The brief and the problem to solve

Up to this point Sky had been creating banners that included the use of television sets, at an angle, that would contain their content. Very hard to see on a small banner and not very inspiring or exciting.

Due to this, conversions and clickthrough rates had fallen quite a bit and I was asked to look at a redesign to help boost the falling numbers.

My first question was, "are you selling televisions?." No? Then don't use them, use the content that you are selling to do the work for you and the customers will come back.

My idea was simple really. Use the content to fill the screen. In the world of HD and big screen televisions, use the content to do the selling for you. If they see movies they want to see, they will sign up.

I obviously made sure the design adhered to the brand but I worked up an initial storyboard and annotations of ideas, to sell this into the client. I had however gone that extra step and worked with a motion designer to help bring the banners to life.

This would help sell in the idea that bit more.

What happened next?

They loved it, as it was very much the Sky brand but used in a much more engaging way. They said I would need to check with brand regarding animating the silver bar that divides the content and white space, as it has not been used this way before.

That was not an issue and was approved.

The final designs were very well received and things got even better when they launched.
Click throughs increased by 23% and conversions went up by 200%.