24.10.2024
100% of marketers should consider Display Automation for their display ad production.
Yes, I made that statistic up. But it's true, nevertheless.
Anyway, I'll stop making up stats and let the article speak for itself 👇
Sander Boesen
Content Marketing Manager / Zuuvi
Quick guide:
This creative automation tool is best experienced through video - because who doesn’t love a good demo, right? I’ve created a small series of videos that show off our creative automation in action, making sure everything is easily understood.
So, get comfy, grab some popcorn, and all that - but first things first... Let's enjoy this explainer together 👇
What is Display Automation?
Display automation is a creative automation tool that helps filter through your data feeds, assisting in the creation, versioning, and targeting of digital ads. Unlike traditional campaigns, which require manual updates, repetitive publishing and back-and-forth editing, campaigns set up with Display Automation allows you to dynamically tailor your ads to your custom-chosen real-time data, making it easy to create personalised experiences for your audience.
Speaking of personalisation you may be familiar with DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimisation).
DCO allows you to show the most relevant product to the given customer based on retargeting data, which is not the same as Display Automation.
Display Automation essentially elevates your DCO setup by automating the manual processes that comes with DCO.
For example, imagine no longer needing to manually do ad template swaps for the first of every month or when launching a big campaign. Instead, with this creative automation, these changes happen automatically, meaning less manual work and more time to be creative.
Psst: If you'd rather watch an extensive video-guide about this creative automation tool, I asked our Head of Customer Experience, Emma, to film an A-Z guide on exactly how to set up your first Display Automation.
How does Display Automation work?
This creative automation tool revolutionises the way ads are created, tailored, and delivered by automatically filtering through your data sheet and allowing you to schedule every campaign beforehand, with no manual interventions after setting it up.
Let's dive deeper into how it works:
Use Case #1: Manage Everything from One Single Data Sheet
With this creative automation you're able to create hundreds or even thousands of unique ads from one single data sheet. Based on your custom rules that filter through your data sheet, Display Automation assigns the tailored templates to your ads.
It may sound slightly complex, so let's break it down through an example:
Filtering Data Sheets with Display Automation
Let's say you're setting up ads for a Telco company. An ad template designed for TVs doesn’t necessarily fit phones as they differ in size and orientation. Forcing them into the same design may reduce the ads' performance.
If you want separate creative templates for these two product types, you’d traditionally need two data feeds - one for phones and one for TVs.
But with Display Automation there's now a more efficient way 👇
With Display Automation you can keep your data in one single data feed. The creative automation lets you set rules to filter products by category, automatically applying the right templates to each product category - one template for TVs, another for phones, and so forth - no multiple feeds, no extra campaigns.
This use of rule-setting will allow you to create ads that are have a unique creative outlook depending on the product category the ad is showcasing.
Here's the results of the rules I set above:
This way you can set up the rules once and let the automation build campaigns consisting of unique, creatively tailored ads, without manually versioning ads over and over again.
Use Case #2: Schedule Campaigns in Advance
Another challenge marketers face is keeping up with the constant demand for new campaigns. Display Automation gives you more time to meet this demand by allowing you to schedule even your largest campaigns months in advance. Whether you want to switch to Christmas-themed ads starting on December 1st or promote a Black Friday sale, all it takes is setting up a few rules, and the automation will handle the rest.
Example 2: Scheduling Campaigns with Display Automation
Picture this: You're juggling a massive Black Friday campaign while already racing to plan the Christmas campaign right after.
This may be overwhelming, but with this creative automation, it doesn't have to be.
You can schedule your Black Friday campaign months in advance, automating everything with ease. Set it up so that Black Friday templates go live on November 29th, then automatically switch to Christmas templates from December 1st. For those few days between the campaigns, your default templates kick in - without you lifting a finger.
Essentially, you could automate an entire year’s worth of campaigns and never stress about meeting deadlines again.
That leaves your creative team with plenty of time to focus on being... well, creative.
Use Case #3: Using Creative Automation... Creatively
With our creative automation tool, you're not limited to filtering your ads based on just product categories, campaigns, or price changes. You can go beyond these basics and link your creative strategy to virtually any data source, ensuring your ads stay relevant and impactful no matter the context. This dynamic approach allows you to connect your ads to the real world in ways that resonate deeply with your audience.
Let's take a look at another example!
Example 3: Creativity with Display Automation
If you were working at a bank, you could decide to base your creative ads on real-time fluctuations in stock prices. When the stock market is on the rise, highlight high-risk, high-reward investment products. When it dips, shift the focus to safer investment options, offering customers security in uncertain times.
The rules in this creative automation are simple to set up:
Rule 1: If a stock has an increased stock price across the last 7 days, use this ad template that advises people to start investing today:
Rule 2: If a stock has a decreased stock price across the last 7 days, use this ad template that advises people to buy stocks when prices drop:
(Just refresh the page if you want to see the different variations once more)
... Or use the creative automation to make your ads showcase sunny, tropical getaways when temperatures dip below 10°C in your audience's region, or promote cool, mountain escapes during the summer heatwave. You get the point - the creative options are endless.
And while your creative automation is hard at work, you can focus on crafting even more creative strategies to inspire wanderlust and adventure.
Oh, and for good measure 👇
You are able to preview any of the unique ads created with our creative automation tool before publishing, ensuring every individual ad is right on the money.
If you're still slightly confused, I asked our Head of Customer Experience, Emma, to talk you through the creative automation in a step-by-step video-guide. You can find that right here.
Who Benefits from Display Automation?
Industries Best Suited for this Creative Automation Tool
In all honesty, Display Automation can benefit almost any business that uses display advertising, as it offers valuable automation options. It's particularly valuable for industries with complex product offerings or multiple geographic markets as they often need to produce a large volume of ads tailored to different products, regions, or audiences. Display Automation lets you easily tailor the language of your ad to the viewer's location.
This creative automation tool is your go-to solution for creating dynamic, personalised ads through limited manual updates and no repetitive tasks. Whether you're tailoring ads to stock prices, campaigns, or product types your ads stay relevant and engaging.
With pre-scheduling and data-driven rules, your team can focus on creativity while the automation does the rest, making it perfect for managing complex campaigns across multiple markets.