I wonder if the inspiration for this test was directly taken from Max Teitelbaum's interview @ mixergy?

Search for 'paint' and you'll find the relevant passage.

  "Andrew: Give me an example. I’d love to. 
  When we started media buying, we saw stock raising. 
  We saw what all the brands were doing. We needed
  something really flashy, something really clean.
  When I made something in Paint, as a joke and sent it over 
  to the guys, we just threw it up as a test, and it 
  quadrupled the conversion rate of anything else. 
  After that, I think we made every banner in Paint."

http://mixergy.com/teitelbaum-whatrunswhere-interview/