EN
Sector: Higher Education
Task: Banner Development
Project Highlights:
A university client was looking to appeal to new audiences by opting out of the traditional industry messaging regarding competition and advantage for a focus on creating connections and thriving together.
Assemble was given the art files and tasked with coding the ads to apply eye-catching animation with a whole new message.
Once a master and five original resizes of the banners were created, the client had two additional sets of copy to test out, each requiring six variations and two different versions for a total of 36 assets.
Using our BannerForge tool, we delivered the entire set of banners 50% faster than through a manual approach, coming in way ahead of schedule and optimizing our client’s budget
The Approach:
When a prestigious business school was looking to stand out from the traditional messaging pushing the individual advantage with one promoting collaboration and connections to get ahead, they asked the experts at Assemble to design and develop the animated banners.
The original banners included a master and five resizes. But with three different sets of copy, each requiring six variations and a version of each asset for DoubleClick Studio | Rich Media, the final ad count was up to 36. So instead of a manual/traditional approach, we proposed an automated solution using a tool we created called BannerForge that would yield significant time and cost savings throughout production.
This approach allowed us to create the initial set of banners, starting with the manual creation of the master size, powered with smart Node.js logic that auto-adjusts font-size and line-height depending on the number of characters in each text field. And utilizing BannerForge's native features, we could resize that unit quickly into 5 additional sizes. Then through the integration of an additional script, it could connect to a live Google Sheet, hosting each text variation. Each banner was two main lines of copy, which looked like this:
With this setup, we were able to iterate each row (or concept), and as the scripts automatically identified and replaced the 'tokens' (or variables) based on its corresponding text in the sheet, it generated an entire set of new banners. The process allowed us to produce the standard DCM units, while also swapping the appropriate code to make the conversions necessary for DoubleClick in a new folder.
The Big Wins:
With so many variations needed, time was of the essence. By using our BannerForge platform, we could deliver the entire set of banners at least 50% faster than through a manual approach. By reducing the time spent on each banner from 1-2 hours to just 15 min, we were also able to bring down campaign costs significantly.
A Key Takeaway:
BannerForge helped expedite a very manual, tedious banner development process when several variations of the primary campaign concept were needed. Not only did the quality of the animations and design meet client expectations (and Assemble standards) but they were also thrilled with the quick delivery which crushed the expected deadline and optimized their campaign spend. We’re looking forward to continuing to help them with new campaigns using this same approach in the near future.
_“Assemble has, and continues to be, a stellar partner on this initial UWFSOB digital-first campaign. If we have budgets, I'd work with them all the time on these types of projects. They provide:
- Top class professionalism
- Great communication and cross team coverage
- Deliverables that are usually ahead of schedule, always on schedule.
- Good pricing and openness to estimate discussions to help me with a couple of small program budgets for UWFSOB
As you can tell, I'm very enthusiastic about Assemble.”_