If you’ve used the Internet today, you’ve seen a banner ad. Banner ads are so common that you might not even notice they are there anymore. However, a well-designed banner ad can vastly improve your paid ad campaigns, increase clicks, and bring in more qualified leads.
We’ll look at 13 banner ads examples, why they work, and give you tips that you can apply to your own paid ads.
What Is Banner Advertising?
As a consumer, you’ve seen banner ads and you might be more curious to know how they work. First of all, let’s cover the basics. Banner ads, also sometimes called display ads, are rectangular advertisements that appear on various websites across the Internet.
Banner ads can appear at the top of a webpage as a horizontal box, or throughout the page as you scroll. They also appear as vertical boxes on the right and left sides of a site or as boxes in between a site’s usual content.
4 Tips for Creating Banner Ads
There are several factors that contribute to how well your banner ads perform. For one, if you are using Google’s display network to place display ads, one of the most important factors is where those ads will appear. For example, if you are a whiskey brand, you might use contextual targeting to get your ads to appear on sites with similar audience interests like a food or drinks recipe blog.
Sometimes, you don’t have as much control over that, but you do have control over your banner ad designs. With that in mind, here are some of the most important tips to keep in mind to create successful banner advertisements.
Use one clear CTA
In most cases, you only want one CTA in your display ad. If you are experimenting with different ad sets, you might try one that uses two, but that’s not usually the case. This is because, with two different CTAs in one ad, you risk dividing your engagement between the two.
Tell a story
Some of the best digital ads tell a story. Of course, you only have a few seconds to get your message across in a banner ad, so how do you do that? One way is to show proof or results. For example, if you have a customer testimonial or case study quote that can be summed up in 3-5 words, then use that. You should highlight measurable results. For instance, if a customer increased their revenue by 80% by using your product you could call that out.
Show your product in action
Banner advertising is visual, so it’s an opportunity to show instead of tell. For example, rather than telling viewers that your jackets are waterproof with some text, maybe combine that statement with a short video. If you also show someone walking through rain or standing next to a large waterfall, only to come out dry, they are much more likely to believe you.
A/B Test
If you take anything away from this guide, it should be to A/B test your banner ads. You might think you know what design and message work best for your marketing, but then the data can tell a different story. Ultimately, you’ll want to look at the click-through rate, cost-per-acquisition, and conversion rates for each ad design you use. Then, compare to see which ads get the most clicks and conversions, at the lowest cost.
Banner Ads Examples
Every digital marketer knows that your ad creative can make or break your campaign. We’ve already shared tips on the creative best practices to follow, but what about some real-world examples of great creative banner ads? We’ve rounded up a few of our recent favorite banner creatives to inspire you.
1. Altra Running Shoes
Altra, a brand of running shoes, thinks outside of the box with its banner ads. The ads feature a cutout of a shoe on a white background. Since most websites have white as their primary color, it looks like it is jumping from the page vs. sitting in a box.
Its message is also clear—run without rules. While the CTA is personalized—find your fit.
Even though banner ads usually appear in a horizontal or vertical rectangle, you can play with the design and colors, as Altra did.
2. Samsung
Samsung’s creative leads with a bold image and features minimal text. The company name and product name are mentioned, but not too prominently to distract from the main image.
The rest of the text is sparse but it gets the idea across—you get appliances designed for you, by you.
Samsung’s ads usually don’t feature a call to action prominently. Instead, they usually have a “next” or “more” button that you’d see to scroll through a web page, indicating that you’ll learn more by clicking. It’s an interesting choice, but it aligns with the brand and its minimal product designs.
3. Semrush
As a company that is used by top digital marketers, Semrush’s banner ad game has to be strong, and it is.
These banner ads examples have clear designs and CTAs. They also highlight the value.
You can also tell that Semrush rotates out its banner advertising creative and A/B tests various designs to figure out which ones work best. Semrush’s animated banner ads show viewers its tools in action. For example, another display ad includes an overview of its keyword research tools.
This example offers something of value for free. Likely, it is targeting people that are at the top of the funnel. Maybe they aren’t searching for SEO content yet, but if they enroll in a free course, they’ll remember Semrush when they are in the market.
4. TikTok
Even some of the most widely used apps and well-known companies use banner advertising. In TikTok’s case, the app wants to attract more engaged users. Instead of the typical CTA, TikTok uses a singing competition, which is highly relevant to its audience. Given that TikTok has directly contributed to making songs popular or “TikTok famous”, it’s a creative way to promote the app, while being on-brand.
5. Instacart
The offer is clear in this Instacart banner ad. The delivery service uses a promotion for free delivery on your first order to promote app downloads. This is a screenshot, but the full banner ad includes a short animated walkthrough of how to use Instacart too.
6. Target
Target’s display ads often feature influencers using their products. For example, Target frequently partners with celebrities and influencers like Joanna Gaines ( (Fixer Upper, Magnolia House) and Justina Blakeney (Jungalow, Opalhouse) to create and promote its home decor collections.
It uses the same principle in its display ads but on a smaller scale. As a result, the retailer shows its products in action while also leveraging social influence. It leverages its influencer relationships by featuring popular social media influencers in ads. During the short clips, influencers often show how they use Target products. It features products in action and taps into social proof.
It also combines types of ads, using images and text with short videos. No matter if it uses video or images, the banner ads have clear messages.
7. Instapage
Instapage’s banner ads may seem simple, but that is the point. As a marketing company that centers around building landing pages, its ads need to reflect its product. In this case, there is one clear value proposition (#1 landing page builder for marketers) and call-to-action (show me).
8. Monday.com
The project management tool Monday.com is the perfect example of a banner ad that shows results. It uses a customer’s quote as the main headline.
It also points to a measurable result (60% increase in revenue). By doing so, it suggests that you too can increase revenue by 60% by using Monday.com. Then, instead of the standard “Learn more” CTA, it says “Show me how”.
9. Supergoop
If you’re not familiar with Supergoop, it is a cult favorite sunscreen brand. In its banner ads, it leans into that.
It makes a bold statement that it is the best SPF. Now, Supergoop has expanded to offer many other products besides sunscreen—including makeup, lip balm, and more.
However, this ad focuses on its best-selling product for a reason. Rather than dividing a viewer’s attention among many different products, it directs them to its sunscreen—what they are known for (and likely what has the highest conversion rate and order value).
10. Lowe’s
Lowe’s is another brand that rotates out its banner ads to make sure that the message is delivered to the right audience, at the right time. In this case, they swapped out their usual display ads for ones that focused on Father’s Day.
It’s not flashy, but it gets the point across. In other words, you can find a gift for Dad in time for Father’s Day at Lowe’s. Of course, it doesn’t make sense to update your ads for every holiday, but timing is important.
Consider when your business sees a jump in sales. It could be a holiday, event, or season. For example, a swimsuit brand will likely have more interest to viewers during the summer months than mid-winter.
11. LendingTree
The lending marketplace LendingTree uses interactive banner ads to get the attention of prospects. Instead of using a simple headline and CTA, they focus on personalization. For example, how much will you pay a month for a $300,000 loan?
By using sliders, calculators, and other interactive features, it hopes to engage users first and capture leads.
12. Disney+
Disney has mastered how to use nostalgia in marketing. For example, if you look at banner ads examples for its Disney+ streaming service, you’ll notice they frequently use clips and images of beloved movies.
On top of that, Disney+ is trying to convey the value—you get tons of content at a small monthly price.
It leverages its existing fan bases and highlights the offer clearly. The background is dark with a white text with the focal point on the CTA, right in the middle.
13. Jeep
This Jeep Wrangler ad might be improved by testing out only one CTA, but it has two good qualities worth pointing out—leveraging personalization and recent auto marketing trends. For example, more dealers and car shoppers are moving to more make-to-order vehicles. Jeep is tapping into that trend and personalizing it with a CTA to “Build Your Wrangler”.
Now, these banner ads examples can help inspire your next marketing campaign. However, “good” ad creative means nothing if it is not paired with tracking data and A/B testing. You can create effective designs with these best practices and banner ads examples, but ultimately, your performance data will tell you if a design converts to dollars or not.
In addition, design, testing, tracking, and managing banner advertising can be a lot of work, especially if you run a multi-location business. If you’re running digital ads, and want a partner that can produce creative ads as well as track and improve campaign performance, Goodway has years of experience running display advertising. Feel free to schedule a chat with one of our experts.