spotlight ad
Company
BuzzFeed
Year
2023
How can we create a digital ad format that allows advertisers to fully express their branding ?
Overview
Our team received an urgent request to update an ad format that generated the most revenue per quarter. Our Ad Sales wished to make the Spotlight format more creatively flexible to reflect what was happening in the market.
We had to meet these needs in order to maintain our current partners. Our team to rallied to execute on a solution in 6 weeks amidst an already busy quarter.
My Role
Lead Product Designer
Industry
Digital Media
Advertising
Service
UI/UX Design
Digital Design
Duration
6 Weeks
Fig. 2: A new version of a high-performing ad format, Spotlight 2.0
The Process
Initial conversations for a solution circled around what exactly we could deliver in time for the next Spotlight launch. We consulted our engineering lead to gauge how much we could improve and what we could save for future updates.
Fig. 3: Understanding the structure and limitations of Spotlight 1.0
Trade Offs and Solutioning
I worked with the Director of Product Management, AdTech to begin scoping out what a solution might look like. I used a prioritization exercise to steer alignment and eventually create a visual artifact to use as a source of truth throughout sprint work.
Fig. 4: Prioritization exercise to support team alignment
Templates
Coordinating with our team dev and product management leads early allowed for a streamlined design approach. We choose to build a framework that would allow for creativity from our partners while maintaining the performance of BuzzFeed sites.
Solutioning
Coordinating with our team dev and product management leads early allowed for a streamlined design approach. We choose to build a framework that would allow for creativity from our partners while maintaining the performance of BuzzFeed sites.
Aligning with stakeholders
It was crucial that we also kept our Ad Sales stakeholders aware of our progress. We shared visuals that communicated the updates we planned on making and their potential impact.
Handoff
In addition to web and native mobile deliveries we also created Adobe Photoshop templates to help support ad partners.
Spotlight 2.0 Launch
We were able to meet our target and deliver Spotlight 2.0 in time for a new batch of Spring ad campaigns. This project strengthened the trust and alignment between AdTech and Ad Sales.
Impact
Spotlight 2.0 has been a success since its launch. It has met the needs of our ad clients and has reduced the need of ad design iterations by 95%.
This project had high visibility across our organization and its impact is still felt today outperforming the first version.
We were also able to retain over $300,000 of ad business due to our quick and spirited rollout of Spotlight 2.0.
Spotlight 2.0 was mostly recently used to roll out HBO’s newest streaming brand, MAX.
Comparing functionality of Spotlight 1.0 to Spotlight 2.0