Display ads have a reputation. Ask most business owners and they will tell you banners are for awareness: nice to have, hard to measure, and the first thing cut when budgets get tight.
Ripples Bathrooms proved otherwise. The display remarketing campaign we run for the Dublin bathroom specialist is a finalist for Best Use of Display at the 2026 Digital Media Awards, after we turned display from a background awareness channel into one of their steady sources of direct enquiries.
Here is how it worked, and why creative now decides whether your Google display and Demand Gen campaigns sell or just sit there.
Do display ads work for lead generation?
Yes, when they are built for remarketing rather than awareness. A new bathroom is a big, considered purchase. People browse for months, come back to the site again and again, and save ideas long before they pick up the phone.
Most remarketing ignores all of that. Every visitor gets the same generic banner, following them around the internet until they are sick of it. No wonder display gets a bad name.
What makes display ads work for a bathroom company?
Showing people the room they want, not the product spec. Nobody chooses a bathroom from a spec sheet. They are picturing the room they want to walk into every morning. So the ads had to show them something worth picturing, and show the right person the right room at the right time.
What we did
How should you segment display remarketing audiences?
By how recently they visited, because a first-time browser and someone who looked yesterday need different ads. Instead of treating every visitor the same, we split them by how recently they had been on the site:
- First-time visitors
- Visited in the last 30 days
- Visited 30 to 90 days ago
- Last visited more than 90 days ago
Each group saw a different message, matched to how close they were to a decision.
Creative that matches the style they browsed
Testing showed people responded far better to aspirational room-set photography in the style they had been looking at than to generic product shots. So we built creative around contemporary, traditional and luxury bathrooms, and matched it to what each visitor had viewed.
Messages that move with the buyer
Early on, the ads lead with inspiration. As people move closer to a decision, the message shifts to trust and proof, like decades in business, two showrooms and real customer reviews, and then to a clear next step: book a free home survey.
Test, learn, repeat
Ripples’ in-house designer creates new ads around their strongest selling points, and we put them straight into testing against the best performers. A new “Trust and Proof” variation matched the conversion rate of the long-running top ad within its first month, giving the campaign fresh creative without losing performance.
Get it right, and display stops being a reminder channel. It becomes a visual extension of the showroom, following the customer through months of decisions until they are ready to talk.
Got lots of website visitors who never get in touch? That is usually the cheapest growth sitting in your account.
Why does creative matter more in Google Ads now?
Because automation now handles most bidding and targeting, so creative is the biggest lever you still control. Google’s campaigns are more automated than ever. Performance Max, Demand Gen and AI Max now handle much of the bidding and targeting for you, using Google’s AI to decide who sees your ads and where.
That changes where the advantage is. When everyone has the same automation, the creative you feed it, and the audiences you build around it, are what set you apart. Weak creative means the algorithm learns from weak signals. Strong, tested creative gives it something worth scaling.
Is display remarketing right for your business?
Display remarketing works best for considered purchases, where people visit several times before they enquire: home improvement, kitchens and bathrooms, cars, furniture, education, clinics. If that sounds like your business, there is a good chance your past visitors are your cheapest leads.
A finalist at the Digital Media Awards
Ripples’ display campaign was shortlisted for Best Use of Display at the 2026 Digital Media Awards. The Digital Media Awards took place on 9 October 2026 at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Dublin, with Ripples Bathrooms a finalist for Best Use of Display. It caps a big year for the business, which also opened its second showroom, in Rathfarnham. Read the full Ripples Bathrooms story.
About the campaign lead
Matt Hopkins is a PPC specialist at Vroom Digital. He runs Ripples Bathrooms’ Google Ads campaigns, including the display remarketing that was shortlisted at the 2026 Digital Media Awards, and works with Irish businesses on search, display and lead generation.
FAQs: display remarketing for lead generation
Do display ads actually generate leads?
They can, when they are built for it. Generic banners shown to everyone rarely do. Display remarketing that segments past visitors and shows each group relevant creative turned display into a steady source of direct enquiries for Ripples Bathrooms, and a Digital Media Awards finalist.
What is the difference between display, remarketing and Demand Gen?
Display ads are image ads shown across websites and apps in Google’s network. Remarketing shows them to people who have already visited your site. Demand Gen is Google’s newer visual campaign type, running across YouTube, Discover and Gmail.
How much creative do I need for display remarketing?
More than one banner. We would start with a few routes per audience, such as inspiration, trust and proof, and a clear call to action, then keep adding and testing new imagery as results come in.
Is display remarketing right for my business?
If people visit your site several times before they enquire, it is worth a look. It suits considered purchases like home improvement, kitchens, cars, furniture, education and clinics.
Want display ads that bring in enquiries, not just impressions? See how we run lead generation PPC, or talk to us about your account.