30+ Examples Of Successful Ad Creatives

As a copywriter you should always be training and improving your skills just like an NBA athlete. There is a reason why LeBron James is still the best basketball player and in the prime of his career at the age 35, while other players his age are retiring… preparation. When he’s not dribbling the basketball he’s got 20 TV’s replaying every single game that happened on that day. He’s dissecting every single play from his competition while he’s sitting in his cryotherapy chamber reducing the inflammation in his body. Without his immaculate preparation LeBron may have peaked at 32, but because of it we may see LeBron win a ring when he’s 40. The LeBron example can be applied to any industry, but especially copywriting. Without preparation and continued practice your Click Through Rates (CTR) will certainly dwindle. The best way to improve your copywriting and ad image selection is by studying the best ads and understanding why they work.

The Ingredients For Successful Ad Creatives

A successful ad needs an interesting image, a thought provoking headline, and an emotional spark—otherwise people won’t click the ad.

For the highest CTR possible evoke emotions such as:

Fear
Shock
Laughter
Curiosity
Relatability

Image Fundamentals

High quality images work best (big file sizes, e.g., bigger than 1 MB) and will catch the readers eye. Try your best to use the highest quality images in your ads if you want to increase your CTRs.
Images of people and faces especially draw attention.
Make a somewhat normal image subject stand out by adding something abnormal to the picture. For example, marking a detail in the image with a colored circle or even just adding an emoji:

Use the curiosity that an ambiguous picture creates to your advantage. Below, there is an image that immediately has audiences curious with questions. Everyone is asking themselves, “Why is there a lot of money and a hole in the ground, what’s the story .”

Use colors to your advantage. You can use different colors in an image to pull the readers eyes to a specific element in the photo that you think will peak the readers interest.
An action shot draws more attention than a stationary shot (movement will always be seen first before stillness).
Side By side creatives are classic and help tell a story like a make up transformation or even just for showing multiple photos in one ad:

Native Ad Examples

When you are creating an ad, keep in mind that your ad will be competing with other ads possibly right beside it and that means, any kind of contrast that will make your ad stand out in a “crowd” will be beneficial. Now lets take a look at some examples of Native Advertising creatives and evaluate them.