative approach ensured every decision was grounded in real audience behaviour, not assumptions. 

Execution:

This campaign ran in two phases, each over a four-week cycle. Phase we focused on controlled A/B testing across Meta. 

After the the initial campaign run, we reviewed ad performance in order to: 

• Retire what wasn’t landing

• Reinforce and scale the message 

• Introduce new variations based on insights

• Maintain a high-functioning feedback loop that compounds results over time.

The Results:

The campaign delivered a dramatic performance transformation including:

• 97% reduction in cost per new supporter (from $13.92 to $0.34)

• 127% increase in conversion rate

• 172% higher page engagement 

• Clear evidence-backed insights for the organization to utilize

The results fundamentally changed the economics of acquisition for the organization.

Our Insights:

What we learned from this testing campaign was a snapshot into audience response during a complex political climate. In this instance, the audience performed better to urgency-based messaging that was rooted in values. Higher performance was also found with strong and direct calls-to-action and simpler yet relatable visuals. 

Finally, from this campaign we saw first-hand how creative and paid media worked best as a single system. The strongest results came from alignment in narrative strategy, targeting, and delivery.