12. May 2025
Attention, please: Understanding people and generating high impact in online campaigns
If you want to stand out in the digital space today, you need more than just good content – you need the right format. High impact solutions bring strong brand messages to where they are seen – in attention-grabbing environments with maximum visibility. Combined with high-quality content, this creates a convincing triad of relevance, reach and trust.
The concept behind high impact advertising
In science, a distinction is made between implicit and explicit perception in memory. While familiar advertising formats subconsciously appeal to implicit memory, high impact ads stand out from the crowd like a beacon and are actively perceived by people.
How exactly do I stand out from the crowd?
Tips for high impact ads
Die Ströer High Impact Formate bilden einen erprobten Rahmen, um mit Markenbotschaften besonders auffallen zu können. Dabei werden die User mit verschiedenen Mechaniken angesprochen: Überraschen, Bewegen, Herausstechen sind nur einige der Attribute, die die Ads besonders machen.
Neben einer guten Formatauswahl ist ebenso die Kreation ein zentraler Baustein erfolgreiche Kampagnen. Starke, emotionalisierende Bilder schaffen Awareness, ein gut sichtbar platzierter Call-to-Action sorgt für Engagement. Es ist wichtig, dem User einen Mehrwert zu offerieren, damit er sich aktiv mit der Marke beschäftigt. Dies kann, neben Rabatten und Co., auch das Bewerben eines Filmtrailers, oder die Auswahl besonders schöner Reiseziele sein. Ströer berät Sie gerne bei der Erstellung der Creatives und bringt dabei seine jahrelange Erfahrung als Anbieter von High Impact Ads ein.
High impact ads can enchant an entire page
Marvel series Agatha All Along on kino.de and GIGA
For the launch of the new Marvel series Agatha All Along, Disney and the Ströer Content Group teamed up with the creative agency Cynapsis to stage an extraordinary in-depth integration on the high-reach platforms kino.de and GIGA. The aim was not only to reach users, but to enchant them in the long term – with a holistic approach consisting of eye-catching high-impact formats, creative excellence and a customised environment.
The witch Agatha Harkness had a direct influence on the environment: article headlines were immersed in her iconic purple colour and began to magically blur. The mouse pointer turned into a magic wand that trailed a glowing tail behind it – a subtly interactive layer that generated curiosity.
Another highlight: the breakout ad, which caused a high-quality 3D fog to float across the page when scrolling. Clicking on the banner area opened a full-screen overlay – including autoplay of the official trailer. The campaign also remained an eye-catcher on mobile: with automatic article interruptions that also staged the trailer and thus effectively focussed the user's attention.
Market research confirms
High Impact stands out
With the help of a survey by the market research institute Reppublika, Ströer 2024 was able to scientifically prove that the advertising recall of a high impact ad is significantly higher than that of a classic display ad*.
Overall, the campaign evaluation shows that high impact ads are rated as more eye-catching and visually appealing compared to classic display ads. High Impact stands out positively from other advertising.
*Source: Ströer advertising impact measurement Reppublika in cooperation with Ströer Oct. 2024
Understanding and correctly applying high impact
Tips for successfully designing your online campaign
But how do you strike the right balance between advertising message, product and editorial added value? Here are a few points that will help you create a high impact from classic advertising:
- Define your goals
What do you want to achieve with your campaign? (Awareness, conversion, engagement, etc.). Which KPIs measure success? (CTR, viewability, attention time, ROAS etc.) - Be honest!
No user visits a content environment to consume advertising. Give people a reason to engage with your brand. Advertising must be fun in order to be remembered positively in the long term! - Know your target group
What are the interests, pain points and digital habits of your target group? Where and how do they consume media? - Be creative
Emotional, visual storytelling generates more attention. The message should be clear, simple and easy to grasp. - Plan your campaign holistically
Only in combination with other media and implicit communication can high impact realise its full potential. Plan an omnichannel strategy in which the high impact campaign can be seamlessly integrated as a highlight.
3 questions for Product Owner Christian Reinz
Mobile Combi Ad
Christian, what makes the Mobile Combi Ad special or a high impact format?
“The mobile combi ad is a triple ad that consists of a top (sticky presenter or presenter), middle (half page) and sticky footer advertising format. The three placements or forms of advertising mentioned alternate so that the advertiser's advertising message is always visible and clickable, depending on the swipe depth.”
What should you look out for in the creative?
“The creatives should be coordinated with each other and still contain a complete advertising message. In this way, the content of the creatives is coordinated, as only one form of advertising is visible at a time, and they also convey the advertising message alone. This also increases attention and involvement.”
What is the central promise of the product?
“The combination of the ad mechanics and the permanent visibility and clickability of the customer creative, which is ensured in this way, provides the optimum conditions for viewability and click rate values. This is proven by a very high view time of Ø 43 seconds (range: 32-55 seconds, cf. sitebar 27 seconds) and click rates between 0.15% and 0.85%.”
3 questions for Product Owner Frauke Hofmann
Scroll Ad
Frauke, what makes the scroll ad special or a high-impact format?
“The scroll ad creates a stage for our customers' products and advertising messages. The ad reacts to the user scrolling and thus generates a high level of attention and invites interaction.”
What should you look out for in the creation process?
“We offer the scroll ad as a full service, which means that the customer only has to think roughly about what should be played and our experts take over the optimal implementation. It is important that the advertising material is not too cluttered, that clear call-to-action elements are integrated and that working with different visuals attracts greater attention. It is also possible for retailers to translate their brochures into the digital world and for the scroll mechanism to represent the turning of the brochure pages.”
What is the key promise of the product?
“The scroll ad can be used for offer communication as well as for ‘brandformance’. It creates a perfect combination of branding and performance. This is proven by high visibility: Ø over 85% and engagement rates over 0.30%.”
Conclusion
High-impact ads are the perfect addition to the reach-orientated media mix and increase the effectiveness of other formats through stronger initial contacts. They can be used offline (e.g. DOOH) and online (e.g. interactive mobile ads), making them ideal for omnichannel strategies.
Even if they are not primarily performance-driven, they often show above-average KPIs for viewability, engagement and brand lift.
High impact advertising is not a mass product, but a strategic tool. It is used specifically where it can have maximum impact - in the awareness phase, for market launches, rebrandings or special campaigns. In the media mix, it provides the necessary ‘kick’ to reinforce the overall impact of the campaign.
To summarise: high impact is created by the interplay of format, size, placement and environment - complemented by a creative implementation that stands out visually, tells stories and invites interaction.
And already inspired for your next online campaign? Over the next few months, we will be presenting the most important elements of online creation in our multi-part blog series, showing various possibilities for interaction and inspiring you with innovative and technology-linked examples of success. Stay tuned!