Banners

We need IAB standard display media banners to give to publishers, exchanges, ad-networks and to ad agencies doing brand lift research (as a control group). Banners that are designed may be designed as animated .gif files only or preferably HTML5 with animated .gif backups.

We welcome any designs, but prefer that any design be replicated across at least several of the popular ad-sizes. We also need at least some banners in the least popular ad sizes because when a publisher, app, or other company in the Ad-Tech ecosystem has an impression they would like to donate to us, we need a banner at the ready.

The most popular ad sizes are indicated in the link above, the more the better. These sizes are slightly higher priority.

  • 300×250 medium rectangle
  • 180×150 rectangle
  • 160×600 wide skyscraper
  • 728×90 leaderboard

The full list is below, check the the PDF for specifications on animation restrictions, load time and size.

  • Billboard 970×250
  • Smartphone Banner 300×50 or 320×50
  • Leaderboard 728×90
  • Super Leaderboard/ Pushdown 970×90
  • Portrait 300×1050
  • Skyscraper 160×600
  • Medium Rectangle 300×250
  • 20×60 120×60 50 100
  • Mobile Phone Interstitial 640×1136
  • Mobile Phone Interstitial #2 750×1334
  • Mobile Phone Interstitial #3 1080×1920
  • Feature Phone Small Banner 120×20
  • Feature Phone Medium Banner 168×28
  • Feature Phone Large Banner 216×36

Creative Brief:

Objective: because we get a fixed number of donates PSA banner impressions every day or month, it is important that the banners have a high level of engagement and clickthough rate (CTR). That means our banner creative should be:

  • dynamic
  • engaging
  • animated (via HTML5 or animated .gif, — subject to the IAB specifications)

Yes, the banners verge on “clickbait” yet they need to be tasteful ad professional looking, as we are relying on publishers to donate the banner inventory to us. Finding the right balance is key. We want the highest number of clicks on our fixed number of donated impressions.

Copy, Creative and Images: We would love to hear your ideas. Images can come from government websites under commons license or from social media (with attribution). Some royalty-free sources are also an option. If you have paid access to a site like Shuttestock that allow for use of images for clients, we, as a nonprofit, would qualify as a pro-bono client. We can discuss your creative ideas (volunteers at givingforward dot org).

Pick a landing page, category page or article, there are evergreen articles (that continue to be winners over time) and let us know via email (volunteers at givingforward dot org) which landing page you want to generate a banner for. For example, the banner for the homepage might have messaging that highlights our sections and our value proposition and references article topics we have live within different segments:

  • layer 1: Click & we donate @Herald Times (image could be a celebrity)
  • layer 2: (“Click & we donate” remains for subsequent layers) Covid News with images from the CDC and other government sources
  • layer 3: Politics: Can Trump Win?
  • layer 4: Corona-19 Hits Hollywood – Hard

Or we could focus in on the value proposition:

  • layer 1: The more you read the more we donate
  • layer 2: CDC Foundation or Feeding America
  • layer 3: ASPCA or Save The Children?
  • layer 4: You Click – We Donate

Or we pick a specific article such as: https://heraldtimes.org/2019/11/09/open-primaries-operation-chaos/

  • layer 1: You Click – We Donate
  • layer 2: Are Open Primaries Bad?
  • layer 3: The Herald Times Donates When You Read
  • layer 4: You Click – We Donate

I’m sure you are far more creative than that our ideas above. So, show us what you got! (volunteers at givingforward dot org)