You’ve captured your audience, now capture their imagination

Great advertising has to move people - to smile, share, change their mind, find out more, remember the message and, ultimately, take action. For brands, each ad is an opportunity to resonate and build up a relationship with potential consumers… but doing that well relies on capturing people’s imagination and creating an emotional connection. 

Digital is primed to do just that. But sometimes, between the brisk efficiency of programmatic trading and the development of new technology, it can feel like human skill and creativity have no place in a digital world. It’s true that online campaigns can function without much of either, but they won’t be very good. 

Human creativity plays just as big a role in digital advertising as it does for any other form of media. Technological innovation and data driven tools that are unique to digital advertising help achieve results - yet they can only enhance a winning idea, not replace it. 

The reality is that many campaigns today need to capture consumers’ imagination and land powerful storytelling across both online and offline touchpoints at different stages of the purchase journey. The skill lies in creating seamless continuity across channels but also shaping creative for the platform the campaign is living on - whether that’s Domino’s yodelling homepage or OVO Energy’s greener digital billboards. 

At one end of the spectrum, brands have the option of working with digital creators to authentically integrate into the chosen environment via bespoke content, just like CALM did with gaming legend DanTDM. On the other hand, creativity is just as important when it comes to relatively straightforward executions, such as HSBC’s tailor-made Facebook ads that used clear messaging to drive impressive results. 

All of these ads resonate on a fundamentally human level because they’re informed by human skill, playing to the strengths of the channel they’re running on to resonate with audiences. The diversification of digital media - from podcasts to gaming - means that there are more creative outlets than ever to play with, but they all rely on one core thing: the power of a great idea. 

So, when it comes to digital advertising, capture your audiences’ imagination by leading with your own.