One campaign, many screens: how to adapt each format

Adapting a campaign to several formats means redesigning composition, rhythm, typography, audio and length for each format, instead of resizing it. A vertical reel, a wide LED screen, a totem or a silent outdoor piece are read differently, and the adaptation works when it is planned from the storyboard.

A campaign can be born as a video and end up living on all those formats at once. The temptation is to treat each version as a change of size, and it shows. The alternative is to design a system where each format looks as if it was planned from the start.

Why the format changes the idea that can be told

On a phone, the piece competes with the scroll. On an outdoor screen it may be seen for a few seconds and from afar. In an indoor space, the audience may stay longer, but often without sound. The context changes what information fits and how it should appear. Shopping center and outdoor screens have their own rules, which we review in what DOOH is and in content for LED screens.

Five variables to check in each format

• Composition: scale of the subject, placement of the product and safe zones.

• Rhythm: how many actions can be understood in the available time.

• Typography: size, contrast and amount of text according to reading distance.

• Audio: which part of the message has to be carried visually.

• Length: a thirty-second narrative and a six-second loop cannot depend on the same structure.

When the piece has to convey information, such as opening hours, benefits or a location, moving text has its own reading rules. We cover them in motion graphics for screens.

Why adaptation starts at the storyboard

When the formats are known from the brief, it is possible to leave room in the composition, anticipate crops and understand which scenes can survive different proportions. That reduces late corrections and helps preserve quality across versions.

What AI adds to an adaptation

Extending backgrounds, rebuilding a framing or generating variants can be quicker. But the tool does not know which information is the priority on a totem or how much text can be read from a walkway. Designing for the format is still a human decision.

How to keep the identity without copying the same piece

A multi-format campaign works when all the pieces share an identity, even if they are not identical. The goal is to keep the idea and adapt the execution. That is how we worked on the MINISO campaign at Alto Palermo: a single idea redesigned for six screen formats, from vertical totems to LED bridges. We tell the full process in MINISO at Alto Palermo: one idea, six screen formats.

The same campaign can live in many formats. Each format needs to feel native.

Frequently asked questions

What does adapting a campaign to several formats mean?

Redesigning the same idea for each format: composition, rhythm, typography, audio and length. A vertical reel, a wide LED screen, a totem or a silent outdoor piece are read differently, and each version has to look as if it was designed for that place.

Why isn't resizing the main video enough?

Because cropping loses the subject, the product or the text, and the rhythm of a thirty-second piece does not work in a six-second loop. The identity is preserved when the adaptation is designed, not when it is cropped.

When should the adaptations be planned?

From the brief and the storyboard. If the formats are known at the start, it is possible to leave room in the composition, anticipate crops and know which scenes survive each proportion, which reduces late corrections.

This is how we work on retail, screens and DOOH at FeedGuru.