Carousel ads are a versatile ad format that offer advertisers plenty of ways to deliver more info than a single image, and communicate faster than a lone video.
From fashion to tech brands, brand awareness to retention campaigns, carousel ads have taken over Instagram and Facebook feeds—enabling users to swipe through a series of images, links, and videos at their own pace.
Looking for some of the best carousel ad examples on Instagram and Facebook to learn from?
We’ve got you covered with some of the most inspiring carousel ad examples curated from over 2 million ads in the Foreplay ad library:
1. Gymshark: Using continuity to encourage swiping
2. Calm: Sharing a series of bite-sized video teasers
3. Vessi: Pairing product variants with use case inspiration
4. Canva: Repurposing in-depth case studies into carousel ad creative
5. Capo: Unlocking more carousel ad real estate with portrait Stories
6. Dyson: Letting shoppers choose their own product demo
7. Honest Greens: Delivering a menu-like ordering experience
8. Gong: Visualizing original research to promote a lead magnet
9. Victoria's Secret: Communicating complicated offers
10. MasterClass: Making multiple appeals in the hope that one lands
Note: You can see all these ads in action in this Best Carousel Ads board I pulled together in Foreplay.
The Best Facebook Carousel Ad Examples With Ideas Worth Stealing
1. Gymshark: Using continuity to encourage swiping
As a fitness apparel brand, Gymshark often makes the people, not just their own products, the hero of their ads.
In this ad campaign running in multiple markets around the world, Gymshark breaks one, long horizontal image up into several slides. The unconventional cuts encourage users to swipe and see the rest with names like MMA athlete Francis Ngannou on the first slide that get you to swipe right.
It’s a simple concept that sticks while modeling various Gymshark products on diverse bodies and athletes.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/GqNcxATlCiXPtm93xu2n?user=Braveen
2. Calm: Sharing a series of bite-sized video teasers
A 10-second video ad is usually way too short to get anything across.
But in the case of guided meditation app Calm, a series of five 10-second videos are just perfect for sampling the many sleep coaches and soothing sounds offered in the app.
Opting for a carousel format makes it easy for users to get a taste of each sample, whereas a video ad would force them to sit through each one.
https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/7G70zrSbipGvsYeXGvPH?user=Braveen
3. Vessi: Pairing product variants with use case inspiration
Vessi uses carousel ads to make a bigger splash promoting a new addition to its collection of waterproof sneakers alongside use case inspiration.
The seasonal ad pairs each of the three color variants with one muddy autumn activity per slide—a creative concept that just wouldn’t work as well in a single image ad.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/PX0XJuWQyZosdHSrLMrI?user=Braveen
4. Canva: Repurposing in-depth case studies into carousel ad creative
Case studies are high-value assets for closing B2B SaaS customers, but are hard to distribute in interesting and scalable ways outside of cold sales outreach.
Carousel ads offer the packaging to tell the story that sells the products even if the prospect doesn’t click the ad or book a call with sales. Canva, a DIY design software, is a natural at turning its case studies into carousel ads that promote Canva for Teams.
The first slide frames the challenge: How do you roll out a global rebrand in six months? Then it’s followed by slides that tell more of the story with each swipe instead of burying the value behind a click to a longer article.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/Hc8UedE0cKxKNfkqhQyh?user=Braveen
5. Capo: Unlocking more carousel ad real estate with portrait Stories
Most carousel ads are designed around a square or 1:1 aspect ratio, which means a lot of the details are lost when viewed on mobile.
Capo gets around this limitation with portrait carousel ads designed for Stories that let the brand showcase full-length product photos that feature its pants—with room to spare for social proof and value props.
https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/iFjQGuar5iNeDpHCQ78W?user=Braveen
6. Dyson: Letting shoppers choose their own product demo
Dyson found a clever use for the carousel format to demo the Dyson Airwrap and its different attachments when not every potential customer has the same hair or style.
The carousel ad features two women with two different hair colors, blonde and black, with the same 10-second video format demonstrating the product with a before and after for each styling option and the required attachment. It’s inspired by a TikTok video trend that will be immediately recognizable to hair and beauty content consumers.
The carousel effectively lets the viewer choose their own ad-venture based on their hair color and styling preference.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/5p0lLlagR5koPnz3piCG?user=Braveen
7. Honest Greens: Delivering a menu-like ordering experience
The carousel format makes it easy to browse through multiple options, especially on small screens.
The Honest Greens restaurant brand puts the interface to good use with a menu-like carousel ad where each card is dedicated to a different meal. The squiggly arrow pointing right makes the direction explicit.
Each card includes the same info for each menu item: name, price, ingredients, dietary disclaimers, a picture, and a link to order it now.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/5ok5gkdNbZXNpgwfaNor?user=Braveen
8. Gong: Visualizing data to promote a lead magnet
Original industry reports are great lead generation assets that often suffer from the same problem: How will anyone know the data is interesting if it’s gated behind a form?
Gong, a revenue intelligence platform, works around this with a carousel ad that visualizes some of the more surprising data that bucks long-standing assumptions about cold outreach, like that using ROI language helps your success rate.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/im5a9mdFBBZUCxhjMTGJ?user=Braveen
9. Victoria’s Secret: Communicating complex promotions in one carousel
A single image ad is more than enough to promote a simple offer like 20% off on a specific product.
Try cramming a complex offer, like a site-wide, quantity-based tiered discount that includes a free gift when you meet a minimum purchase threshold into one image… and you’ll lose your audience no matter how good the deal is.
So how does Victoria’s Secret convey an offer like that?
By spreading the details out across a carousel ad that explains how the promotion works with imagery from different product collections—with the free gift with purchase offer as the cherry on top on the final slide.
Source: https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/6qaN21Y1qRdqNUeUGSaf?user=Braveen
10. MasterClass: Making multiple appeals hoping one lands
MasterClass offers a subscription to a massive library of various courses taught by celebrity instructors. Not every course, nor every celebrity’s star power, will appeal to everyone the same.
That’s where MasterClass uses the carousel format to quickly spotlight its range of courses and instructors with a buy-one-get-one deal, betting that at least one will land with the viewer.
The carousel concludes with a video that hammers home the message that a MasterClass subscription is the perfect way to accommodate two people with vastly different interests and learning goals.
https://app.foreplay.co/share/ads/j9TxpT6ZQRhdiC398fIa?user=Braveen
Learn from the best to create better carousel ads
These are just a handful of the best carousel ads we’ve curated from the millions of carousel ad examples available in Foreplay’s community-driven ad library.
Start your free trial today to discover the best ads across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more—including what your competitors are running—to build the ultimate ad swipe file for you and your team.
Carousel ad FAQs
What is a carousel ad?
A carousel ad is an online advertising format that combines 2-10 image or video slides, each with its own ad copy and destination link, into one cohesive ad unit. What sets carousel ads apart is their interactive format, which users can swipe through to consume the ad on their own terms.
Carousel ads were first popularized on Facebook and Instagram, but have since been adopted by other social advertising platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok.
What are the carousel ad specs for Facebook and Instagram?
The key specs for carousel ads on Facebook and Instagram are as follows:
- Supported file types: JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV, GIF
- Aspect ratio: 1:1 (Feed), 9:16 (Stories)
- Resolution: 1080 x 1080 pixels minimum
- Number of slides: 2 to 10
Find the full list of carousel ad specifications in the Meta Business Help Center.
What makes a good carousel ad on Facebook and Instagram?
Great carousel ads make the most of the multi-slide medium when they:
- Tell a focused narrative. While each slide can technically contain different creative assets, links, and ad copy, they should connect to each other under one creative concept to avoid feeling like a series of disconnected ads.
- Compel users to swipe. The concept, copy, and/or design should encourage users to swipe from one slide to the next.
- Include a clear call to action. Every carousel card gives you an opportunity to include a unique Call-to-Action (CTA). Make sure your CTAs are action-oriented, concise, and lead to a relevant landing page.
Make every slide count. Just because you can have up to 10 slides in a carousel ad, doesn’t mean you need to. A 2-slide carousel that uses an image to hook audiences followed by a video to hammer home your messaging can be more effective than a 10-slide carousel that wears out its welcome.
