4 Tried-and-True Rules for Effective Display Creative

Last week 360i attended a Dynamic Logic and 4A’s webinar during which they presented best practices for display banners based on analysis of best- and worst-performing campaigns (you can access the press release about the study on Dynamic Logic’s Web site).

One key insight, which we have espoused for years, is that taking the time to develop strong online creative is critical. So much so that poor-performing banners don’t merely perform worse than better creative, they actually can negatively impact brand metrics such as awareness, favorability and intent.

Here are some key design and messaging recommendations from Dynamic Logic’s analysis and some of 360i’s thoughts based on our display creative experience:

1. Brand impact is only as strong as brand presence.
Specifically keep your logo on every frame. Intrigue rarely drives awareness and response. The longer the logo appears, the higher the lift in aided awareness. And consumers most likely will not see the logo if it only appears on the product and not prominently within the ad. For example, here is one of the ads we developed for a recent Panasonic campaign. Note that the logo is persistent throughout the interactive animations.

Click image to play ad:

2. Every frame should stand on its own.
Many consumers will only glance at your ad for a moment – and you never know what that moment is. Steven Spielberg directs movies based on the principle that each frame must stand on its own. Pause on any frame of one of his films, and you’ll see a picture-perfect postcard. Ads must be storyboarded the same way. Regardless of industry, banner ads that waited until the lock-up (the final frame) for the big “reveal” proved ineffective.

For instance in consumer-packaged goods, 1 out of the top 20 top performers used the reveal format, while 17 of the bottom 20 performers employed the reveal. Here’s an ad 360i developed for HGTV that included persistent logo and branding throughout the animation, along with a narrative that you could engage with at any point.

Click image to view creative:

3. Keep messaging simple.
Dynamic Logic recommends no more than two simple messages in an ad. One of our clients summed it up very well a few years ago when explaining it to a traditionally minded brand manager. He said that you should think of the banner ad like the teaser message on an envelope of a direct mailer that simply needs to get you to open the mailer and read the content inside. The banner’s sole purpose is to get consumers’ attention. Detailed messaging can occur on the landing page and website.

4. Synchronize online ads with offline creative.
Some consistent element or elements should appear in all creative to reap the frequency benefits of multiple media touch points. Even though you most likely use separate, best-of-breed agencies for offline and online creative, don’t silo your ad campaigns. Make sure you get a 1+1=3 effect from all of your media spend.

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We are often called upon by clients to translate offline campaigns to the interactive medium. In doing so, we don’t simply place TV spots on the web, we build upon the campaign concepts inherent in the spots to craft unique, high-performance online campaigns using interactive best practices.