Breaking the creative barrier: Why is a flexible ad studio your most powerful tool?

Push it, shake it, rotate it, tilt it – interacting with today’s smartphone ads means doing almost everything except Bop It! (and we all know how addictive that game can be).

For me, mobile has done more than any other industry in recent years to push the boundaries of creative marketing. In a remarkably short space of time, we’ve seen formats evolve from static banner images, to immersive experiences that invite audiences to be part of a brand story – and have fun in the process.

The advertising world appears to know what evokes the best responses from people, and that highly addictive and enjoyable advertisements are at the heart of what makes a successful campaign.

Is it time to tackle tech?  

If you’re a designer in the business of crafting engaging digital ads, I’m sure you’re familiar with what it takes to do exactly that. You’ve blown minds with your creativity and you’ve proven yourself to be a strong communicator when it comes to delivering ideas through images and words – but is your job done yet?

To build digital ads that match your vision and meet your targets, you’ll probably be told you’re going to have to tackle tech.

The open code problem

What follows is design software and tech languages such as HTML and CSS, which you’ll need to master in order to get your ideas to work on mobile. If you’ve got the experience and know-how, then you will have combined some cool ideas with your basic knowledge to create a great ad.

In reality, however, not every designer masters code. So, does that mean tech becomes your greatest antagonist when striving for creativity? Does it stand in the way of your vision for your ad or even play a part in stifling the rapid progress mobile has made in changing marketing?

The pre-made problem

What if you didn’t really need to know tech – or even the basics – to create attractive digital ads? You might already know this, but ad creation studios are at hand to make that possible.

The tools which you choose to work with will define the outcome of your creative process. Let me explain and dig into this a little bit.

Today’s ad studios usually revolve around the following:

(a) Widgets – pre-made engines that replace code and are suitable for creating required user interactions, gestures and much more

(b) Ad formats – pre-built ad formats that contain a framework code for a user’s required format, like native scrollers, 3D ads and similar ad functionalities

(c) Templates – the most limited options; pre-made frames where it’s only possible to change specific parts within the creative using a client’s company assets (i.e. company logo, colors etc.).

I have no doubt that pre-built features can speed up your design work and make it easier – and that’s why most designers love using them.

The downside is that the functionality of these ad studios is limited. Thus, they aren’t sufficient when building the sophisticated ads you may have in mind. Instead, you end up with something quite basic, which isn’t unique enough to stand out and is likely to drown in mobile noise.

It’s all about flexibility

If you truly want to bring your vision to life without any restrictions, you need a creative platform that provides flexibility. Here’s a few things that platform should do:

Cover all experience levels

Use an ad studio that manages to bridge the gap between pre-made and open code. You’ll see immense improvements if you adopt a platform that provides alternatives to pre-made easy design engines on one end, and possible coding additions on the other.

Look for something that goes beyond pre-built design or ready game engines. These only allow you to enrich things with your assets. Ideally, you should be able to further customize your game with true engagement accelerators. A good example is a Gyro widget, which lets the user utilize the device gyroscope in order to interact with the ad through titling.

At the other end of the customization spectrum, a flexible studio should offer you access to open code. This gives you control over everything.

Build around your needs

To build ads that resonate with your audience, use creative tech that responds to your needs. Flexible platforms help you create ads much faster, but they also help you think and act in mobile terms.

Let me share a case where we truly listened to our clients and developed some advanced functionalities which helped them do their job better. We noticed that they were building multiple “Sphere 360” video ads with their own code.  From this, we realized they required a widget that would facilitate and improve their designer’s work – so that’s what we gave them. 

These kind of insights enable us to rethink and develop even more advanced pre-made engines to keep pace with the newest industry formats such as 3D and VR.

Open end

Your final ad is firstly dependent on your designer’s natural talent; but using this talent to create an advertising masterpiece can’t be done without the right studio offering. A flexible product offering is no longer out of reach.

Find out how you can use one for your next ad.