The Anatomy of a Good Banner Ad

Last Updated 9/16/2019In Community Content Engine

Working with local publishers and, by extension, local businesses we see a lot of bad advertisements. Print ads with no clear call to action, banner ads with way too much copy and illegible font, just a general lack of strategy, audience awareness or objectives in terms of what the ad prompts the reader to do when they see it. It turns out, a great ad campaign is easier than you may think.

-The ads are well aligned with the target reader

-The ads are incredibly easy to read, understand and they stand out without being a distraction on the page


While local businesses won’t have brand-name celebrities endorsing their products the approach should be the same – an authentic, concise, and thoughtful message that aligns with the core value of the brand.

As a publisher you can help your advertisers move toward this values-based marketing approach and you’ll find your publication becomes more effective for them in the process since one of your core values is “buy local”. We’ve written before abouthow important it is for you to have a publisher-discretion policy when it comes to ads and not accept poor ads, hopefully this makes it easier to make suggestions.

While local businesses won’t have brand-name celebrities endorsing their products the approach should be the same – an authentic, concise, and thoughtful message that aligns with the core value of the brand.

As a publisher you can help your advertisers move toward this values-based marketing approach and you’ll find your publication becomes more effective for them in the process since one of your core values is “buy local”. We’ve written before abouthow important it is for you to have a publisher-discretion policy when it comes to ads and not accept poor ads, hopefully this makes it easier to make suggestions.

-In addition to the ads, Wrangler is the sponsor of the section (Notice the “Presented By” reference?) not merely an advertiser so they get multiple sized ads which give them a different set of options (including video ads)

-They highlight known athletes but do so in an authentic way – they’re with their family, they’re doing what they love, they even feature the signature of the athlete

I’m a big time college football fan and while looking at catching up on college football action  and I noticed Wrangler had a great campaign running. What makes it so good? Let’s take a look:
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