Most display advertising is not disliked, it is not seen. Understanding the difference changes what is worth fixing, because attention and persuasion are separate problems with separate answers.
Recognition is the first filter
Readers learn the shape of advertising quickly: rectangles in predictable positions, small type, a logo in the corner. Once that pattern is recognised, the eye skips it before any message is read. This is why a better headline inside the same rectangle often changes very little, while changing the position or the form changes a lot.
Native placements earn the look
Content-shaped placements are looked at more, because they are not filtered out at a glance. The trade is that they only work honestly: the sponsored label stays visible and the copy cannot pretend to be the publisher's own writing. Done properly, a native card buys attention that a banner cannot; done dishonestly, it buys a complaint.
One idea per unit
A banner has room for roughly one idea plus a reason to click. Advertisers routinely try to fit a product name, three benefits, a discount, a phone number and a logo into a 300 by 250 space. Cutting the unit down to one claim usually beats any amount of visual polish.
Legibility at the smallest size
Design the smallest unit in the set first. If the message survives at 320 by 50, it will survive everywhere. If it only reads at the largest size, the campaign's performance will be decided by whichever sizes happen to deliver most, which is not a decision anyone made deliberately.
Frequency, not just reach
Seeing an ad once is rarely enough to act on, and seeing it fifteen times in a day is usually too much. A plan that spreads delivery across the month and caps how often one reader sees the same creative is doing something a plan that spends its budget in the first week is not. Ask how frequency is controlled, and expect a real answer.
What to change first
If a campaign underperforms, change the offer or the landing page before changing the creative. Paid traffic arrives with intent already formed by the ad; the page decides whether that intent survives. Most advertising problems are diagnosed on the wrong side of the click.