S3
Episode 5
Leveraging Programmatic Creatives That Convert
About This Episode
We explore why creative is king when it comes to digital advertising, and what it takes to build creatives that lead to conversions.
Farzin Ghayour | Manager, Creative Studio, StackAdapt
Transcript
Episode Introduction (00:00:00)
Bring in any sort of motion of element so you don’t have to hire giant choreographers and sets and crews and do million-dollar productions. We’re such a digital-first kind of society now we’re always on websites and always on our phone, bringing that slight bit of movement or animation or video just helps pull the eye naturally towards that direction. And towards that ad, it could be small things, but something that just constantly is moving on that frame is the most important thing to have.
How Agencies Thrive Introduction (00:00:30)
But then you think about the social landscape, the research and data is hugely significant when we combine all of these different touchpoints that long-term loyalty and then diving into the clicks to leads to sales, gotten to a point where it can drive better results in audience targeting, and really is what’s going to set you apart. You’re tuning in to How Agencies Thrive podcast.
Matt (00:00:52)
Hi everyone and welcome to the How Agencies Thrive podcast. My name is Matt and I work on the Education Development Team at StackAdapt. And today, we have a very special episode. Now this isn’t the first time we’ve covered a topic like this, but programmatic advertising moves fast and on top of all of this is creative strategy. So naturally, the theme of this episode is how you can develop creatives that will convert. So without further ado, I’m happy to welcome in the guests for today’s episode Farzin, who is a manager of our in-house Creative Studio. So welcome Farzin. To kick things off, let’s get a brief overview of who you are. Tell us a little bit about your role and some of the areas of expertise that you have.
Farzin (00:01:28)
Hi, thank you for having me. As you heard, my name is Farzin. I am a manager here at the Creative Studio with StackAdapt. I work alongside our amazing team of creative strategists, production designers and video team to help elevate create, and drive performance through design and creative tactics. Prior to that, I’ve lived in many of life working as a photo editor here in publishing in Canada and leading a creative team of producers across the globe, and launching creative tactics for such brands as Nespresso, Honda, and MasterCard.
Matt (00:01:59)
Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us on the episode Farzin. What we’ll do is we will go through a couple of questions today, we have five for you that we’ve prepared. And in the middle, we’ll take a quick break, and then we’ll finish off with the final two. So starting out, traditionally, what we see when we talk about creatives, or think about creatives, is this whole phrase of “creative is King” is the thing that you need to be thinking about, that’s what’s going to drive your ad campaigns. So naturally, a lot of value is placed on the visual elements of ads. Why do you think this is?
Farzin (00:02:33)
Creative is pretty much your first impression you have when you are, you know, presenting yourself to an audience. If you think about it, if you take the creative away, all ads kind of have the same kind of structured company logo, some selling features a CTA and a call to action. So creativity is the life it kind of gives the viewer an insight of who your brand is, understands the personality of who you are, and kind of gives you that ability to speak directly to them. It’s kind of like your first impression on a date, you really want to put everything out there for them and give them a look into who you are. When you think about creativity and visual presentation, we are a visual people. That’s the first thing we kind of look to, even when you think about chefs, right? When they’re dressing up a plate. They’re not just throwing everything on there, they’re making sure it looks visually pleasing. And that’s why creativity plays a big part in this right? If it’s not visually pleasing to the eye, no one wants to interact and engage with it.
Matt (00:03:27)
Now, do you think there’s more weight on the actual visuals? Or do you think that the copy of those creatives has another, you know, a key factor to play in getting people to click through and engage with your ads?
Farzin (00:03:39)
I think visual is kind of like the top of it all, right? If your ad isn’t stopping someone’s eye to just even land to read on it, the copies would be secondary. So I say visual is number one, and the copy kind of leads up after that.
Matt (00:03:54)
So with that in mind, you know, in this day and age, we know that the attention span, especially as people are online, it’s relatively low, you know, you only have a certain amount of time to make that first impression, as you said, so, you know, how would you recommend that advertisers get people to notice and engage with their content right away. So what are some best practices or things that they should be doing to get their ads noticed as soon as possible?
Farzin (00:04:23)
I would say nowadays, especially with, you know, people becoming more visually blind to static assets video is kind of your go-to right now. With the boom of TikTok and everything moving. If you’re not incorporating video assets into your ad campaigns, you’re really missing out, and I’m not talking about you having to do like a full video production with current golfers and dancers and things like that, but always incorporating some sort of elements of motion that could be copied coming in slight shifts of colour in the background, carousel units that are kind of constantly rotating within the ad itself to kind of highlight multiple products. I think this is kind of your best bait way currently to stick out and make sure that your ads are being noticed, especially when people are just going kind of eye blind to it all, because, you know, we’re used to seeing things on Instagram and scrolling through so many feeds. And within social units themselves, you’re seeing that change where now there’s reels, there’s stories, so video is definitely playing a heavy part in it. I also think another big thing is just making sure you’re not falling within the ad fatigue bucket, even though your ads might be running for X amount of time, always doing subtle updates and creative changes to that is really helpful to just kind of breathe new life into your ad and to your units. So then that way, they’re not falling behind, or people aren’t, you know, constantly, like been there done that seen it all.
Matt (00:05:43)
Absolutely. And it’s funny, you mentioned video, because it’s kind of tip something off in my brain about an episode we did last season, when we’re talking about driving the first click with creatives. And the guests that we had on, he mentioned, you know, with video, it’s almost less important now to have like such high production value. And I think you just said, you know, you don’t need to go out and get like a full studio full crew, like produce something that looks like a Superbowl commercial, but you need to have something that gets your message across. And it’s almost a better play for advertisers sometimes to be a little bit more organic and a bit more authentic in the video content, so that it doesn’t just scream out that, hey, this is an ad, we have designed this to convert you to the product that we want to sell. So, you know, do you find that that’s a trend that in terms of creatives and production value, it’s almost better to go with something that’s a little bit more in the middle versus really, really high production value?
Farzin (00:06:43)
One-hundred percent. I think the biggest element is still think true to your brand. So you don’t want to create a video just for video’s sake, I think making sure that what you’re creating still resonates with the brand itself. And within the client. I just want to say, like bring in any sort of motion of elements, right? Animation, colour shifts, things like that, when we’re looking at these pages nonstop, right? We’re such a digital-first kind of society now, right? We’re always on websites, we’re always on our phone. So bringing in that slight bit of movement, or animation or video just helps pull the eye in naturally towards that direction and towards that ad. So as we said, it doesn’t have to be anything big or fancy. You don’t have to, you know, hire giant choreographers and sets and crews and do million-dollar productions, nowhere. It could be small things, but it’s something that just constantly is moving on that frame, I think it’s the most important thing to have.
Matt (00:07:34)
Absolutely. And you know, being a part of the Creative Studio, I know a lot of your teams were besides making incredible creative assets, is that consultative process and working with StackAdapt clients. And, you know, similar to the last question, but maybe a little bit different here about, you know, how do you drive the first click? How do you combine the creatives and the copy to create one cohesive package that’s going to get people to, you know, go to that landing page, cut through the noise? What are some things that you typically recommend, and for anyone who’s kind of just getting started with their creative strategy or trying something completely new, you know, what’s a good starting place to get off on the right foot as quickly as possible?
Farzin (00:08:19)
Yeah, my golden rule for all of this is, keep it simple. I think once we started thinking about creating an ad, or creating some sort of creative advertisement, people want to throw everything in the kitchen sink in it. I know we’ve already talked a little bit earlier about how you know, we only have so much time to kind of stop someone to look at it. So the last thing you want to do is create an ad that’s overcrowded, has too much copy, has too much going on, that kind of almost puts someone off from actually engaging with it, right, there’s nothing more scary, there’s nothing more difficult than an ad that’s overwhelming and doesn’t, you know, no one wants to interact with it. So keep it simple. We talked about having almost six seconds to kind of capture someone’s eye. So keeping the copy really tight, keeping it precise. And making sure you’re kind of getting the key elements out there, I think is kind of your best element to have when you’re kind of creating these ads. I’d also say never be afraid of making bold statements and speaking directly to your viewer, spark interest. You know, you don’t have to give them the whole selling feature, but give them something that gives them enough interest to click through, right? So make those bold statements, speak directly to them, make sure you’re capturing their interest to then get them to go to the landing page where they can kind of dive in and go a little bit more into it. And the last thing I would say is and then you kind of brushed about it a little bit is just making sure you’re authentic to your brand. There’s nothing more off-putting than a brand trying to be something that they’re not. And as it being your first impression, making sure you’re true to yourself and what the customer will expect kind of going through to your landing page onto your secondary site and kind of learning more about you.
Matt (00:09:51)
Absolutely. And you know, on the topic of brand, I think that is really important because if you see an ad that has that brand logo but it doesn’t it doesn’t feel like it’s a part of that brand. And maybe they’re trying to do something that’s kind of trendy and won’t, you know, won’t stand the test of time, it’s definitely important to stay true to that brand. Because that’s a long-term goal, right, and to build good brand recognition, and how people feel good about the product or service that you’re offering, you know, for, for some newer brands, you know, how do you help them stay on track with their creative strategy? Like, is it more about kind of looking at the core values of that brand and working your way out, when you consult on creative strategy, or were there some specific tactics that you would use when you’re helping build out these ads to stay on brand?
Farzin (00:10:43)
I think for them, the creative plays a big role of staying on brand of what the look and feel is, so making sure with whatever we’re creating, whether it be a CTV, an online video, audio ads, display, native, just making sure that the brand’s true through and through it helps create a cohesive line. It also helps build a little bit of brand recognition, right? So if someone’s looking at a CTV unit, and then it serves a display, they kind of recognize it instantly, whether it be color palette layout, things like that. From there, I would say, depending on what the brand is trying to do, our strategies shift dramatically from either being brand awareness to more down-the-funnel return on ad spend, things like that. So working with them closely and making sure that we’re keeping the visual language through whatever strategy we’re doing. I mean, it’s a key aspect for a new brand trying to place itself out there in the world.
Matt (00:11:33)
Farzin, ae there any trends that you’re seeing in terms of ad formats? And most importantly, what’s working? And what do we think we’re gonna see a lot of?
Farzin (00:11:42)
For sure, I think this is where I’m gonna start sounding like a broken record. But as we talked about before video, right now, it’s hot. And I don’t think there’s any chance of a cooling down it’s kind of our next big shift when it comes to visual ads out there. Another big thing, and I think this plays directly within the whole programmatic ad space is getting dynamic with your ads, there’s a lot of things we can do now weather targeting, you know, dynamic city, things like that. So using the tech within the ad format itself, to kind of get a little bit closer to the viewer and what your advertising gives you that leg up gives you the ability to kind of reach the person a little bit more direct, and kind of serve them an ad that kind of connects with them a little bit stronger than just kind of a generic ad that would pop up here up on the page. The last thing I’d always say, and I think this is something that’s just always going to be you know, a trend is always making sure you diversify your ad units. And don’t just stick with one thing. You shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to serving ads in a programmatic way. And making sure that you’re at least having one or two different units in mixin, or with well, gives you the ability to kind of diversify your messaging, just in case gives you the ability to, you know, create an audio ad that maybe can speak to a different viewer audience, it can create a video ad that you know, maybe can put a little bit more oomph into it, compared to any of them and display. So those would be kind of my big, three trends that I think we’ll kind of keep running us through 2023.
Matt (00:13:10)
Closing things out here, before we get into a few bonus questions, we’re at Q4 by the end of this week. That means it’s a really fun time for advertising. We have all the holiday ads that are going to be coming out. What do you think is going to be popular this season? And what are some creative trends that advertisers should be looking out for?
Farzin (00:13:33)
For sure. This is where I would put on my creative hat and just put a Creative warning out to just say, always plan ahead, especially during this time of year. We know when these holidays are creeping up. So I think the best thing is always to be prepared. Make sure you have your ad units ready to roll when it comes to these times. One other thing I want to say is always don’t just think about the holidays, think about the seasonal shifts, right? The holidays are just one part of this, when we kind of roll into Q4, there’s some big things happening right? Days are getting shorter, people are moving in more, people are going to be online searching for ads and things like that, and gift guides and things like that of that nature. So keep that in mind of how you’re going to serve your programmatic ad displays, right? People are going to be in malls more trying to find you know, gifts for family and friends. Maybe you want to launch more digital out-of-home. We know that people are going to be you know, wanderlusting for travelling to new destinations because it’s going to get colder and you know, gray and gross. So this is maybe a great time to use that weather targeting ad displays that we talked about to kind of you know, work off of these emotions that happened during these times. For the holidays, I think a big shift is kind of going towards more of seeing the honest advertising. I think TikTok has kind of opened the door for us to you know, kind of take away that Norman Rockwell illusion of what a family holiday looks like and what they really are. So people are looking for kind of that honest representation, right? Holidays can be hard holidays, can be fine. The holidays can be annoying. Speak truthfully to people and make sure that your product kind of matches that which is kind of like a good starting point. And I think also people are more embracing kind of creating memories instead of just gift giving, right? So working off of that as well. What can your gift do? Can is this something that builds a family moment? Is this a puzzle that you’re going to spend creating over a fun cup of cocoa during the holidays, whatever it may be, instead of pushing the product, I think it’s more pushing the memories are made around it?
Matt (00:15:34)
Well, I think with that said, we can go into the bonus section of this episode. We chatted about this a little bit ahead of time and gave you some time to think on it. So Farzin, what is your favourite ad of all time that you’ve seen.
Farzin (00:15:53)
This is probably going to age me, my favourite ad would probably have to be, I also love an ad that has like more than one. So this kind of works into our sequential messaging that we were talking about. But I was a big fan of the Gap ads where they would have all the people like singing, dancing, so to like the “Mellow Yellow,” and things like that. I connected voice through and through, they were fun, they’re entertaining, and they kind of took you out of the day-to-day. So that was probably one of those advertisements, live in my head rent-free to this date.
Matt (00:16:21)
Now, if we look at the present day, think about some of the brands that you’ve seen this year. You know, who has been really creative? What would have been the standout brands for you that you’ve seen in the wild?
Farzin (00:16:33)
I think one brand that always does it right and never really has had a chance to stumble and fall has been Nike, they’ve always been very authentic and true to who they are. They’re never afraid to kind of work off of hot ticket items. And you know, stating their stance of where they are. They’re also really good at collaborating and kind of pushing themselves into the forefront. Whether it comes through print ads, video ads, they’re cohesive voices, definitely traveled through all of it, and have always been a standout for me.
Matt (00:17:05)
Fantastic. Well, Farzin, this has been awesome. It’s really great to have time to, I’d say sit down with you. But we’re sitting at opposite computers in different areas. This is a virtual run podcast. But this has been a fantastic episode. So thank you so much for your time, and for any of our listeners out there who are interested in creative strategy and are interested in, you know, making their ads really stand out. We hope that you took a lot away from this episode. So until then, this has been the How Agencies Thrive podcast. And thanks so much. Thank you so much for tuning in.
Episode Outro (00:17:39)
This has been the How Agencies Thrive podcast. If you like what you heard, then there’s three things that you can do to support the show. Number one, subscribe. Number two, leave us a review. And number three, share our podcasts on social media or with anyone who might find value in this content. If you have questions or feedback or just want to learn how agencies and brands work with StackAdapt, you can us at StackAapt.com. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.
