July 16, 2024
A surefire way to capture attention? Compelling ad creative that tells a story visually. Whether it's giant billboards, social media squares or the look and feel of your app or website, eye-catching factors such as colour, imagery and typography can all significantly enhance your marketing efforts. In this article, we’ll uncover the secrets behind crafting captivating creative that resonates with your audience and drives engagement – as well as offer pro tips that are already turning heads in the real world.
You know the saying, a picture paints a thousand words? Well now’s the time to think about how images and videos can tell a story with a beginning, middle and end. Whatever you want to promote, your visuals should convey a clear and compelling narrative while making the most of the opportunity to connect with your audience on an emotional level – more on that next.
Pro tip: Use a storyboard or visual outline to map out the sequence of your ad creative and ensure coherent storytelling. Take a look at the Chime Feels campaign featuring video montages of people using the mobile banking app’s confidence-building financial tools to turn their side hustle into the real hustle. It’s just a simple series of vignettes, but it leaves a warm and fuzzy feeling as dreams become a reality.
Remember: making dreams a reality can only happen when you understand your target audience. By gaining insights into their aspirations and motivations, you can tailor your visuals to effectively communicate your message, demonstrate your fintech’s relevance and deliver your message effectively. Whether it's excitement, trust or nostalgia, emotions play a powerful role in influencing consumer behaviour – and tapping into the right emotions can create a lasting impression on your audience.
Pro tip: Choose visuals that evoke an emotional response and resonate with your target audience. Like the mixed-media campaign The Bank Built for You which included three 30-second ad spots by acclaimed TV director Lucy Forbes. From a child earning pocket money to a woman saving to buy her first house, these everyday scenarios highlight Starling’s various products. Plus, the storyline is punctuated with push notifications that keep the visuals clean and clear and tie everything back to the app.
A study by the Pantone Color Institute found that colour can increase brand recognition by up to 80% so it’s no surprise that it plays a pivotal role in visual brand identity and consistency. Harrods’ iconic green signifies luxury and heritage, instantly evoking their upscale shopping experience, while Barbie’s vibrant pink is synonymous with fun and femininity.
Pro tip: Consistent use of colours across branding materials and marketing campaigns ensures instant recognition, fosters loyalty and creates an emotional connection with consumers. Just look at Monzo’s coral cards and the buzz that accompanied the launch of its neon cards. For some marketing inspiration, tune into our podcast episode with Richard Cook – Monzo’s social media manager.
Whether it's social media, email marketing or digital advertising, choose platforms that align with your campaign objectives and audience preferences. And always optimise for mobile devices. This means ensuring your visuals are responsive and load quickly on various screen sizes and testing creative across different devices and platforms to ensure a seamless user experience. Discover how to do this and lots more image and video-savvy tips in our Social Media Marketing Playbook.
Pro tip: Identify the platforms where your target audience is most active and tailor your visual content accordingly. And consider supporting the digital experience with out-of-home advertising activity that’s perfectly suited to the location where it appears – like the 10-metre-high projection that Curve beamed onto retail destination Oxford Street to promote its wearable payment options.
For an article all about visuals, this might sound pretty obvious – but we’re talking about daring to do things differently. That’s because authenticity is more important than ever with consumers craving genuine experiences and connections with brands. Avoid stock photos and opt for original visuals that reflect your fintech’s personality and values. And consider incorporating user-generated content or behind-the-scenes glimpses into your creative to humanise your fintech and foster trust.
Pro tip: Invest in high-quality visuals that reflect the professionalism and credibility of your brand. We’re talking professional photography, custom illustrations or even specially commissioned murals like Rapyd’s collaboration with local creatives that featured a logo, a QR code and plenty of art appeal.
Ok, as our attention turns to typography we mean this quite literally. From sleek sans serifs to elegant scripts, your choice of font speaks volumes. Bold, modern typefaces exude confidence and innovation, while classic styles evoke tradition and reliability.
Pro tip: Capture attention and communicate your fintech’s ethos through the power of letters. When Wise rebranded, its existing wordmark was tweaked to aid legibility while a new bespoke typeface – Wise Sans – took inspiration from scripts from across the globe, communicating the company’s global reach. Ensure your rebrand resonates with target customers by listening to this podcast episode, in which we talk about aligning visual identity and core offer.
Incorporating dynamic elements into ad creative can enhance user engagement and produce memorable experiences. Think interactive infographics, gamified ads, shoppable posts or 360-degree videos – all elements that encourage your audience to take action. In addition, animated visuals and micro-interactions can bring your website or app to life and provide an immersive and memorable user experience. After all, if there’s one thing we can’t stand it’s a poorly converting landing page – happily, our revamped offering saw Minted increase conversions by 75%.
Pro tip: Use interactive elements like animation and micro-interactions to give visual feedback on the steps people should take as they navigate your website or app – it will do wonders for the user experience. Dynamic motion graphics showcasing the user interface? Eye-catching geometric icons demonstrating clear user paths? Engaging micro-interactions? Tick, tick and tick! Stripe has stand-out design elements down.
Ultimately, simplicity stands out. So avoid overcrowding your creative with unnecessary elements and distractions. Instead, focus on conveying your message concisely and clearly by embracing whitespace and minimalist design principles that allow your visuals to breathe and draw attention to the key selling points of your products and services.
Pro tip: This point is especially true when it comes to logos, icons and anything else that needs to communicate a lot in the least confusing way possible! For inspiration, take a look at this logo featuring a handshake – telling us the relationship between Remitly and its customers is built on trust, partnership and cooperation. Plus, the design incorporates an envelope, which refers to how the company enables its customers to send and receive money online.
To sum up – don't be afraid to think outside the box and experiment with new visual formats and ideas. To find out how we draw on current design trends and innovative techniques to keep your campaign fresh and engaging, contact us today.
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