Last updated on 16th November 2023
Instagram Stories are currently one of the most engaging formats. Today 996 million people use them every day and 58% of users say they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a Story.
With the booming popularity of short-lived content, the platform announced Instagram Stories ads. Story ads appear between other organic content within the format which makes ads ideal for any marketing campaign. Big Brands like Lacoste, Nescafe, and Burger King use Instagram Stories ads to reach their potential customers and encourage them to take action.
If you want to cut through the noise and make money on Instagram, it’s important to hook an engaged audience, so using Instagram Stories ads is a must. To drive better results, consider creating them as video is exploding on social media.
To inspire your next ad campaign, here are 7 of the best Instagram Stories video ads of all time (from our point of view).
7 amazing Instagram Stories video ads
Pepe Jeans
Pepe Jeans is a British denim and casual wear jeans brand that has many fans around the globe. With a focus on international expansion, the company targeted men and women between the ages of 18–30 from France and Portugal. Pepe Jeans invited its brand ambassador Dua Lipa and created a video ad that fits in a mobile environment.
Using famous singer Dua Lipa as the marketing face, the company catches the attention of the potential audience. Since 92% of customers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement, featuring Dua Lipa is a smart choice. Not only do social media influencers increase brand loyalty and trust, but they also influence people’s opinions and decisions.
The black-and-white campaign felt “like a very natural collaboration”, so it got wonderful results. Running for just over 6 weeks, the campaign reached 5 million people and got 471,000 video views. Plus, the company achieved a 5-point lift in campaign awareness and brand familiarity.
Key takeaway: When working on your Instagram Stories video ad, take into account your target customers and adapt your video to their needs and wants.
Made.com
Made.com is a furniture design company that has a goal of bringing high-end lifestyle design to everyone at a reasonable price. To stand out from the crowd during the holiday shopping season, Made.com decided to create Instagram Stories video ads to promote its winter sale.
The company targets makers and designers, and adopted a minimalist layout to grab the attention of its target audience. Made.com also animates featured products, so it keeps the audience intrigued and amused. Not only does it help to keep a focus on the offer, but it also pushes users in the right direction to click on the link.
Marion Bruniax, a senior paid social executive at Made.com, claims that the company achieved wonderful results without spending much budget, repurposing its TV edit into brilliant social-friendly assets. The numbers speak for themselves: Made.com’s winter sale campaign got a 69% higher return on ad spend, a 27% lower CPM (cost per thousand impressions) than other placements, a 44% increase in traffic, and a 28% increase in new visitors compared to the previous sale.
Key takeaway: To grab the attention, it’s important to create elegant and playful video ads that showcase products and inform followers.
Joop!
Called one of Germany’s best-known fashion labels, JOOP! always seek out creative ways to reach more potential customers and encourage them to learn more about the brand and its products. To promote the current JOOP! JEANS campaign, the company wanted to find a brand ambassador who can become the face and the voice of the company and present the company in a positive light. Thus, JOOP! invited artist and influencer Toni Mahfud to make an eye-catching and inspiring video ad for Instagram Stories.
The company used videos and photos featuring Toni Mahfud and adapted them to fit in a mobile environment to reach men and women in Germany between the ages of 20–39. Since the company targeted the campaign to people with an interest in shopping and premium fashion brands like Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani, it was important to create branded Instagram videos, so the ad featured a brand logo in the upper right corner.
Toni Mahfud was the centre of attention, so it helped to represent the brand message in an authentic way. As a result, the campaign raised ad recall by 60%, at a 27% lower cost per person reached.
Key takeaway: Instead of showing off your product from different angles, it’s better to invite a brand ambassador your customers must know and trust to show your product in action.
Hydro Flask
Hydro Flask is the award-winning leader in premium, insulated stainless steel flasks. Although the company seems to be the outdoor world’s water bottle of choice, Hydro Flask wanted to further build brand awareness. To achieve its goals, Hydro Flask created engaging product-focused videos in Instagram Stories, targeting people who would ultimately purchase.
Motion graphics work well for social media, and the company wisely used this technique to explain that their bottles are perfect for any environment. Not only does Hydro Flask promote the highly anticipated limited-edition Escape Collection, but it also announces upcoming sales and includes a ‘Shop Now’ clickable to make it easier for interested users to find out more.
The campaign proved that Instagram Stories had become one of the strongest-performing placements for Hydro Flask. Over a 4-month period of promotion, the campaign resulted in 12,000 purchases, an 80% increase in revenue, and a 16x return on ad spend.
Key takeaway: To get wonderful results, it’s important to increase the potential audience size with a focus on habits, identifying traits, or behaviors of the potential customers, explaining the specific benefits of your product.
Dunkin
As a leading baked goods and coffee brand, Dunkin’ serves more than 5 million customers each day which means the company has a great user base. To stay competitive in the niche, it’s important to know customer pain points, so the company decided to test the new Donut Fries which brings together two of America’s favourites. Dunkin’ is always open to testing new ad products, so the company tested the popularity of video polls in Instagram Stories to increase awareness of its new menu items.
In the Instagram Story video ad, Dunkin’ playfully shows off donuts and fries against a colorful animated background. Dunkin’ uses the poll sticker and encourages users to vote. The video ends with the announcement of new food mashup, Donut Fries, and it builds anticipation.
Using a split test, the company revealed that interactive features in Instagram Stories ads drove better results: 20% lower cost per video view for ads with the polling sticker versus ads without and 20% of people who watched the ad voted in the poll. This example proves that knowing your target audience well helps to create quality ads that people will love, and therefore reduce your advertising costs.
Key takeaway: Using an interactive element in Instagram Stories ads, you make your customer the hero of the ad which gives people a new experience and memorable touchpoint with a brand.
J&Co Jewellery
J&Co Jewellery is a company that offers an extensive selection of modern essential jewellery. Since the brand wants to raise awareness around the globe and grow its customer base, it’s essential to find new ways to grab the attention of the potential audience, so it’s no wonder that the company decided to try out Instagram ads for the first time.
In honour of the 50k followers’ milestone, the company decided to use Instagram Stories ads to promote its three-day online sale. The video focused on the brand’s jewellery, but it also informed users about the time-limited sale and included a clickable link to help interested followers learn more about the offer or make the purchase.
After its 3-day campaign, the company was able to boost online sales at a reduced cost as the campaign got 58% of total sales driven by ads in Instagram Stories with a 13% lower cost per purchase compared to an average cost per purchase. The bottom line? This simple product video proves that there’s no need to invest much time or effort to create an eye-catching video ad that drives results. Thus, it can be a solution for the 23% of marketers who don’t use videos because they lack time.
Key takeaway: Simple video ad ideas can work well if you keep a focus on a time-limited offer that helps both existing and new customers save money.
GAP
Over the past fifty years, GAP has become one of the world’s most iconic apparel and accessories brands. Today, to announce the launch of the ‘Archive Reissue – Logo Remix’ collection, the company targets US adults aged 18–34, so it decided to test a new engaging, full-screen ad format—carousel ads in Instagram Stories.
Targeting millennial shoppers who are influenced by pop culture, GAP invited the world’s leading culture remixers—singer-songwriter SZA and chart-topping producer Metro Boomin—to launch its attention-grabbing campaign. With Instagram Stories carousel video ads, GAP showcases the “Logo Remix” collection of T-shirts, adding a clickable link.
By featuring popular entertainers, GAP was able to speak in the language of its target audience, so it got wonderful results. Running over a 19 day period, GAP got a 17-point lift in ad recall, 4-point lift in message association for Instagram Stories, and a 73% higher click-through rate than the previous Instagram campaign.
Key takeaway: To grab the attention of potential customers and cause buzz, consider using 3-card carousel video ads as they give you more opportunities to tell the story about your brand.
Final thoughts
With a short lifespan of 24 hours, Instagram Stories accelerate the fear of missing out (FOMO) phenomenon, so it’s no wonder that this content format has helped to increase the amount of time people spend on the platform.
Doubtless, short-lived content keeps the Instagram community hooked and engaged, so using Instagram Stories video ads can help businesses of all sizes and niches get wonderful results fast. We hope the above-mentioned 7 Instagram Stories video ads have inspired you to give this ad format a try.
To create social media videos with ease, rely on Wyzowl as it’s a proven way to run Instagram Stories video ads your target audience will love.
