Which ad format works for Touch, Tell or Sell?

Taking over a homepage with an eye-catching skin sounds appealing. Everyone who opens the page sees your brand. But if you want to explain how a home insulation loan works, a few seconds of visibility around the edges of the screen won’t get you far. Conversely, a detailed article is a lot to ask of someone you just want to remind about the shoes still sitting in their cart.

The right ad format doesn’t start with dimensions. Start with what the ad needs to do. Should someone notice your brand, understand an offer or click a button? Those are three different jobs. In this article, I use Touch for attention and recognition, Tell for explanation and consideration, and Sell for a specific action. A format can work at more than one stage, but its features will make it better suited to some jobs than others.

Why format matters#

You can’t put the same message in every ad slot and expect it to work equally well. Three things make the difference: how much room you have for your message, how much attention you’re likely to get, and how you target and buy the ad.

1. Impact isn’t the same as room to explain#

In the Touch stage, you want to stand out to people who may not be actively looking for you yet. A large canvas, motion and a high-reach placement can help. A skin around a homepage can put a brand in view without anyone having to click. A billboard at the top of a page gives an image and a short line plenty of room.

Those formats are less suited to a story with conditions, exceptions and next steps. People usually see them while doing something else: reading the news, starting a video or browsing an app. The ad needs to make sense at a glance.

Tell is about understanding. What does the product do? Who is it for? Why might someone consider it? You need time and space to answer those questions. A video product demo can show something a slogan can’t make clear. An advertorial can explain a topic step by step. A large display ad can fit a little explanation too, as long as the text stays readable.

In Sell, you usually want to prompt one action. For someone who has already viewed a product, a small ad may be enough: product image, price and a clear button. More explanation doesn’t automatically make that ad better. If the offer isn’t clear in one short message, you may need to go back to Tell first.

2. How long do you have someone’s attention?#

A skin gets a passing glance; an advertorial can hold someone’s attention for minutes. Those aren’t fixed viewing times, but they show why you can’t simply move the same content from one format to another.

Say a bank wants to explain how making a home more energy-efficient works and where a loan fits in. A skin has room for little more than the topic and brand name. An advertorial has space for the steps, points to consider and a possible solution. The reader also chooses to keep reading, so the content needs to earn that choice.

Video is more nuanced. A fifteen-second pre-roll can say more than a static image, but it needs to get to the point quickly: the viewer is waiting for the video they chose. An outstream video between paragraphs can support a demonstration, provided the visuals make sense without sound. Seconds available aren’t the same as attention guaranteed.

For every concept, ask yourself: what should someone remember if they don’t click? If the answer is a brand name or one association, a short Touch format could work well. If it’s a process or an argument, you need a Tell format. If the click itself is the goal, make the action as simple as possible.

3. Targeting and pricing change the role#

Touch campaigns often reach broadly across a relevant audience. Display placements are often bought on a CPM basis: a price per thousand impressions. You’re paying for visibility, not a guaranteed number of interested visitors.

With Sell, the audience narrows. Think retargeting: showing an ad again to someone who has visited your site or viewed a specific product. Intent data—signals that someone is interested in a topic or product—can also help you reach people with a more concrete need. Depending on the platform and agreement, these campaigns may be optimized or billed for clicks or conversions.

That distinction isn’t a hard rule. You can target a large ad precisely and buy a small format for broad reach. Nor does the pricing model alone tell you what an ad does. A click isn’t a purchase; an impression can have value without an immediate click. Look at both who sees the ad and what you’re asking them to do.

From skins to MPUs: which format fits where?#

The stages below are a useful starting point, not fixed labels. The same ad slot can serve a different purpose when you change the message or audience.

Skin or takeover: highly visible, with little room to talk#

A skin fills the space around a website’s content. A takeover generally gives one advertiser a larger share of a page or placement. Both suit a launch where recognition matters more than explanation. Picture an energy company turning a newspaper’s homepage orange for a day to introduce a new brand.

What belongs in it? A recognizable image, the brand name and, at most, one short idea. Don’t squeeze the explanation into tiny text along the side. Check with the publisher which parts remain visible at different screen sizes and how the ad appears alongside editorial content.

Billboard: plenty of room for one strong idea#

A billboard is a large, wide display format, often at the top of a page. A telecom provider could use one to introduce a new plan: a large image, a tagline and perhaps one short supporting line. That’s mainly Touch.

It moves toward Tell if you add one clear product benefit. Stick to one point. Listing every plan, condition and promotion doesn’t become a good explanation just because the ad is large. A click through to a clear landing page can take care of those details.

Leaderboard: visible without many words#

A leaderboard is usually a narrow, wide ad above the content. A car dealer could use it to stay familiar to readers of articles in a particular region. Its strength lies in placement and repetition, not the amount of copy.

Because its height is limited, the image needs to stay clear and recognizable on smaller screens. A brand name and one message are more realistic than a product comparison. If you do want to show a specific offer, check that people can understand the price and promotion without squinting.

Pre-roll: say something before the video starts#

A pre-roll appears before a video someone wants to watch. A fifteen-second commercial before a news video could introduce the story behind a new brand. That makes pre-roll a bridge between Touch and Tell: moving images draw attention and can quickly show a situation, product or promise.

The limitation is obvious: the viewer came for a different video. Put the main point on screen early and make the message understandable without a long setup. If you need to explain several product features or conditions, one short pre-roll probably isn’t the place.

Outstream video: demonstrate in a relevant setting#

An outstream video doesn’t play before a chosen video. It might appear between the paragraphs of an article instead. A vacuum cleaner demo in an article about the home could show how a feature works while the topic is relevant to the reader. That fits Tell.

Don’t count on someone turning on the sound or watching the whole video. Show the product and what it does straight away. On-screen text can help if it’s short and easy to read. Check how the video starts and when it comes into view, too; both affect what the reader takes in.

Half page: visuals plus a few reasons to choose#

A half page gives you more vertical room than a small display slot. A travel company could show three destinations, each with a short USP—a unique selling point. Visitors get an initial sense of the differences without having to read a long article.

That’s Tell in compact form. Choose points that help someone decide, rather than three variations on ‘discover it for yourself.’ Make the next step logical, too. A button leading to the destinations shown is more useful than a link to a general homepage where visitors have to start searching again.

Native: a topic-led entry point with a next step#

A native ad matches the format of its surroundings, for example as a card among articles. Its content and labeling must still make clear that it’s advertising. The format works well when a topic sparks interest and the click leads to relevant information.

Take the headline ‘How to save €400 a year on energy’ linking to a comparison page. It’s only a useful example if you can substantiate that saving for the situation in question; otherwise, you set an expectation the landing page can’t meet. Native can move from Tell to Sell, but the transition needs to be honest: the page after the click must deliver what the headline promises.

Advertorial: time to explain a topic#

An advertorial gives you the space of an article to cover a commercial topic in depth. A bank could use a long read to explain the steps involved in making a home more energy-efficient and when a loan might become an option. That fits Tell: readers get context before they’re asked to apply.

Don’t turn it into a brochure stretched to article length. A good advertorial answers questions in a logical order and is clearly identified as paid content. Readers may leave if they discover several paragraphs in that the whole story leads to just one product. Don’t wait until the end to reveal the advertiser’s commercial role.

Interstitial in an app: attention-grabbing, but interruptive#

An interstitial temporarily fills the screen between two moments in an app. That can make it hard to miss. For Touch, you could use a short brand video. For Sell, a promotion with a direct button could work, such as ‘Download the app and get 20% off’—provided the discount really applies and the terms are clear.

The same format can serve two very different purposes. Because an interstitial interrupts what someone is doing, you need to be especially careful about timing and relevance. Someone trying to finish a task may not want a long brand story or an offer unrelated to that task.

MPU or rectangle: small format, clear choice#

An MPU, also called a rectangle, is a compact display ad placed between or alongside content. An online shop could use one to retarget a previous visitor with the exact shoes they viewed: a product image, price and ‘Order now’ button. The ad doesn’t need to explain what shoes are; the visitor already knows the product. That makes it a good Sell example.

But an MPU isn’t automatically a sales ad. Put a brand image and slogan in it and show it to a broad audience, and it’s doing Touch work. The pixels are the same; the job has changed.

A format isn’t a stage#

When you make a media plan, it’s tempting to put formats into fixed columns: skins for reach, advertorials for explanation, rectangles for conversion. That’s a useful starting point, but too simple for a final decision.

The creative and targeting often matter more than the format. By creative, I mean what someone actually sees and reads: images, copy, video and calls to action. An MPU carrying a brand message to new audiences is Touch. The same MPU showing a previously viewed product, its price and a button to past visitors is Sell. A large app interstitial can introduce a brand or draw attention to a limited-time promotion.

Nor does a customer move neatly from Touch through Tell to Sell. Someone might encounter your brand for the first time while actively comparing options, then click straight through to a relevant offer. Someone else might see your brand several times, read an explanation later and take action much later still. The stages describe what your ad is trying to do, not a route everyone has to follow.

That’s why it makes little sense to judge every format solely on direct sales. A brand campaign can lead to sales too, just not always at the moment the ad appears or through a click on it. If you count only the last click, Touch gets little credit, even though earlier familiarity may influence a later choice. Judge a campaign against the goal you set for it, and look at immediate results alongside longer-term signals.

How to choose a format for your next campaign#

You don’t need to start with a list of dimensions. First, write down in one sentence what you want the ad to achieve with its audience. Then work through these questions:

1. What does this audience already know? New audiences may need to recognise your brand or get an introduction. Previous visitors may be ready for a specific offer.
2. What’s the one message you want people to remember? A brand name, a product benefit and a prompt to order are different messages. Don’t try to give them equal weight.
3. How much explanation is really needed? Choose video or text if someone needs to understand something first. Choose a compact format if the choice is already clear and the action is the focus.
4. Where will the ad appear? A demo in a relevant article may work differently from the same video before a news clip. Context helps determine why someone pays attention.
5. How will you target and assess the placement? Broad reach bought on a CPM basis often suits Touch. A targeted campaign for people who have shown clear interest is more likely to suit Sell. Agree in advance which outcome you’ll assess for each goal.

Suppose a travel company wants to introduce a new destination. A billboard can make the destination recognisable with one strong image. A half page can then show a few differences between trips. A targeted rectangle featuring a specific trip and a clear next step can bring back someone who has already viewed it. These aren’t mandatory campaign steps; they’re three different jobs, each with a suitable format and message.

The shortest rule of thumb still helps: big, eye-catching and light on text for Touch; room to explain for Tell; a clear offer for Sell. Just don’t use it in isolation. The format gives you possibilities and limits. The message and the audience determine what you do with them.