Recommendations for display ad creative

Ethan Anderson Founder & CEO at MyTime

March 25th, 2013

Does anyone have any recommendations for an agency or individual who can create amazing display ads without breaking the bank?

Ian Barile Manager & Architect at Tango Me Inc

March 25th, 2013

I've worked with http://theudda.com/ before. They did the design for mobile app I worked on. Very professional. I don't know if they do display ads but it should be within there range. You can let them know I recommended them.

Karen A. Sorensen

March 26th, 2013

I use a independent designer out of Denver CO. She is great, does a personal interview with you about your business, sends over specs based on your input for revisions. Really reasonable for such custom work. Her name is Jennifer Gauerke and her company is Sour Grape Designs http://www.jengauerke.com/jengauerke.com/home.html She has branded me so well that every time I hand someone my card, they always talk about how cool it is, really makes me stand out.

Joseph Hsieh Growth Marketing & User Acquisition Specialist

March 27th, 2013

Can I challenge you on what you think is a "amazing display ad?" Are you looking for brand or image appeal, or more concerned about return on ad spend (generating traffic, vs. leaving an impression). From a quantitative perspective (money spent > amount of traffic > amount of conversions/objectives achieved), ONE (cut into many sizes) design is rarely enough.

A few things which we are all aware of:

Display ads works with strong brands because, well, that's what a brand is. It engenders trust and familiarity. So, if you're relatively unknown brand, then you fall into the unknown random banners that pop up. Maybe the value or benefit is a stronger message then what Nike can get away with just a swoosh.
Banner Blindness is real, and the same banner/design builds fatigue over time - you just stop looking at it if it's the same one. So frequent changes and messaging needs to happen.
If you are looking for conversion/traffic, then there's not one-design that works. It's a constant iteration and testing of targetting, message, design. You may look into tools that help you modify them faster. Google has a decent tool: http://www.google.com/ads/displaynetwork/build-your-ads/display-ad-builder.html - but we use scripts/programs to generate hundreds if not thousands of banners to test. And I tell you, I'm constantly surprised by what works. (Changing one word, or one color, or position of buttons, affects the CTR).

Hope that helps, didn't mean to put you on the spot.

Barak Kassar Founder / Creative Director Rassak Experience, San Francisco

March 25th, 2013

yes Ethan www.rassak.com :-)

Lily Tse Founder / CEO at Think Dirty®, Freelance Design Chief at Happy Monday®

March 25th, 2013

I could help. Freelance design with 12 years top ad agency experience.

This is my portfolio: tiger.lilytse.com, if you are interested, please email: lily.tse@happymonday.ca

Alper Cakir

March 25th, 2013

I have a boutique design studio...for your consideration:

www.fakecrow.com

www.screenmarks.com

Christopher Olson Building distributed systems for 20 years

March 26th, 2013

99designs.com lets you run competitions to which entrants from around the world submit designs for you to critique. The designers respond to your comments by submitting new or tweaked designs. After a few iterations, you select finalists and eventually a winner. I got an amazing logo out of this and was very happy with the process.

Richard Rosen Founder of FastCall --> #1 Phone Sales Productivity app in the Salesforce AppExchange

March 26th, 2013

Ethan - Have you tried 99designs? Designcrowd, etc..? Rich

Ethan Anderson Founder & CEO at MyTime

March 26th, 2013

Thanks for the recommendations, all. I've tried 99 Designs and haven't been too impressed with the quality of submissions. Certainly no better than Odesk and a lot more expensive. The one benefit is you can cancel the contest and get a refund if you don't like the submissions.

George Song UX Designer and Web App Developer

March 27th, 2013

Lindsay at New Parallel <http://www.anewparallel.com> is fantastic. Let me know if you want an introduction.

Question stats