Digitaland Advertising Blog

You know good creative is the cornerstone of great high impact ads. The problem? It can be tough to deliver the next big (successful) thing, month after month, year after year!

So, what’s a creative team to do when they need to come up with high impact ad format concepts for their next banner ad campaign, but the idea well is all tapped out? Look around for inspiration!

To help kickoff your next brainstorming session, we’ve put together a list of our recent favorite high impact ads and what made them effective.

5 examples of high impact ads to jumpstart your creativity

1. The new kid on the high impact ad format block: reactive animation

High impact creative

What makes a good banner ad? Creative is important but the user experience can make or break a brand’s impression and online reputation. Irrelevant, intrusive ads aren’t just consumer pet peeves – they can reflect poorly on your brand, no matter how high impact they are. That’s why the Digitaland team ( A Digital Creative Production) is having a blast with one of the latest developments in high impact ad formats: reactive animation. While regular banner ad animations operate on time-based signals (think interruptive ads, like pop-ups), reactive animations react to how many pixels a user scrolls your ad unit in relation to publisher content. Translation: reactive animation puts the user in control of the ad story, enabling them to zoom, fade and more as they move through the content. High-impact ad + good user experience = winning combination.

2. Less is more: classy creative with Chloé

Dynamic Rich Media

It’s easy for creative teams to get hung up on creative, believing they need to reinvent the wheel with every campaign. But you don’t need a pile of creative assets to build a high impact ad. Take a cue from this billboard banner ad for Chloé. It’s optimized for viewability and brand awareness with only 3-4 high resolution images. The animation complements the assets, catching the user’s eye and guiding them through to the crystal-clear call to action. It’s all about presentation and quality of assets, not quantity. Look to your rich media vendor for guidance on the type of assets you need for your campaign.  

3. Build your own: interactive production with Porsche

Custom banners designs

Interactive banner ads are one of the most effective forms of high impact ad formats. Why is that? Up until recently, the consumer ad experience was passive: read or look at an ad on TV, a magazine or billboard, the newspaper or Online banner ads. With the rise of rich media production, advertisers can partner with rich media vendors to build interactive ad experiences that treat the consumer as partners, interacting with the ad for fun or educational purposes. While game ads are a popular high impact ad format, gamification may not tie into every brand’s offering or campaign. Porsche did a great job of making interactive production work for their message, with an elegant call to action: build your own dream car, without leaving the ad frame. It’s the perfect way to boost engagement and brand awareness.

4. Get interactive: Thomas Bros Bagels

HTML5 Banner Ads

Just as good banner ads don’t need a mound of assets to be creative (that’s why a good rich media vendor can be a powerful partner, no matter what industry you’re in), interactive banner ads don’t need a complex, 5-part user journey to be high-impact. Take a cue from this ad we built for Thomas Bros Bagels. The invitation to interact was simple: choose a bagel to see the recipe. Then the user could toggle between the other recipes, getting multiple ideas to spice up breakfast – or snack – time. The repetition and clean layout, paired with high-resolution images, helped build brand awareness and drive video views.

5. Tap into dynamic banner ads: J. Crew can make it rain (Or snow. Or shine.)

High impact ads

Dynamic banner ads make it simple to deliver the right ad to the right user at the right time. Dynamic tools enable rich media vendors to tap into vast quantities of consumer data to build personalized ads that stand out from the competition. They speak directly to the user in terms they can relate to – current location, local weather, personal demographics, viewing behavior and more – breaking through banner blindness. Case in point: J. Crew’s campaign, leveraging local weather. The creative is clean, simple and high-resolution, but the messaging is what catches the eye. Each user sees an ad, tailored to their city. It’s an unexpected twist that encourages users to linger a few moments longer!

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There you have it – five of our recent, favorite high impact banner ads, perfect for getting the creative juices going as you build out your next campaign. Let us know your favorite method for getting inspired!

Ready to partner with a rich media vendor that can turn your creative ideas into high-impact realities, fast? Tell us about your project!