Updated October 2026
Research & Insight · Campaign TestingUnderstand audience emotional response before launch
Campaign emotion testing measures how audiences respond emotionally to campaign creative before media budget is committed. EchoDepth, from Cavefish, analyses video, audio, image and text assets and returns a frame-by-frame Emotional Response Curve for marketing and research teams.
Test the advert before you buy the media
See which moments of a campaign engage the audience and which lose it, across video, audio, images and copy - and compare creative options before launch.
Read the transcript
A film can score well with a panel and still be forgotten by the weekend. Traditional pretesting needs a finished film and weeks of fieldwork and returns one score against a norm with little idea of what to change. Echo depth for marketing reads the film itself frame by frame, the faces, the voice, the music, the words, the cutting, and where the brand appears. You get three numbers kept apart.
How the film compares with 361 strong ads, attention, and predicted brand memory. Each one traced back to the seconds behind it. Then, the levers. What to change, who owns the change, and how many points it's worth.
Often with footage you already have. Same day on any cut before the edit locks. Echo depth for marketing. Know how your films land before they air.
See what your customers feel.
Your focus group loved the creative. Nobody changed their behaviour.
Survey and focus group data is self-reported. Participants perform positivity because they know they're being watched - and because agreeing is easier than disagreeing.
The gap between declared preference and actual emotional response is not a minor measurement error. It is a structural feature of self-reported research. EchoDepth closes the gap.
Multi-million pound media decisions are made on research that is structurally inaccurate. The creative that tests best in focus groups does not systematically outperform the one that tests poorly.
Frame-by-frame emotional response is the signal that predicts attention, recall and action - not aggregate sentiment or likeability scores.
Submit finished creative before committing media spend. EchoDepth analyses audience emotional response second-by-second and identifies the moments that generate genuine engagement vs. passive presence.
Test multiple message variants against matched audience panels. Identify which version generates highest emotional engagement on the specific claims that matter to your audience.
Analyse campaign recordings and audience response footage after launch. Understand which creative moments drove the engagement that converted.
Questions
How is this different from traditional pre-testing?
Traditional pre-testing (focus groups, survey, eye tracking) measures declared response, retrospective recall or physical attention. EchoDepth measures real-time involuntary emotional response - the signal that predicts whether the audience will act on what they feel, not just remember what they saw.
What formats can be tested?
Video (TV spots, social, online video), audio (radio, podcast ads), images (print, digital, OOH stills), text (copy variants, headlines, email subject lines). EchoDepth provides multimodal analysis - different modalities produce different output reports but all draw on the same underlying emotional signal platform.
Can we test against competitor creative?
Yes. EchoDepth analysis is agnostic to source. Competitor creative can be tested against the same audience panel to provide direct emotional response comparison.
What sample size is needed?
Sample size depends on the audience, the decision and the precision needed. Contact hello@cavefish.ai to discuss your specific research context.
How can a brand test campaign creative before buying media?
Submit a finished cut of the creative and EchoDepth returns a frame-by-frame Emotional Response Curve showing which moments engage the audience and which lose it. Survey and focus group data is self-reported, and participants perform positivity because they know they are being watched. EchoDepth analyses video, audio, image and text assets, so the same curve can be produced for TV spots, social and online video, radio and podcast ads, print and digital images, and copy variants. Variants can be tested against matched audience panels, including competitor creative, so emotional response can be compared directly. The signal it measures is the moment-by-moment response that predicts attention, recall and action, rather than aggregate sentiment or likeability scores. Analysis is second-by-second, and it identifies the moments that generate genuine engagement rather than passive presence. Submit the cut before committing media spend, and EchoDepth generates the curve within 5 working days.
Test your next campaign before the media buy
Submit a cut of your creative. EchoDepth generates a frame-by-frame Emotional Response Curve within 5 working days - before you commit the budget.
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