Tiki Ads is a service that helps sellers attract more visitors to their stores and products on the Tiki app. One of its main features is the Brand-store Ad, which highlights a seller’s store name and tagline at the top of Tiki’s search results.
In this project, we focused on making that ad slot more engaging to help drive even more traffic to store pages.
This project was at an early ideation stage. To support my proposal for improving the ad slot, I organized an Idea Walkthrough Session to guide stakeholders through the concepts and thought process. Aimed to demonstrate the reasoning behind each idea and how it could lead to effective solutions.
Focus Areas in Design Thinking Stages
Empathize
Define
Ideate + Prototype
Test + Learn + Adapt
I chose to explore traditional offline media for inspiration, aiming to understand how these ads capture attention and communicate effectively in physical spaces. My research mainly focused on outdoor events and billboards, because I thought some of their concepts could be adapted into the digital space using our current technology.
I looked into how competitors use ad slots on their search results pages and noticed a few common patterns. Some highlighted store logos and names. Some displayed product lists or use scrollable carousels. A few added movement to draw attention. All of them had similar layout styles: safe, familiar, and consistent.
From this exploration, I concluded that adding subtle motion could help the ad stand out without being distracting. For the Brand-store Ad specifically, I believed the focus should stay on the brand’s identity and message, rather than showcasing products. This way also helped to avoid overlap with our existing Product Ad format.
Below are the 3 design solutions I proposed to the development team to gather feedback and discuss technical feasibility.
In the Idea Walkthrough Session, we evaluated the pros and cons of each option. We decided to proceed with option 2 for further discussion with the Marketing team, as they will be responsible for creating the visual elements and ensuring brand consistency.
This design was inspired by dynamic billboards. Have a vertical carousel placed at the top of the search results. On the left side, it showed static store details like the logo, name, badge, and rating. On the right, it displayed the store’s message – this could include text, an image, a CTA and auto-scrolls every 5 seconds.
Pros: This design gives brands more space to share their message, while keeping the information organized and easy to scan.
Cons: The auto-scrolling feature could be more complex to build and test across devices, and might impact performance on lower-end devices.
This design was inspired by outdoor events, particularly sky banners. It features a background image of a Vietnam cityscape to set the scene. Then have a plane flies across the top of the search results page, pulling a banner that displays the store’s message, name, logo, and a CTA.
Pros: This design is more on attention-grabbing. It adds storytelling and visual interest to the ad slot. It’s a playful and memorable way to highlight a brand.
Cons: The animation and visual setup require more development time.
This design was inspired by outdoor events. It features a hot-air balloon that flies from the bottom to the middle of the search results page, carrying a banner with the store’s message, name, and a CTA.
Pros: Like Option 2, it offers a storytelling element that adds charm and helps the brand stand out.
Cons: The design gives the brand limited space to display their name and message.
