While fewer people are watching traditional TV, the biggest screen in the home still plays a central role in how we watch content – just in different ways.
Today, viewing combines BVOD, CTV, streaming platforms and YouTube. Engagement with the family TV remains significantly higher than mobile, giving brands a powerful opportunity to tell brand stories.
The big screen still provides the chance to maximise the brand and deliver a clear, simple message.
But that’s easier said than done. So what does it take? We reviewed over 1100 Big Screen ads from Toluna’s In-Context Testing and identified 9 best practices, built around three core principles.
Captivate audiences with creative storytelling
Distinctive creative cuts through in a crowded, competitive environment.
– Challenge the status quo and disrupt category norms
– Use humour, music or storytelling to do the unexpected
– Create work that feels different when seen in the ad break
Example: CeraVe- Michael CeraVe (Cannes Lions Grand Prix)
Hilarious, intriguing ad that leaves viewers to question how much Michael Cera really uses CeraVe.
Top performing ads are 1.5x more likely to use a distinctive creative style
Big screen audiences expect storytelling, not instruction.
No need to rely on breaking the fourth wall to deliver your message – use interaction and dialogue between characters to build relevance, realism and resonance.
Top performing ads are 75% more likely to feature inter-character dialogue
The most effective ads build momentum through a clear narrative.
Avoid fragmented, stitched-together scenes, instead create a flowing and fluent storyline
Top performing ads are 25% less likely to use a series of vignettes
Keep your brand front and center
The brand should be central to what’s happening, not added at the end.
Make the brand essential to the narrative and the star of the show.
Top performing ads are 1.8x more likely to feature the brand as the protagonist
Strong branding is built through consistency and repetition.
Use assets early and throughout (logo, product, color, characters) and reinforce across scenes.
Top performing ads incorporate 5.4 brand displays on average
Sound is a powerful and often underused branding element.
Integrate brand mentions, music or sonic assets.
Top performing ads are 30% more likely to use audio brand cues
Focus on maximizing message impact
Emotion captures attention – function makes it real.
Use emotion to engage and layer in product or feature cues to drive brand action (brand interest & purchase intent).
Example – Volkswagen
We tested two approaches: ‘50 Years of Golf’– high emotional storytelling, driving strong attention and engagement ‘It’s Not A Volkswagen, Until…’ – combining emotion with product visibility, driving stronger brand action. This showed that emotion is the storytelling bedrock and function is the conversion layer.
Top performing ads are 50% more likely to balance emotional and functional messaging
Effective communication is reinforced, not delivered once and forgotten.
Show and say key messages with aligned audio and visuals.
Top performing ads are 1.8x more effective when they use both audio and visuals
Clarity is one of the strongest drivers of effectiveness.
Focus on 1–2 key messages and avoid overloading the narrative.
The most effective ads are 33% more likely to focus on 1–2 key messages
Summary
The media landscape has evolved – but getting the creative right is more important than ever.
The most effective big screen ads focus on getting it right:
Creative storytelling
Make the brand central
Deliver a clear, memorable message
Now that you’re in on the 9 best practices of successful big screen advertising, it’s time to get to work.
