Digital ads sometimes get a bad reputation for relying on clickbait to generate views. However, we believe that a true high impact ad can drive consumer engagement and build a relationship with your brand. Successful high impact ad units are easier to build than you think once you know the types of content that motivate and inspire your audience.
Our team can help you create engaging, content-rich ads that entice your audience to learn more. For inspiration, we want to share a few of our favorite high impact ad formats and when to use them.

Pre-Roll High Impact Ads:

There’s nothing new about pre-roll ads. They were one of the first high impact ad formats to hit the scene in 2007, just three years after YouTube.com web live. But they work. Pre-roll ads appear before a viewer watches streaming content such as a YouTube video, or a show on Hulu or Netflix. Because consumers are used to seeing previews before movies, the format isn’t jarring or unexpected. Most viewers have to wait a before they click out of an ad, giving your team an opportunity to show off their creative chops with something that will grab viewers’ attention before the dreaded “skip ad” button appears. If your content is good enough, viewers will want to share – not skip – your ad.

Reactive Animation, Takeovers, and Splash Screens:

Banner ads and pop ups appear statically and can be removed or avoided with the simple scroll of a mouse or or click of an “X.” By simply replacing these weak advertising tools with high impact ads you can lift viewer engagement by 67%, similar to a recent study done by Yahoo. Reactive animations (which slide down the screen in line with your content), takeovers (which disrupt the entire surface of the user’s tablet, phone, or monitor), and splash screens (which overlay a page’s content), are all more immersive options that force the user to take a pause and digest your content — hopefully deciding that it is worth their time — and exploring further.

Push Advertisements:

On the other end of the spectrum, push ads make advertising less intrusive by allowing the viewer to slide down a page’s content with a standard accordion or shelf feature. Viewers can open and close the ad depending on how relevant it is or how much time they want to spend on that content. Because this UX feature is common on many websites and apps as a way to organize information, it creates viewing consistency with whatever your audience is already looking at and makes ad content feel more natural. While making ads blend into the background may seem counterintuitive, this practice reduces negative feelings triggered by traditional ad units, making viewers more likely to focus on your message rather than automatically tuning out ad content.

Interactive Banner Ads:

In your next ad, try using gamification, allow users to drag and drop information in the ad field, or create a playful, interactive call to action that focuses on sharing knowledge rather than making a sale. Over 63% of consumers said they were annoyed by ads featuring overt sales pitches according to a study by HubSpot. Instead, viewers opted for ads embedded in rich imagery and interactive content. Interactive ads allow you to create a warm, welcoming experience rather than a transactional pitch, which will increase qualified leads and reduce bounce rate. Because clicks will result from genuine interest in our brand and content rather than a short-term promotion or sale, these visitors are also more likely to return to your site again.

So, forget those static ad campaigns and get creative! If you need help generating ideas for your next high impact ad, contact our team for creative support or case studies showcasing what’s worked for businesses just like yours.