Marketers must use as much data as they can before committing to a costly marketing drive, experts have advised.

According to Kantar Media, brands should draw on information from quantitative and qualitative sources, as well as neuroscience, when devising an expensive creative campaign.

Chief Executive Andy Brown said this would give brands a much more holistic perspective, allowing them to better predict the kind of reaction a campaign will generate.

“I am very conscious of not doing things in a bubble by having people in the marketing department decide among themselves what works without testing it,” he commented.

“The cost of testing ads is lower than it ever has been.”

Mr Brown was speaking after a number of high-profile instances of brands pulling ads that were designed to show their social purpose, yet attracted widespread criticism for consumers on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Tim Burge, culture and trends director, added that brands increasingly feel the need to promote their social purpose as consumers now expect or want them to have a view on various issues within society.

This, he stated, is partly down to declining trust in other “bastions of society” such as politicians over recent years.

Mr Burge said this has “placed more emphasis on marketers and products to try to give a kind of perspective and say something meaningful.”

Are brands right to axe ads after a social media backlash? Marketing Week