At Infillion, our tech and creative teams build for desktop, mobile, connected TV, and even sports stadiums. That’s a lot of platforms – and a lot of different creative strategies.

What were some of our creative milestones in 2023? From brand lift to 3-card monte, from inventive custom builds to our performance-driving Blueprints, this infographic shows a few of our team’s favorites.

(See full sized PDF here.)

Want to find out how Infillion’s creative tech can take your ads to the next level? Get in touch today.

Welcome to our Interactive Storytelling series. Here, we’ll share our favorite strategies on how to turn static stories into interactive ad narratives. Missed the last one on quizzes? Read it here. 

For brands that need to advertise a larger suite of products or narratives, choosing the correct single topic to focus an ad on can be a challenge.

After all, choosing to highlight one topic makes the inadvertent choice to not focus on another topic. So what do you do?

You use a Content Collection – our solution for having your cake and eating it, too.

Content Collections are, effectively, a microsite in an ad unit. This allows storytellers to create multiple paths leading to multiple experiences all in service of your brand.

Here’s what benefits you can expect from a Content Collection:

For Advertisers: An Expanded Product Mix; a More Compelling Story

As stated above, offering a variety of paths for users can create several storytelling benefits. 

The first is, of course, showing more products in your portfolio. With each additional product, you have the opportunity to make your brand more user-friendly and more accessible to more people, thanks to more use cases and more choice. Plus, it will speak to the depth and breadth of your offerings.

But it’s not just a greater selection of products that can help advance brand storytelling goals. Content Collections can also offer deeper storytelling of your narrative.

Take the example here:

Here, the brand is using their paths to tell a farm-to-table story. One path highlights the small farms that supply Chipotle. But, we also have recipes, an ingredient exploration, and even user reviews. This deeper-dive gives the user a more complete picture of the brand’s process, thereby creating a sticky, impactful, transparent unit. 

But it’s not just advertisers that benefit from this kind of multipathed storytelling. Creative like this also establishes a powerful experience for users.

For Users: More Choice, More Personalization

There are countless ad campaigns that could benefit from single-topic advertising. And for those, you should absolutely use single-topic strategies.

For more complex brand stories, however, you’ll want to avoid single-topic advertising.Not every user wants the same products or services. Not every user wants to learn a brand’s story in the exact same way. The solution for this is personalization. And luckily, Content Collections specialize in user choice.

Knowing the benefits of Content Collections for advertisers (more products, deeper storytelling) and users (more personalization and transparency), we can start to dig into different kinds of Content Collections. Broadly speaking, Content Collections can be simple or complex. Here are examples of both:

Simple Content Collections

By definition, simpler examples of Content Collections will offer multiple paths for exploration. However, these paths are fairly straightforward. 

In the example above, a user is given three paths. Each path reveals imagery, copy, and a CTA. 

Content Collections have the ability to go more in depth, but this is a perfect means of offering personalization while still keeping the experience streamlined.

An execution like this would benefit from all the storytelling power of a Content Collection while still keeping production comparatively lean. In fact, this kind of Content Collection can be created on an expedited timeline. 

Complex Content Collections

Content Collections can also be more fully-featured. We can create an experience that truly mirrors a microsite, with each path representing a completely different interactive experience. In fact, it’s possible that any of our creative capabilities could live in a Content Collection at the same time.

In the example above, we’ve included samples of several Mattel games able to be played directly in-unit. Users aren’t just getting separate paths of information – they’re getting an entire array of diverse experiences.

Units like these tend to engage our users and encourage exploration while delivering one of the deepest, richest storytelling experiences we can offer. 

Users will interact with great content, full stop. So  for your next campaign, consider a Content Collection. By telling your brand story in a container that honors choice and gives users a greater degree of transparency, control, and even fun – you’ll be setting up your campaign for interactive success.

Interested in building a content collection ad for your brand? Click here to reach out and get started!

Welcome to our Interactive Storytelling series. Here, we’ll share our favorite strategies on how to turn static stories into interactive ad narratives. Missed the last one on games? Read it here. 

Quizzes are among the most effective ad units that we create at Infillion, and for several very good reasons. Consider:

• With quizzes, we don’t have to guess a consumer’s motivations. They tell us by answering questions. All we do is reflect their input at the end.

• The barrier of entry is exceedingly low. Nobody needs to learn how to take an online quiz. We’ve been taking online quizzes for ages. (Thanks, BuzzFeed.)

• They consistently deliver full-funnel results while driving every digital metric that we measure.

So why aren’t all of our interactive units quizzes? Because quizzes require us to create an original, in-house asset: Quiz copy and logic. While we have the expertise and the pedigree around creating quiz logic, they aren’t the quickest ad to build. But if your brand has the time, we can drive those results..

If an Infillion quiz is the right fit for your campaign, consider one of the following quiz strategies:

Recommendation

With a Recommendation Quiz, users answer a few questions about their preferences. Then, 3 answers later, we give them a single entry point to start their journey with your brand. This is great for brands that have more than one product or offering, especially if the array of products may make it difficult for a single consumer to decide. 

This has a lot of storytelling power. Consider:

• This can help consumers home in on which of a brand’s offerings is right for them – they don’t have to decide among 31  figurative flavors of ice cream. (Paradox of Choice, anyone?) A quiz, acting in a “concierge” role, can give users ONE entry point tailored to their specific needs.

• Quizzes can help introduce new use cases, accessory products, and even regimens on how to use the product.

• We can pass back key data to the client about user choices and results. 

Pound for pound, Recommendation Quizzes may be our most powerful units.

Personalization

Recommendation Quizzes suggest an individualized product recommendation to a user out of an array of options. Personalization Quizzes, on the other hand, reflect your individualized relationship to a single product. 

An easy comparison is the classic Buzzfeed-style quiz. After answering questions, we’ll just tell you something about yourself through the lens of the brand or product. “Based on your answers, you’re a [BRAND] Super-user!” 

We’d recommend Personalization Quizzes in the following cases:

• Where a quiz-based unit is desired, but the brand is only promoting ONE product.

• Education on the user’s brand “type” to help them better find their role in your brand’s clan, so to speak. Are they night owls or early birds? Introverts or extroverts? Online shoppers or brick-and-mortar shoppers? Once we know that, we can figure out where their personalities fit into a brand’s ecosystem.

Entire media companies have built their empires on the power of personality quizzes. It can help your brand, too. 

Knowledge Check Quizzes

Think of Knowledge Check Quizzes as “brand trivia.” Unlike its siblings, the Knowledge Check Quiz will grade your score at the end. This experience brings replayability and a desire to win. And as we’ve seen with our game-based units, people like to win.

Typically, here’s how we use Knowledge Check Quizzes:

• To Introduce a Pain Point: Sometimes we’ll subtly show users what they don’t know.
  
  This can create a slight feeling of discomfort. However, if we position your brand as the solution to that pain point, then we’re increasing the likelihood of down-funnel actions.
  
  For instance: a quiz about water benefits hosted by a bottled water brand. How much water should you be drinking per day? How can better hydration improve your sleep, focus, or workout performance? The quiz creates the ache; your brand is the relief.

• To Introduce Benefits: This is a subtle way to educate users on a given product. Imagine a question like: “What’s your favorite thing about New Product X?” with the answers being: Benefit A, Benefit B, and so on.
  
  Of course, if it’s a new product, users won’t know. So in this case the Quiz acts as both a source of education for the users AND a source of data for the brand.

• Pure Fun: Not every quiz-based ad needs to be packed with brand information. A fun time-waster, sponsored by your brand, can be a fantastic way to build sentiment.
  
  Consider universal quiz topics, like: “Halloween Trivia, sponsored by [YOUR BRAND].” You’ll replace an ad break with fun. Your customers will remember.

Now, Quizzes aren’t the only way to engage users and drive them down-funnel. We have a lot of solutions for that very problem. 

It’s just that Quizzes might be the best at it. 

Interested in building a quiz ad for your brand? Click here to reach out and get started!

Welcome to our Interactive Storytelling series. Here, we’ll share our favorite strategies on how to turn static stories into interactive ad narratives. Today we’re diving into games. Missed the last one on Guided Stories? Read it here.

Remember when “gamification” was one of marketing’s most unavoidable buzzwords? While earning badges for posting restaurant reviews or filing your taxes on time can feel a bit forced, everyone loves a good game. And ads-as-games can be incredibly powerful when done correctly. While they’re (by definition) fun, under the playful surface is a delicate touch with regard to strategy and storytelling. Here’s how we handle it at Infillion:

When we build game-based ads, the first decision we make is “what kind of game are we building?” Think about it: some games challenge your reaction speed (think Mario). Others engage memory or critical problem-solving (think Tetris or even Solitaire). 

Different brands and campaigns will resonate with different game types. Movie titles, for instance, might benefit from “slower” games to allow brand content to really sink in. Brands looking to increase their perception of being fun might go for something more fast-paced, where on-screen time isn’t as important. 

Here are our game strategies, along with some general tips and tricks.

Reaction Games

Reaction games, as the title suggests, test how quickly our users can react to on-screen challenges. You’re avoiding obstacles, or aiming at a target, often while racing a clock.

Best used for: Brands looking to spend their ad investment on a little fun. 

Not every ad has to drive bone-dry spreadsheet metrics. With games, a brand experience can be engaging and fun.

Games can work for a surprising variety of brands. In the past, we’ve run perception-shifting game campaigns for brands like ULTA Beauty and SunTrust Bank. 

Caveats: You’ll get better results from brand lift – which at Infillion we measure as part of our post-campaign analysis – than more standard interaction metrics. Reaction games often rely on keyboard button presses rather than clicks, so the “interactions” will be light, but that doesn’t mean playtime is. 

Memory Games

Here, we’ll challenge a user’s ability to correctly remember key elements. Think of these like the classic match games we may have played as kids.

Best used for: Interactions and upper-funnel movement.

With regards to the brand lift funnel, the definition we use for “familiarity” is a) knowing a brand exists and b) knowing something about it.

That makes memory games ideal for driving familiarity. In the example above. users cannot win unless they commit brand elements to memory. And one thing about games – people really want to win. And you really want them to remember your brand. So: everyone wins.

Caveats: On a typical interactive creative, assume you’re looking at 3-5 interactions. With a memory game, those interactions can be in the double digits. But it’s important to remember that Memory Games take a lot of clicks to complete. A high average interaction rate doesn’t mean users saw every piece of your creative. Memory Games are great for a lot of nice-to-have brand elements. For campaigns with must-see content, consider another strategy.

Discovery Games

If you’ve ever read Where’s Waldo?, then you’ve experienced an analog version of a Discovery Game.

Discovery Games ask users to hyper-focus on your brand story in order to find something.

This works because searching for something so intently increases the perceived value behind the thing they’re searching for – most typically, something associated with your brand. In turn this can increase brand perception. Here’s an example:

Best used for: Brands that are looking to surprise and delight. Want to build awareness and consideration for a comparatively mundane product? This is a great way for consumers to see how your brand (or its mascot) literally stands out. You’re associating finding your brand with victory, after all.

Caveats: Since this is effectively a digital version of hide-and-seek, it’s possible that some users won’t find the hidden object. As a result, consider ensuring that the hidden object is something that isn’t critical to campaign success. But for people who do find it? Maybe surprise them with a discount or other promotion.

Performance: What to Expect

Classically, we’ve seen games drive full-funnel lift, but comparatively light CTR. For conversion, then, consider retargeting consumers who played your game with a follow-up campaign that deploys rich media ads, like our NeXt product.. 

But for funnel movement and increased brand perception, games are hard to beat.

Interested in building a ad game for your brand? Click here to reach out and get started!

Welcome to our Interactive Storytelling series. Here, we’ll share Infillion’s favorite strategies on how to turn static stories into interactive ad narratives. Up first: Guided Stories.

Guided Stories – when a brand leads a user by the hand through a narrative by having them click from the beginning to the end of a concept with a slideshow-like user experience – can be incredibly powerful. But these poor storytelling tools – most commonly recognized as carousels – have been downright misunderstood throughout internet history. Join us today as we talk through how to build a better carousel. 

In the 2010s, design practices dictated that websites shouldn’t put crucial information below the fold – meaning, in a way that required scrolling. Making someone scroll vertically on a landing page was a no-go, thanks to a belief – and an erroneous one, as it turns out – that first-time visitors to a site were unlikely to scroll down to learn more. 

That’s what birthed the rise of our favorite Guided Story: horizontal carousels. All the content, none of the vertical scrolling. And while the idea that people won’t scroll on a website turned out to be a misconception, horizontal carousels were here to stay. Maybe it’s because, when done well, they work. 

Check out the ad

This didn’t happen overnight. As is often the case with the media industry, when it gets a new toy, innovation and execution preceded strategy. Landing page carousels often featured a feed of recent news duct-taped together without thought around the overall unifying narrative. 

This frequent lack of creativity gave the carousel a bad name. Plus, in a world of increasing interaction and personalization, carousel-based interactions can seem comparatively linear.

But linear storytelling can be incredibly powerful. The best book you ever read was probably linear. Same with the best movie you ever saw. Linear is good! Linear executions like Guided Stories allow brand storytelling experts to show users the right content on their preferred cadence. 

The key is that as the marketer, you truly have to think of yourself as the storyteller. You are guiding the user through the linear story that YOU want to tell. A fixed path is not, by default, a boring path. You control their expectations and their experience. 

With that, consider these carousel strategies to take your linear storytelling further with carousels – which you can build right into your ad creative in Infillion’s TrueX interactive ads.

​Prioritize and Complement

Using a carousel as an image or product gallery is the most obvious application. But there needs to be thoughtfulness around the order of the images.

Often, brands will show their latest products. However, we suggest the following alternatives;

1. 1. Prioritize: You’re likely looking at an average of 2-3 clicks on a carousel. For longer carousels, consider populating the end with lower-priority SKUs.
   2. Complement: Using this same strategy, you can encourage items meant to augment your highest priority product. If frame 1 is about a PC, frame 2 could be about a mouse. If frame 1 is peanut butter, sell jelly on frame 2.

Tell a Singular Story

Consider taking storytelling inspiration from books. Create content designed to communicate a single thought across several pages.

Here are some examples of how this strategy could work:

Frame 1

The holidays are almost here. Introducing this season’s must-have gift:

Frame 2
[Your product, other key information]

Frame 3

[How to purchase – or maybe even offer a discount.]

This strategy encourages engagement and focus. The page-turning action creates a natural itch that digital users will be compelled to scratch.

Use “How To” Content

Offering “free’ information (even if it’s how to purchase your product) will almost universally be well-received by consumers. Consider these examples:

How to better use your product
This would include ideas on expanding use cases. That sports drink isn’t just for workouts, for example – it could be for all periods of dehydration.

How to get started with us
Something like this could be ideal for more complex products. You’ll introduce users to your world and offer introductory steps.

How to make the perfect glass of chocolate milk
Advice from brand-approved experts can help increase usage and raise perception.

To close with a quick reiteration: cap your carousels at 3-5 frames. Anything more than that and you’re likely spending bandwidth and resources on frames with a lower likelihood of engagement.

Interested in building a carousel for your brand? Click here to reach out and get started!