Retargeter

Attacking Bad Banners: Banner Ads Evolved

Welcome to our newest installment of Attacking Bad Banners, the ad makeover series where we take bad banners from around the web and turn them into beautiful banners.

Just like the last edition of Attacking Bad Banners, this time we’re working with the banners of one of our clients, JangoMail, who has graciously agreed to be a part of our blog series in exchange for a complimentary set of creatives by ReTargeter AdStudio.

JangoMail is an email marketing platform that allows companies to send marketing, transactional and person-to-person emails all from within the same platform. JangoMail serves a wide range of clients in different industries from GM to Wells Fargo to Reuters.

This installment is different from our previous bad banner attacks in that we aren’t making over a bad banner. In fact, we’re actually making over a great banner.

Our AdStudio created this banner for JangoMail back in November 2011 and they’ve been running it with their retargeting campaign:

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this banner—it’s got a concise tagline demonstrating value, a clear and compelling call to action (Free Trial), is well-branded and corresponds to the colors on the JangoMail site, and incorporates an attractive peer.

That said, even good banners become bad banners if they’ve been running for long enough. According to ReTargeter’s own data, after five months of running the same banners, click-through rates will, on average, decrease by half.

JangoMail was due for a creative refresh, and here’s what our AdStudio came up with:

We wanted to maintain the branding and the consistency with the site colors, but we also want the new creative to differ from the previous creative. The goal is for these banners to be able to pique the interest of a user who’s developed blindness to the old banners.

For this refresh, we focused on clean lines and bright colors to create a more contemporary look for the brand. While keeping the color scheme consistent with JangoMail’s brand, we brightened up the banner to ensure it stands out on the page. In lieu of a photo, we created a larger tagline and a brighter and bolder call to action. The background imagery is highly relevant and reinforces the ad copy, and the modern design elements were developed with greater attention to pixel detail. Finally, by showcasing a sense of playfulness, we hope to evoke more emotion from the user.

Let us know what you think in the comments, and if you have a banner that needs a makeover, or happen across a bad banner somewhere around the web, submit it here for consideration.