An eye-catching ad banner can make all the difference in landing a new customer. You have a fantastic product, but now you realize that without creative automation tools, designing an ad that’s just as amazing will take weeks,
You may be wondering if there is a faster, more efficient way to do this than creating something from scratch. Lucky for you, the answer lies in this article.
Automation tools can cut the design process from weeks to less than a day. According to Moosend, 63% of companies that leveraged automation outperformed their competitors.
This article outlines the industry’s top 10 creative automation tools you can tap into for your business in 2022. Before we get into the list, let’s first discuss why every business needs to integrate automation and artificial intelligence (AI) into their creative ad process.
Why Automation And AI Are The Future
People usually don’t associate automation with anything creative. You might imagine streamlining simple calculations or finishing your sentence with suggested words in your Google search when you think of automation.
However, when combined with AI, automation can provide beautiful design elements and templates that are proven to be effective.
This means AI can generate digital banners that are more likely to grab people’s attention than ads that just look visually appealing!
During an Adobe Think Tank panel discussion on the future of advertising, it was predicted that 80% of all advertising processes would be automated by the end of 2022. With automation becoming more mainstream, companies will have to find new and innovative ways to push their efficiency limits.
The ones who will reap the biggest rewards of this shift are already on it. Early adopters already see the benefits of AI-powered automation, and it will only get better from here.
Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) are two forms of AI that take automation to the next level. ML and DL use data to calculate the most efficient ways to achieve the best results through complex algorithms and techniques.
Here’s everything you need to know about how AI-powered marketing platforms will reshape the future.
Let’s get into the list of the creative ad tools that marketers love today, now that we understand why automation and AI are so important.
1. AdCreative.ai | Best AI Tool For Creative Automation With Optimization
AdCreative.ai (hey, that’s us!) creates seamless banner designs using a trained AI machine learning model that helps companies scale quickly. AdCreative.ai takes one step beyond automation by powering its platform with AI to generate ads.
Unlike tools that rely on automation without AI, AdCreative.ai accounts for data and automatically adapts through complex algorithms to predict the effectiveness of an ad’s design. This AI learning model generates high-performing ads by placing graphics, logos, and text in ideal locations to maximize conversation rates.
From a user perspective, developing a banner requires minimum effort. Just upload product images and backgrounds; then, AdCreative.ai’s intuitive technology automatically creates hundreds of design variations in seconds. The process is quick and effective, with graphics adapting to optimize ad campaigns over time.
AdCreative.ai is affordable with its Starter Package priced at $29 a month. (Pssst: You get two months free if you sign up for the annual subscription.)
Bonus: You can even try AdCreative.ai 100% free for seven days! And of top of that you can get $500 FREE Google Ads Credits after you sign up! Learn more here!
2. Marpipe | Best Automated Tool For Data-Driven Creative Ad Testing
Marpipe automates creative testing for brands, which helps businesses understand which ads are working and, more importantly, why.
Marpipe provides the tools to build and test ads at scale to help determine which ads are winners. Instead of just choosing the design that feels the coolest, Marpipe uses data to find which ads are converting and helping your company attract new customers.
Once you upload a few creative assets, Marpipe does the rest and automatically generates variants of ad creatives and banners.
Marpipe doesn’t auto-optimize your campaigns with AI, however. Instead, it allows you to experiment with different options and gather actionable data, helping you make the best marketing decisions.
Marpipe has a lot of powerful tools and integrations but comes at a hefty cost of $2,500 per month for its lowest tier Pro Plan. If your business is at a point where the benefits outweigh the price, Marpipe will add value by providing data analysis and insights to give you more out of your advertising campaigns.
3. Canva | Best Design Templates For Beginner Creatives
Templates are a great way to speed up the design process, and Canva is a tool that does just that. Canva provides access to a library of templates that can be customized to create eye-catching graphics for any size, shape, or format you might need for your ad banner.
Canva does an excellent job of getting rid of the tedious part of designing and creating a banner. However, without the power of automation, it still requires fully manual editing and customization.
The good news is that Canva offers a broad array of tools and elements for free, with more advanced features and resources available through one of its four subscription plans (I.e., Pro, enterprise, student, and non-profit). Its Pro subscription is its most popular at $12.99 per month, which gives access to up to five users on one account.
Canva is a good option for a small company on a tight budget that wants to streamline the design process. However, it doesn’t compare if you’re looking to scale quickly like you could with other tools that automate the process with AI.
4. VistaCreate | Easy-To-Use Templates For Creatives
VistaCreate is a tool similar to Canva, giving its users a variety of templates to choose from to produce creative banners. These templates help reduce the tedious work in the design process, but they have similar shortcomings to Canva.
Templates are great for eliminating repetitive copy/paste-type tasks and expediting the design process. However, a lot of manual work needs to go in to make every ad banner pixel-perfect.
VistaCreate offers one subscription plan for $10 per month, unlocking all of its features, such as 50+ million assets, unlimited account storage, and extensive brand kit support.
The features sound nice but fall a little short compared to what Canva offers.
5. Adobe Creative Cloud Express (Adobe Spark) | Best On-The-Go Platform For Creative Assets
Photoshop is a popular but intimidating tool for most. Enter Adobe Creative Cloud Express to provide Adobe Photoshop-like effects, simplifying its OG predecessor’s powerful tools to help businesses build creatives on the go.
Unlike most Adobe products that require training and practice, Adobe Creative Cloud Express makes creating designs viable for anybody. Previously known as Adobe Spark, Adobe Creative Cloud Express gives its users access to a library of templates, images, and effects to cut down the manual design process.
Adobe rebranded and released this new tool in December 2021, which is still up and coming as a “template-first” platform. Adobe continues to add new features, so we’re excited to see how Adobe Creative Cloud Express will improve and compare to its competitors (like Canva and VistaCreate) in the near future.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express has a free version or a paid subscription for $9.99 a month that unlocks all premium features. This is the perfect addition for professional designers who actively use other Adobe software since Adobe Creative Cloud Express syncs directly with the Creative Cloud Suite.
6. Bynder | Best Automated Tool For Scaling Ad Creation
Bynder helps businesses create a high volume of ad banners in just minutes.
Bynder’s Dynamic Asset Transformation (DAT) tool simplifies the creative process by providing tools such as digital templates and its smart focus point technology — “which automatically crops graphics to include only the most important parts of the visuals.” These tools streamline the repetitive admin activities of creating ad banners, allowing business owners to spend more time growing their business.
Bynder Analytics also generates data in its portal for straightforward KPI evaluation. These analytics equip business owners with vital information to optimize their ad campaigns over time.
Bynder doesn’t put exact pricing on its website since it depends on how many “seats” your business needs and other criteria such as storage requirements. However, this tool is best for big enterprises since there is no good self-service option to get started.
7. Celtra | Best Automated Content Creation For Marketing, Media, And Advertising
Celtra helps generate new creatives quickly by automating marketing, commerce media, and advertising content. Celtra’s interface provides pre-built templates, making it easy to design ad banners.
There are several tools to interchange variations in images and text through simple drop-down menus. Depending on who your audience is and what you’re trying to accomplish with your ad, Celtra makes it simple to make adjustments with just a few clicks.
For instance, if you want to target an audience that speaks another language, Celtra automatically adjusts market-specific text and imagery. This tool can also automatically optimize the resolution and layout for different social channels like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc.
Also, read about Celtra and it's best alternatives.
The platform has many features, and it may take some time to get accustomed to all the integrated tools. You will also need to request a meeting with Celtra to get started, which is likely to be a turn-off to business owners wanting to hit the ground running with a tool that’s available and ready when they are.
8. Bannerflow | Easiest Automated Design Of Digital Ads
Bannerflow automates production for digital ads, going from concept to hundreds of variations in minutes. A nice feature of Bannerflow is how simple it is to generate and export ads to more than 20 networks.
This tool expedites the design process, giving businesses lots of time to focus on growing and scaling. Bannerflow excels in automation and gives its users a smooth workflow to maximize production, manage campaigns, and offer personalization.
While Bannerflow aims to optimize the workflow, it doesn’t integrate AI to automate data collection and analysis to generate the best-performing ads. It also doesn’t post transparent pricing on its website since it’s tailored to your specific needs. You will need to request a quote to get started with Bannerflow.
9. Abyssale | Best Batch Creation Of Images And Variations
Abyssale generates all banner images within minutes after selecting a template and connecting your business’s data. It makes design a quick process through built-in intelligence that automates line break and layout management.
Abyssale gives you the tools to generate images and variations in batches, cutting up to 80% of repetitive design tasks to free up your designer’s time. A significant benefit is that Abyssale’s templates cater to ad design, although many of the templates are a bit lacking and limited in functionality.
Abyssale is transparent in its integrations and Application Programming Interface (API) banner generation. This tool caters to companies like Amazon that prioritize API over the user interface.
So, if you’re a bit more tech-savvy, this could be a potent tool. To get results, you will need to integrate some of your data into the Abyssale API, but it will separate you from the competition!
You can get a basic subscription for 49€ per month. Abyssale offers a free trial as well.
10. Smartly | Best Automated Social Media Publishing Tool
Social media undoubtedly presents a massive opportunity for marketing campaigns. Smartly provides the templates and automation tools to publish ads across multiple formats and social channels instantly. Smartly helps the users cross-advertise on several platforms — a challenge many businesses face due to limited resources and bandwidth.
Smartly makes it easy to generate, launch, and scale social ads across the internet with just a few clicks. As markets continue to grow and become more complex, businesses must have the ability to advertise and meet their customers wherever they are.
This is a great tool to get your creative ads seen, but it lacks the technology to optimize your ad to maximize conversion automatically. We suggest this one for big enterprises since it does come with a hefty price tag, with estimated monthly fees starting at $7,500 per month.
Don’t Get Left Behind On The Best Banner Automation Tools Of 2022!
People are wired to process visuals quickly, now more than ever.
A traditional marketing campaign takes weeks, maybe even months or years, to get right. We just don’t have the time to do that in this day and age. Creative automation tools help businesses keep up, even with limited budgets and resources.
Banners designed and optimized by AI reshape how businesses scale and reach their audiences. ML can analyze millions of high-converting ads to know what works and what doesn’t, and it doesn’t stop there. It will analyze user behaviors throughout the campaign lifecycle and optimize graphics to maximize conversion.
After reviewing the top 10 creative automation tools available in 2022, what’s clear is this: AI-powered marketing and automation are here to stay and will be an integral part of scaling any business.
It’s a better way to get your products in front of the right people without headaches. If you want to have a leg-up on your competition, leveraging AI-powered creative automation tools is no longer optional but business-critical.
