Project date 2016
My role Interactive Art Director
Project Summary Taking a sizzling product video and turning it into a blistering banner ad campaign for the new Pixel phone “Made by Google.”
Personas Google Ecosystem Users, Nexus Phone Users, Android Users, Tech First Adopters
The challenge The Pixel launch was huge news in 2016. Finally, Google was making device hardware to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple. The challenge for my team was matching that enthusiasm with banner creative that showed off how sleek, sexy, and amazing this phone was going to be. Animation in banner ads was stagnant due to the media limitations placed on them by publishers. Video formats were too large, as were the file sizes for more dynamic script animations.
Solution By taking a cue from a new interactive GIF technology I found that we could take a 3d rendering of the new Pixel device and string the ‘sprites’ together to create a lighter weight animated banner. These sprites, along with Javascript and HTML, broke new ground for us. We could now make cinematic style animations that looked just as good as video. Since we only had a maximum of 15 seconds per banner animation, the amount of sprite frames was low, which meant less compression needed in comparison to other static high-quality images.
Results Typically a banner of this reach would gather about 1% to 2% click-through-rate, this set of banners hit a high of 8% click-through-rate. The Google Pixel phones have become some of the most well regarded and highest selling devices in the market. As for our sprite technology I helped pioneer, it became the standard for banner animation.
Results Typically a banner of this reach would gather about 1% to 2% click-through-rate, this set of banners hit a high of 8% click-through-rate. The Google Pixel phones have become some of the most well regarded and highest selling devices in the market. As for our sprite technology I helped pioneer, it became the standard for banner animation.
