The commercial job
Queensberry x DerbyFest needed fast campaign assets for an Epsom Racecourse event. The main film carried the world and energy of the day, but the paid-social test had a sharper question: which format gets people to the ticket booking page fastest?
We tested four variants in the same ad set, over the same run time, with the same localised targeting around Epsom Downs and Pixie Lott music fans. That made the comparison useful: the variable was the creative format, not the media environment.
The 24-hour test
Actual spend is not shown. The public comparison below uses reach, impressions, link clicks, average cost per click and percentage changes between formats.
Control · 37s hero video
The polished hero film introduced the DerbyFest world and drove 227 website clicks from 9,842 impressions in the first 24 hours.
Learning: Strong campaign world, but polish alone was not the most efficient click driver.
Test 02 · 15s cutdown
The 15-second cutdown produced 376 website clicks from 8,867 impressions.
Learning: It drove 66% more clicks than the hero film, with a 40% lower average CPC and an 84% stronger CTR.
Test 03 · Artist-led CTA
The 12-second Pixie-led edit removed AI spectacle and story framing, ending with a direct CTA.
Learning: The known artist helped recognition, but without a stronger attention device it produced 18% fewer clicks than the hero film.
Winner · Viral remix test
The remix opened with a deliberately lo-fi viral sports clip, then cut at the impact moment into the Pixie Lott event creative.
Learning: It generated 370% more clicks than the hero film, 184% more than the cutdown, and reduced average CPC by 80% versus the hero.
The polished hero film was still valuable. It established the campaign world, gave the event a premium feel, and created the asset base for cutdowns. But once the paid-social job became ticket-page clicks, the best performer was the format that interrupted the feed fastest and then redirected attention into the event offer.
The key lesson was not "make everything lo-fi". It was more useful than that: build the polished campaign world, then test native-feeling attention devices around it. The winning DerbyFest edit worked because the conversion path was ready, the audience was localised, the hook was immediate, and the event proposition was easy to act on.
Commercial use
For future event campaigns, we would still build the hero film first, but plan a paid-social experiment around it from day one: a polished campaign cut, a short vertical cutdown, a talent-led proof edit, and at least one left-field attention test designed for localised conversion.