Best Animated Ads Examples: 6 Show-Stopping Campaigns

Attention is a hot commodity in today’s ADHD scroll culture. With audiences perpetually bombarded with ad messaging from all directions, it takes something extraordinary to grab their attention.

Hands down, one of the best ways to captivate audiences is with rich, animated banner ads, and motion-rich, perspective-bending 3D electronic billboards. We also love interactive micro-games that bring the key art or advertising collateral to life in a dynamic way.

Here are our six best-animated ads examples to get your creative juices flowing.

1. Transformers EarthSpark

Not only do animated ads provide visual eye candy and stop audiences in their tracks, but they quickly tell a story and can create an emotional connection with a viewer. Case in point, the Transformers Earthspark advertising campaign for Nickelodeon’s 2022 TV series.

This campaign featured a mix of sleek motion animation display ads, partnership ads, and social content that showed off Transformers staples like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that viewers know and love, as well as a new generation of heroes.

Rather than using standard, static ads that most people would simply gloss over, the Transformers Earthspark campaign used animated ads that flexed robust animation techniques with plenty of pop to grab eyeballs but without being obnoxious about it.

Our partnership advertising included collaborations with brands like Roku, Yahoo, and Fandom, which created an immersive experience that blended perfectly with each platform for a distinctly native look.

And our social content targeted mobile users with out-of-the-box animation techniques that stopped scrolling dead in its tracks.

I mean, who can resist an animated music video ad where Bumblebee spontaneously comes to life and busts out dance moves on a kitchen countertop?

And the Transformers EarthSpark video content featured on 3D electronic billboards was the icing on the cake for getting the word out about the TV series.

2. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

This animated ad campaign featured a reboot of the classic Star Trek series that appeals to die-hard, veteran viewers, as well as a new audience who’s just discovering the show.

It was a 360 digital campaign that included motion graphics being featured in Angel Stadium — home of the Anaheim Angels baseball team.

So you might say it covered all the bases (see what we did there?).

The display ads featured smooth, sweeping animation that teased viewers and gave them a sneak peek at the aesthetic beauty of the series.

Social media content included similar animated ads, with plenty of sharp contrast and stunning visuals that left users wanting to know more.

And the takeovers/partnerships with brands like Twitch and Roku further added to the campaign, putting Star Trek: Strange New Worlds front and center.

3. Paw Patrol

Paw Patrol has been around since 2013 and has been delighting children with its canine cartoon characters ever since. I’m personally all too familiar, as my son routinely binged on it in his preschool years.

Paw Patrol: The Movie came out in 2021 and built on the series’ success, bringing the cartoon animation to a whole new level.

This campaign featured multiple jaw-dropping animated banner ads, featuring cutting-edge logo animation that brought the characters to life and promoted the movie playing in theaters and streaming on Paramount Plus.

One animated ad that was especially effective was when a character peeks over a static ad, breaking the fourth wall in the most cute and cuddly way possible.

Social media platform content featured a breathtaking cartoon advertisement, where another character “lifts up” the advertisement on a helicopter.

We’re also proud of the partnership with Parents.com, which features an animation style where the corner of the web page is pulled down, revealing the Paw Patrol crew.

This was a really fun campaign and shows how playful creativity is key to creating a great animated ad.

4. The Misery Index

Which would be more misery-inducing? You find out that your spouse has another family, or no one remembers you at your high school reunion?

These are the types of questions posed on The Misery Index — the TBS show hosted by Jameela Janil and featuring the Impractical Jokers comedy troupe.

This fast-paced, quick-witted, and sometimes irreverent show appeals to the type of viewer with a hearty sense of humor and who isn’t easily offended. As such, the animated ad campaign required a unique approach that was hyper-targeted to reel in this demo.

To accomplish this, we used display ads, perfectly positioned on websites to create maximum brand awareness. We created gamified banner ads to replicate the one-of-a-kind experience of watching the show.

We took our animated ads to places you might expect like subway cars and subway walls. But we also got a little…let’s say inventive.

We even got an ad placed in a bathroom urinal. No place was safe!

And let’s face it, you can’t help but notice advertising like this when nature calls.

5. Paramount Plus Launch

Launched in 2021, Paramount Plus marked the merging of media titans CBS and Viacom to create one of the world’s most loved streaming services.

From SpongeBob SquarePants to Dexter and everything in between, Paramount Plus is a true one-stop shop for streaming classics, as well as brand-spanking-new shows.

We had the privilege of handling their digital ad campaign, where we ran the gauntlet, delivering display ads, out-of-home displays, and full-scale social media advertising, with a healthy dose of animated ads to make the content stand out.

To really ramp up brand awareness for what was, at the time, a new streaming platform, we went heavy with site takeovers, where we wove in animated video to websites like USA Today and IMDb for maximum exposure.

And we’d say it worked. Not to toot our own horn, but given that Paramount Plus has grown to over 71 million subscribers in the three years since its conception, it’s clear that animation paid off.

6. The Orangutan Jungle School

If The Misery Index campaign was a little raunchy, The Orangutan Jungle School is a complete 180 with maximum wholesome vibes.

This is a TV series that follows the journey of young orphaned orangutans as they grow and learn before being released into the wild. And it’s sure to pull at the heartstrings of even the hardest and most callous viewer.

For this animated ad campaign, we teamed up with the Smithsonian Channel to develop the key art for the series and figure out the perfect way to reach viewers through a mix of display ads, promotional videos, memes, and social media content.

This was all about creating a commercial video that showed off the day-to-day lives of these cute little guys and kept things fun and playful…

…with a nice splash of aww-inducing hilarity.

Why Use Animated Ads?

Let’s start with the obvious. Animated video captures attention in a way that’s nearly impossible to do with other methods.

Whether it’s 2D animation, 3D animation, an explainer video, or a full-on animated video with motion graphics, it just hits different.

There’s a term in marketing called banner blindness where people consciously or subconsciously block out anything with banner-like information.

And this phenomenon is completely understandable. Every day we’re barraged with a seemingly infinite number of ads, and we’ve basically developed banner blindness as an evolutionary coping mechanism.

An animated commercial is effective (when done correctly) because it naturally makes eyeballs gravitate to a message. Place this next to a traditional static Google ad and there’s no comparison.

Next, animated video helps tell a story in a way that static content can’t. It helps viewers put the pieces together and connect the dots in a matter of seconds, so they can better understand what you’re promoting and, more importantly, why they should care.

And as we mentioned earlier, animated commercials help form an emotional connection. (Go back to our first animated video ad example featuring Transformers EarthSpark.)

Seeing OG characters like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee flying around instantly taps into nostalgia for older generations (that stings a little for some of us, I know) and piques the interest of younger generations who are just getting started.

Are Animated Ads Effective?

Obviously, I’m here to convince you that they are. But don’t take my word for it.

Let’s look at some stats from Medium that illustrate just how much of an impact animated ads can have.

First, 42% of marketers see a spike in key engagement metrics, including likes, shares, and comments. This shows that viewers respond to animated videos in a way that they don’t with static ads.

Next, 34% of marketers say viewers show increased brand recall and brand recognition with animation, which means the messages they see stick with them longer.

And now for what you really want to know.

Keep in mind that to create an effective ad, you’ll need professional animated commercial video with irresistible video and graphic content, and you’ll also need to zero in on your audience like a heat-seeking missile. But the marketing world is truly your oyster with animated videos.

Best Practices for Animated Ads

The first slice of advice is to pinpoint who you’re trying to reach and create animated commercial content that’s uniquely tailored to them. Trying to be everything to everyone is a recipe for disaster, so laser focus on your target audience and don’t worry about the rest.

For example, the approach we took in our campaign for The Misery Index was vastly different from The Orangutan Jungle School. The former was edgy and a little snarky. The latter was cute and wholesome.

Next, keep your content straightforward and fixate on a singular message. In other words, don’t throw too much at your audience. It can be confusing and overwhelming.

Always use a simple, strong call-to-action, so users know exactly what they need to do next. The “Try it Free” CTA in this Paw Patrol: The Movie video ad is a great example.

Also, keep text to a minimum, and make it all about the animation style and visuals. Nobody wants to see a jumbled mess of text when they’re trying to follow an animated video, so only use what’s essential.

And, of course, make sure your animated commercials are always on point aesthetically with the visuals you use for social and digital campaigns or any other type of campaign.

It’s okay to borrow from other brands when developing your animation style. But at the end of the day, your motion graphics should be all your own.

Finally, you need to be sure that you’re placing each animated advertisement in the right location. Just a few examples include websites, Facebook ads, in-app mobile games, and 3D billboards.

How Long Should Animated Ads Be?

An animated video display ad should typically be a max of 15 seconds. However, many of the ads we’ve had the most success with are shorter at closer to around five seconds. Viewers' attention is extremely limited for this type of content, so less is best. 

The same is true for animated commercials on takeovers, partnerships, and 3D electronic billboards. Animated visuals for an advertisement shouldn’t extend beyond 15 seconds.

However, you can usually go a bit longer than an animated video display ad with a time frame of around five to 10 seconds.

For social media, an animated commercial will likely be slightly longer. We find that the 10 to 20-second range tends to work well for something like a Facebook video ad. But again, many people have the attention span of a gnat, so when in doubt, trim the length down.

Also, note that it’ll likely take some trial and error before you find the sweet spot with animated commercials. So don’t be afraid to channel your inner mad professor and experiment like crazy until you find what works for you.

You may even want to use a mix of analytics and artificial intelligence to help you see the big picture. At that point, it’s just a matter of rinsing and repeating, and you can expect animated video to give the earlier stages of your sales funnel a shot in the arm.