Create Video Ads on Any Budget (with Demo) - Part I

Ever made 'multi-product' video ads on almost nil budget?

The heading says 'video ads on any budget'. However, you'll find me doing them in this and the next post with tools that cost nearly nothing.

As the saying goes, it's the skills that matter.

And so, you'll see simple ways to make nice-looking multi-product video ads. PowerPoint for this week, followed by Canva in the week next. Let's begin.

I'll make the video ad in 2:3 aspect ratio, which is good for Pinterest marketing.

I choose this size not because I love it but to demonstrate that you can create an ad of any size in PowerPoint.

Sizing ads is easy. I've briefly explained the steps in this newsletter post on Instagram video.

While designing animated product video ads in PowerPoint like the way I do, I realized that you need 2 pre-design actions.

You can say they are are essential for good designing. Here they are.

• Creating a background shape cutout. On this will come all the design elements like texts, graphics, etc. but not product images.

Prod images will come below the cutout shape because when they animate they will not 'obstruct' the other ad contents. Find out how to do it in this post.

• Keeping images ready for the ad, properly sized. This may seem easy, but it's not. You need to know which portions of your product images should be exposed from under the cutout. You'll soon see why.

I have both ready for use, and assuming you too have them ready, let me proceed to the steps below for 2:3 video ads design.

The ad will be to showcase various pottery products that animate smoothly one after the other.

If however you want to see how I created the cutout (which is a vital step) for this post along with all demo videos, head on to my blog post here.

Okay, so here are the 3 final steps for designing a multi-product video ad in PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, can't show the demo GIFs as they exceed 400 frames, not acceptable by LinkedIn. But you can see all demo GIFs in my blog post (link above).        

1/ Adding Ad Contents

You'll be adding static ad contents on the cutout shape as mentioned above. Since texts are a main part for creating video ad, a few points are worth keeping in mind.

• Since the cutout shape will be the main background for your ads, choose its color wisely. Light colors are usually preferred unless you're creating video ads for cars, fashion items, or similar high-end products.
• Carefully choose the fonts, their sizes and colors. There are exquisite fonts (mostly free) available with Google, Microsoft, and Adobe. Here I've chosen Cormorant Unicase SemiBold, Crushed, and Alice.
• Be economical with the text contents. Just write enough to evoke curiosity of the viewers and what they gain if they click on your ad.

2/ Adding Images

Images are heart and soul of any ads, more so for multi-product video ads which we at VidBazaar specialize in designing.

However, it is important that you choose images diligently while carefully selecting which part of them should show up in the video ads.

3/ Animating Video Ad

PowerPoint offers almost unlimited choices for animations. While types of animations number 51 (plus 49 transitions), the trick is to combine different animations to a single element to bring out a unique effects.

You can create any number of combination animations in PowerPoint - different for different elements on the same slide.

This is PowerPoint's unique advantage over Canva and other design tools.

In the present example, I've used Fade transition between the slides. You can use Fade 'animation' for the same effect but in that case you'll likely use 2 product images on each slide.

Summing Up

Creating video ads in PowerPoint costs almost nothing. But then, not everyone is a designer, and not every business has ad making as its core activity.

For them it makes good sense to outsource video ads creation to expert designers.

Talk to us for redesigning up to 8 video ads every month for your business.

Meanwhile, watch the same video ad below made in 16:9 rectangular aspect ratio, available in our store.

Next week I'll be using Canva to design the same multi-product video ad. Watch out for this newsletter.

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