Animated VS Static Ads: Which is Better?

We all know it: digital media marketing has become one of the most efficient ways to achieve one-on-one interaction by today’s marketers. Brands are scrambling to grab anyone and everyone’s attention to build brand awareness and achieve more sales. With many brands focused on occupying multiple digital channels, it’s difficult to know if content will be seen amongst the noise, let alone the algorithms. Social media advertising has become increasingly popular, as influencers encourage brand enthusiasm and advertisers become more aware of the model of controlled media spending. With controlled media spending, advertisers have a greater level of control and flexibility with running their ads on social media versus traditional advertising. They can choose whether their ad runs for minutes, hours, days, and so on. Now that businesses are turning to this pay-per-click media spend option, they need to ensure that people are seeing their content, and more importantly, their products. With many businesses turning to online display media, search advertising and social media marketing, the challenge is determining which type of creative elements will perform best on each digital medium. We’re comparing two of the most up and coming concepts: animated or static ads?

The Difference Between Animated and Static Ads

Animated digital media ads provide visual appeal through movement. The elements on these advertisements are moving, and therefore they are capturing viewers’ attention more by engaging their interest. Advertisements in motion invite the viewer to be a part of the experience and may evoke stronger feelings conveyed by the ad. We are seeing the rising trend of people preferring to consume video content over written content, and as a result, there may be a correlation with rising viewership in animated advertisements.  

Animation can also help to simplify your message, and stories can be told through moving images instead of said with plain text (which can be a little boring). In place of loading an advertisement with text, companies can try to showcase characters having a conversation or acting a situation out. As a result, characters may generate empathy and a sense of relatability in the viewer. Animated digital media advertisements can pause the scrolling of the viewer past still images on their timelines or browsers and capture their attention with moving elements. 

On the other hand, static ads are what many of us are already used to seeing. They do not move and can often become part of the background, unnoticed by users on a website or app. They may be less likely to capture a viewer’s attention, due to their fixed nature. This is not to say that a static advertisement cannot be interesting or thought-provoking at all. Rather, digital marketers are dealing with audiences that are coming to increasingly prefer video content and that have shorter attention spans than ever before. So, it’s important to do what you can to grab your viewer’s attention immediately and keep it. 

Extend the Invitation to Engage

People are already familiar with still images and in-your-face advertising. Animation is less of a targeting tactic and more of an invitation to engage with what’s actually living in the advertisement. It’s fun, fresh, and creative.