5 Tools for Display Ad Creation and Distribution

Programmatic-driven ad spend is expected to reach $14.2 billion worldwide this year, according to Magna Global, accounting for nearly one-third of all display media. However, research by AppNexus indicates 97 percent of programmatic campaigns still lack targeted creative for individual audience segments.

Combining high-quality creative with programmatic media can boost ROI for digital campaigns. To satisfy this demand, more hyperlocal vendors now are creating tools that businesses can use to generate targeted ad content without hiring their own in-house teams. These creative management platforms help companies develop hyper-relevant ads, with message testing and creative optimization, in an effort to improve the ROI for programmatic campaigns. Here are five tools for display ad creation and distribution.

1. PaperG: Collaborate with professionals on large quantities of high-quality ads.
Using PaperG’s creative management platform, publishers and agencies can customize, collaborate on, and learn from their display ad creatives. PaperG has been able to decrease the costs and turnaround time typically associated with creating ads for multiscreen campaigns. The vendor allows both designers and non-designers to work together to create a high volume of uniquely targeted ads. Once those ads have been created, they can be pushed to PaperG’s programmatic inventory or run on a company’s own media.

2. AdReady: Decrease creative production costs while testing multiple ad designs.
AdReady offers programmatic technology and managed media services to agencies, brands, and marketers. The company’s template-based creative automation system allows advertisers to develop thousands of ads in minutes and then test the designs, images, and calls-to-action within those ads to determine which creative elements generate the highest ROI. AdReady says it can generate hundreds of versions of a single ad, in multiple sizes, within seconds. The company has a creative services team that works with clients to develop branded creative assets. AdReady also offers tools for media planning, buying, execution, and optimization across multiple channels.

3. Celtra: Use existing audience data to improve ad creative.
Celtra is a self-service solution for generating data-driven dynamic ad messaging. Using the audience data that many advertisers already have available, Celtra says it can improve brand messaging and make ads more personalized and relevant. The vendor’s programmatic creative platform combines audience and environmental signals (like weather or time) within the creatives that advertisers put together. For example, a display ad may be optimized with a location-specific hashtag or a call-to-action that varies depending on the time of day. Essentially, Celtra is taking the audience data that brands use to power their programmatic buying and using it to personalize the ads that they display.

4. AdRoll: Entice audiences with personalized ads.
AdRoll is a retargeting platform that uses audience targeting to help its clients design dynamic ads that appeal to individual customers. In most cases, these ads feature items in which customers have already expressed interest. Dynamic ads are updated automatically whenever changes are made to a company’s product feed, however AdRoll also employs an in-house creative team to help new clients by designing non-templatized custom ads. AdRoll offers a series of best practices for generating dynamic ads on its website, including tips like using photos with transparent backgrounds and using fewer than 50 characters in all ad copy.

5. Adacado: Generate personalized ads for each viewer.
Adacado is a real-time creative platform with both self-service and fully managed options for creative services. Agencies and DSP partners retain full creative control over their ads, with deep personalization using parameters that include geo-targeting and cookies. Ads are media-independent, which means they’re approved to run across major exchanges and networks. Adacado says its ads can meet virtually any ad requirement (including retargeting, custom forms, real-time APIs, and video integration). Adacado can provide clients with optimized ads for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of product SKUs using data feeds, RSS, API access, website scraping, or simple flat files.

Know of other platforms that businesses can use to for display ad creation? Leave a description in the comments.

Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.