Advertising creatives have long lamented ad pre-testing. They believe that it inhibits their creative process and results in much sameness in commercials. Marketers, on the other hand, believe that ad pretesting provides necessary checks and balances as to whether an ad campaign is being developed in a way that it will connect with consumers and be well-received in the marketplace.
Take a position: Ad pretesting in often an unnecessary waste of marketing dollars and ad testing does not give valid results vs. ad pretesting provides an important diagnostic function for marketers as to the likely success of an ad campaign.