Design tips from Outbrain's Brand Studio team

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Creativity knows no bounds; it is a dynamic and powerful drive that allows us to think outside the box. Calculated risks are taken and conventions are challenged. Over the past year, Outbrain’s Brand Studio team has helped advertisers reshape the look and performance of digital marketing on the internet with impressive business results.

I'm lucky to be part of an exceptional team, made up of brilliant minds who understand the art of digital marketing. Here's a look at our perspectives and the fundamental design principles we use to transform a brand's online presence.

1. Design for touch
Tactile experiences matter more than ever, not only to help generate audience attention, but to sustain it. Unique experiences that engage rather than interrupt, to bring audiences closer to a brand’s story and evoke curiosity and exploration. As Tim Skrlec, Head of Design at Brand Studio, says: “Design isn’t just about visuals. It’s about creating a story that resonates and endures beyond the screen. Audiences enjoy an immersive, multi-dimensional experience, and brands can leverage this wisely – for example, by showcasing multiple products and pointing to different landing pages in a single experience.”

To establish its presence in a new market, DS Automobiles tasked the Brand Studio team with creating a custom page with multiple interactive elements. Users could swipe cards to learn more about the car’s features and then watch a 15-second introductory video. Users who clicked on the creative were redirected to a landing page that encouraged conversions. The campaign outperformed all channels with the best engagement (7.73%) and conversion to orders (+10% conversion to sales vs. social platforms).


2. Use what you have
Starting from scratch can make brands hesitant to diversify their channe media directors email database ls. But when it comes to creative, there’s no need to scrap your creative or go back and make another version. Do you have creative for display or video? Leverage both types of assets from other channels and maximize impact by adding layers of engagement. That’s what Ford did in an experience to promote its new all-electric Explorer. Demonstrating the power of transforming what’s already in a brand’s creative arsenal, we saw 2x the engagement rate of the automotive benchmark on standard, high-impact display.

Ignazio Marozzi, Head of Brand Solutions: “Sometimes the ideas that work best are those that come from trying combinations of what we have, in an innovative way, and optimising the desired result for the brand, not just visibility or traffic. Part of creativity is using what already exists and making it capture and hold attention in the ad itself. By doing so, “repurposed” advertising saves time and resources, two major challenges that every advertiser has to face in every campaign.”