- Marketers keep asking the wrong question
- Why static ads leave an instant impact
- Why video draw eyes and interest
- The customer journey isn’t built around one format
- The biggest challenge for the growing brand: ad production
- AI is changing the creative equation
- Better campaigns start with better creative strategies
Marketers keep asking the wrong question
Are video ads better than static ads? Do you know the answer? It’s a common debate, and a more common question, we get time and again. But, it ultimately starts from the wrong assumption. Customers don’t experience advertising one format at a time, and they certainly don’t make purchase decisions after seeing a single ad.
Think about your own shopping habits. You might first discover a brand through a short video while scrolling Instagram during lunch. Later that evening, you notice a display ad while reading the news. A few days later, a product ad reminds you about the products you were comparing, and that’s the moment you finally click through and buy.
None of those ads succeeds on its own. It’s a funnel of discovery, consideration, and awareness that gradually moves you from that first brand touchpoint down to conversion and, eventually, loyal customer.
That’s why the conversation around video ads vs. static ads misses the bigger picture. The strongest campaigns don’t force marketers to choose one format over another. They combine both because shoppers move fluidly between channels, devices, and moments of intent.
Static ads provide often build curiosity. And video can too, but it often provides ways to further dive into your product. Together, they create a more complete advertising experience.
The best part? Advances in AI have made it possible for businesses of every size to build both campaign types whether they have the time, or expertise, to do it on their own.
Why static ads leave an instant impact
Video has been one of the fastest-growing advertising formats for years, but that doesn’t mean static display ads have lost their value. In fact, they continue to be one of the most effective ways to communicate information quickly. You don’t have to wait for the punchline.
When someone is actively researching a purchase, they’re often looking for answers rather than entertainment. What’s the product? How much does it cost? Is there a promotion? Why is it worth clicking? Static ads answer those questions immediately.
That’s what makes them especially valuable during the consideration stage. A shopper comparing espresso machines doesn’t necessarily need a cinematic product story. They need pricing, product details, and a compelling reason to explore further. The same is true whether they’re shopping for skincare, furniture, electronics, or home décor.
Static creative also works exceptionally well for promotional messaging. Flash sales, limited-time offers, product launches, and retargeting campaigns all benefit from clear, concise visuals that deliver information at a glance. They’re a perfect way to capture someones attention when they’re scrolling quickly through their feeds for example.
For example, display ads fit naturally into the environments where people already spend time. Whether someone is browsing publisher sites, checking the weather, reading an article, or researching a purchase, static ads allow brands to remain visible without interrupting the experience.
Rather than thinking of static ads as the “traditional” option, it’s more accurate to think of them as the foundation of many successful digital campaigns.
When static ads make the most sense:
- Retargeting campaigns
- Reaching shoppers who visited and left your site without making a purchase (or to upsell them after making one) on the websites they love most.
- Discovery campaigns
- Reaching shoppers who exhibit attributes most like your current customers to convince them to visit your website through ads place on their favorite sites.
- Product launches
- Quick information about the launch of new products and where the interested online shopper can learn more.
- Scroll-based platforms
- Fast ways to get you brand, product, and value across for platforms where people scroll quickly through content.
- Avoiding Brand Fatigue
- Easy ways to update how your brand is shown in market to help ensure your audience doesn’t grow tired of your brand and creative.
Why video draw eyes and interest
If static ads are built for clarity, video is built for attention.
Movement naturally draws the eye, particularly in digital environments where consumers scroll through an endless stream of content every day. But video offers something more than motion. It provides context.
Instead of simply showing a product, video shows people how it fits into everyday life.
A pair of trainers becomes someone finishing their morning run. A sofa becomes the centerpiece of a newly decorated home. A skincare product becomes part of a daily routine. In just a few seconds, video can communicate emotion, personality, and value in ways that a single image often can’t.
That’s one reason short-form video has become such an important part of modern advertising strategies.
It’s particularly effective for introducing new products, building brand awareness, demonstrating features, and creating memorable first impressions. Even when shoppers aren’t ready to buy immediately, those early interactions increase familiarity and make future ads more recognisable.
That doesn’t mean every campaign should become video-first.
It simply means marketers should understand where video adds value and use it intentionally.
When Discovery ads make the most sense:
- Product demos
- If your product often needs to be shown in action, video ads are the place to be.
- Social proof
- Video ads are far and away the best way to showcase how your products have benefited actual customers.
- Emotion-focused advertising
- Videos are a great way to quickly express any emotions tied to your product, especially when featuring real actors.
- Building recall
- Partially because of the length viewing your ad, and partially because of the emotion driven, video is great for recall.
- Leveraging social
- On platforms like Meta, video ads usually outperforms static ones and is often the better choice for reaching customers.
The customer journey isn’t built around one format
The debate around video ads vs. static ads assumes shoppers consume advertising in isolation. To be blunt, this debate is moot.
It is extremely rare for someone to be sitting on their couch browsing social media in front of the TV and see a product on their feed that they buy on site. In fact it’s usually quoted to be somewhere between 5 and 20 touchpoints depending on the source in order to drive a sale. Meaning, unless your consumers only consume media on one channel then you need to consider video and static ads to drive the most success.
And it’s not just because of where your shoppers are. None of these ad formats replace each other. They build on each other. Where Static ads create initial scroll awareness videos can follow with a deeper product demo. Conversely where video might create an initial emotional connection, static ads can follow with knowledge about a sale to drive the deal home. Using retargeting to fuel these different campaign efforts will drive most of this action.
The most successful marketers ask how different formats can work together to keep their brand visible throughout the buying journey.
The biggest challenge for the growing brand: ad production
If using both formats delivers stronger campaigns, why haven’t more businesses embraced that approach? I think we all know the answer: resources! Most brands simply don’t have the resources—or the time, or the expertise, or the budget— to create both video and static ads. Especially at scale.
A single campaign often requires dozens of banner sizes, multiple video assets, social variations, promotional messaging, creative testing, and regular updates as inventory or pricing changes. What begins as one campaign quickly becomes hundreds of creative assets.
For lean marketing teams, that’s simply unrealistic. Even at larger companies (take it from one that knows) this is often one of the biggest lifts to creating a new campaign.
Businesses will use the formats that they have the time to create. But that’s not best practice and with our constantly changing advertising environment, it’s a bottleneck that doesn’t have to hold teams back anymore.
AI is changing the creative equation
That production challenge hasn’t completely disappeared. As many of us know, there are plenty of agencies out there that will claim that their expertise will ensure that their efforts will lead to a higher ROI for your brand.
But this isn’t 2019 anymore. Instead of manually building every creative variation, marketers can now use AI to generate display and video assets that are ready to review, refine, and launch.
Rather than spending weeks resizing banners, coordinating video production, or adapting creative for different placements, teams can focus on the work that drives results: defining strategy, refining messaging, testing offers, and understanding their customers.
But be careful, not every advertising platform is cut from the same cloth and many won’t offer this capability. Look for a partner that can help leverage AI to build these assets for you so you can spend your time building strategy instead of building ads.
Better campaigns start with better creative strategies
Customers don’t follow a predictable path to purchase, and advertising shouldn’t assume they do.
Some people will discover your brand through video. Others will engage with a display ad while researching products online. Many will interact with both before they’re ready to buy.
Static ads remain one of the fastest ways to communicate products, pricing, and promotions. Video captures attention, builds familiarity, and creates memorable brand moments. Together, they create campaigns that reflect how people actually discover, research, and purchase products today.
No one should be searching stativ ads vs. video ads anymore. The strategy should be to approach every campaign with a way to give shoppers enough opportunities to engage at every stage of their journey.
If you’re looking for an easy way to build static and video ads at scale, check out Criteo GO. Criteo GO is our new AI-powered, performance advertising platform built from 20 years of really commerce intelligence. Criteo GO not only leverages AI to build static and video ads for you, it also uses industry-leading AI to continously optimize your campaigns to make sure every dollar you spend is driving the most value back to your business as possible.
