If any researcher has not yet heard that his or her work kills excellent creative concepts, this means that such a person has only recently started working in this sector. I do not intend to repeat all the arguments for research (hundreds of storyboards which are incomprehensible even for their authors which have not passed the disaster check), or against it (the Żubr beer campaign).

One way or the other, this is an actual problem. Within the last year I have had an opportunity to test several highly creative and unique advertising concepts, which required from viewers the ability to imagine certain non-existing environments (e.g. a friendly luxury hospital, or a virgin island which would at the same time be highly advanced technologically) in which the spot protagonists interacted with advertised product. The worlds presented were so very abstract, unreal and weird that they should have doomed the creative concepts to failure, resulting from certain limitations and rational attitude represented by customers. But it was not the case.

Concept tests run very smoothly which was a source of great satisfaction for the Client, the advertising agency, and the researchers. This might have been affected by highly professional preparation of stimuli materials. Apart from regular (technically speaking) animatics, the agency also prepared mood clips which were to introduce the respondents to the unique tonality referring to abstract vision of the world which was to be tested. The respondents very quickly understood the convention and expressed relevant and workable comments on concepts presented. This experience proves that in the times of the Internet, and availability of countless online clips, it is very easy to prepare a good movie stimuli, which can facilitate the testing of the ‘weirdest’ advertising concepts. I believe that mood clips are likely to overcome the negative approach to testing creative concepts.