One of the toughest parts about building effective ads for Online display campaigns is coming up with creative banner ideas that boost your target KPIs. The best digital ads run the gamut from simple static images to elaborate animations. But the best place for inspiration is to go out into the wilds of the internet and gather examples. What caught your eye? What did you scroll past without thinking?

Digitaland (​​DoubleClick Partner) did the heavy lifting for you, combing through countless ads before we landed on our favorites-of-the-moment. Here’s our shortlist, along with what makes them effective ads.

The best digital ads of the moment


Workday knows how to build effective ads

Workday delivered a memorable and creative banner here, one that caught our eye and stayed top of mind a week before we even started snagging screenshots for this post. They clearly prioritized creative when dreaming up this ad! The rising bubbles are eye-catching. The copy is clever and to the point. And the ad does a great job of featuring the product alongside a clear call to action and the subtle, but visible, brand logo. It’s a perfect example of why animated Html5 banner ads are some of the best digital ads out there.

Northwestern Mutual makes retirement fun with a creative banner

Northwestern Mutual understands their target audience. That’s probably why they’re pro at building effective ads. By starting out with the company logo, viewers are given immediate context while building brand awareness. Even if they don’t finish the ad, the impression has already been made, which is the holy grail of the best digital ads. But the use of animation and transition catches the eye, and the viewer is pulled along by compelling testimonial copy that contradicts commonly held perceptions of retirement – these customers want to go back to work – driving the viewer to find out what’s next and how it all connects. A strong call to action that ties into the ad’s messaging and Northwestern Mutual’s tagline of ‘Live Life Differently’ completes the experience.

Toyota delivers one of the best digital ads

Some of the best digital ads interrupt consumer’s thought patterns or contradict their assumptions, like the Northwestern Mutual example above. The result: snagging the viewer’s attention and building valuable brand awareness. Toyota’s creative banner accomplishes that by turning the role of a call to action button on its head. The call to action commonly displays on the final frame. While the button may animate, the text stays the same. Consumers have come to expect that. Toyota gets playful with an animated ‘call to action’ that highlights key features of the displayed vehicle, packing a lot of valuable content into a tight space. To build further product awareness, the car animates and interacts with the call to action to trigger each feature transition. It’s clever and proof that pairing minimal animation with out-of-the-box thinking can turn out some high-impact and effective ads.

Online banner ads – Brilliant proves effective ads can be static

HTML5 Ads

Creative banner ads don’t need to be animated to be effective ads. Some of the best digital ads out there are static, with high-impact imagery, copy or both. Brilliant managed to create a highly interactive, yet static, banner ad by tapping into their audience’s innate problem-solving instincts. The copy is innocent enough, but the logic problem presented triggers the viewer, compelling them to solve the riddle and then click through to confirm they found the correct answer. Here’s hoping they use tracking pixels, because we’re already hungry for more!

Banner ads

Got your creative banner juices flowing? Not it’s time to turn your ideas into effective Online banner ads! If you haven’t found a reliable, go-to digital production partner yet, check out our tips on finding the perfect fit. Or drop us a line and tell Digitaland (​​DoubleClick Partner) about your project.

Compare HTML5 banners with Digitaland 100% Free animation compare tool – Click here!