Sakshi Diwan

Ad Redesign: Decathlon winter jacket

The original square Decathlon ad: a bearded man in a dark padded jacket behind an overlapping panel showing a woman in a light blue fleece, with the line Jackets and Sweaters 699 rupees onwards in the lower right.

Where I found it

One square image in the Meta feed

Decathlon Sports India, October 2026.

The original square Decathlon ad: a bearded man in a dark padded jacket behind an overlapping panel showing a woman in a light blue fleece, with the line Jackets and Sweaters 699 rupees onwards in the lower right.

One price, standing in for a whole category.

Two different products sharing one frame.

  1. One price, standing in for a whole category.
  2. Two different products sharing one frame.

What works

Three things it gets right

The original square Decathlon ad: a bearded man in a dark padded jacket behind an overlapping panel showing a woman in a light blue fleece, with the line Jackets and Sweaters 699 rupees onwards in the lower right.

Real cold, real mountain. Not a studio shot.

The price is easy to find.

Men’s and women’s are both in frame.

  1. Real cold, real mountain. Not a studio shot.
  2. The price is easy to find.
  3. Men’s and women’s are both in frame.

What I’d change

Three things working against it

The original square Decathlon ad: a bearded man in a dark padded jacket behind an overlapping panel showing a woman in a light blue fleece, with the line Jackets and Sweaters 699 rupees onwards in the lower right.

Nothing is clearly first.

A category and a number. No reason to buy.

It ran in India. It does not look like India.

  1. Nothing is clearly first.
  2. A category and a number. No reason to buy.
  3. It ran in India. It does not look like India.

The research

All of this was already on the product page

−5°C
rated, with layering
330g
polyester padding
₹1,999
down from ₹3,499
4.7★
370 reviews
The Decathlon product page for the Forclaz MT100 women’s puffer: spec graphics for minus five degrees with layering and 330 gram polyester padding, beside the listing showing 4.7 stars from 370 reviews and 1,999 rupees against an MRP of 3,499.

The thinking

Why the number leads

I built the ad around the temperature rating. Someone planning a winter trek is asking one question before they buy, which is whether the jacket will keep them warm up there. A number answers that faster than any adjective can.

I also built it around one jacket instead of the whole category, so the price on the ad is the price of the jacket in the photo.

The summary

So I wrote one brief

One product
Forclaz MT100
One claim
Rated to −5°C
One person
Planning a first Himalayan trek
One format
4:5, Meta feed

Step one

Change the frame

1:1 to 4:5, and nothing else moves yet. A 4:5 image takes up around 25% more of the phone screen in the feed, so I wanted that space before putting anything into it.

The same ad reframed to 4:5, taller than the original square, with every element still in its original position and a label reading 25% more screen in the feed.

Step two

One image, one product

The collage was the problem, so I removed it. One photo, one place for the eye to land, and a trail an Indian trekker would recognize.

The ad rebuilt around a single photograph of two trekkers standing on a misty forest trail, with no copy on it yet.

Step three

Give it something to say

The temperature rating leads. The price sits beside the original so the discount speaks for itself, and 6,100 reviews are worth saying out loud.

The ad with its copy in place: the minus five degree rating, the price against the struck through original, and the star rating.

Three steps

One change at a time

Each decision visible on its own, and the distance traveled visible in one glance.

Decathlon, Reframe
Reframe
Decathlon, One photo
One photo
Decathlon, One claim
One claim

The result

Before and after

As found

The original square Decathlon ad: a bearded man in a dark padded jacket behind an overlapping panel showing a woman in a light blue fleece, with the line Jackets and Sweaters 699 rupees onwards in the lower right.

My version

The finished 4:5 ad: one photograph of two trekkers, rated to minus five degrees, 1,999 rupees against a struck through 3,499, and a 4.6 star rating from 6,100 reviews.

Same claim, four ways

  1. Variant one: the photograph with the temperature claim and nothing else on it.
    One Brand. The claim and nothing else.
  2. Variant two: the claim with the price, the star rating and a shop button.
    Two Retail. Claim, price, rating and a button.
  3. Variant three: a line of copy across the top and the photograph filling the rest of the frame.
    Three Minimal. Copy at the top, the photo does the rest.
  4. Variant four: the product name, the claim and the brand line stacked over the photograph.
    Four Product led. Name, claim and brand line stacked.

The takeaway

The 5-Second Ad Test

Ask these yourself before pushing your ads into the world

  1. Can I name the one product?

    If not, this is a category ad. Decide whether that is what you meant.

  2. Can I name the one claim?

    A number beats an adjective. “Rated to −5°C” beats “warm”.

  3. Does the price match the product in the photo?

    If the photo is a ₹1,999 jacket and the price says ₹699, the ad is arguing with itself.

  4. Would this person exist in my customer’s life?

    Same trail, same weather, same face.

  5. What ratio is this, and where is it running?

    1:1 carousel · 4:5 feed · 9:16 stories. Never one asset for all three.

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