Marketing Promo Ad

[CamarotaDesign]

Ok, so this piece is going into a dealer manual that will be sent to retailers. We are one of 3 direct mail companies in it, and will be featured the section for marketing programs. What makes us unique is that we are the only program in this thing that does does single mailings. The others send out coupon books or 4 page ads, (valpak type thing)

Also, there has to be .25 in margin. It's two sided, the back page is where we will put a free demographic report form and some samples of what they can expect to fet from us.


So, Do you guys think this concept is working? as far as the lighthouse and stuff goes? Any thoughts?


http://www.marketingexpertsinc.net/tonydemo/marketingpromo.gif

[tZ]

I'm not getting the concept but, aesthetically I think its interesting.

I might consider making the font a bit larger though within the sqaures.

II might also consider making yout dominent in the hierachy a bit larger also. I see your hierachy and I think it works but, might make that haeding a bit larger to grab peoples attention. I see what you are doing trying to line it within the space between the light and all but, I really think it should be larger rather then line up.

[CamarotaDesign]

Yes, the concept was stronger when "stand out From The competition" was a single larger headline at the top and the "stand out" part was in the beam from the light house. There was also a white line border offset about a quarter inch from the border, and the light house stood out more. But aestetically, it wasnt as nice as this. I'll have to wait till monday to work on it again and post the other versions. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Quite good in terms of layout. I get the idea of standing out, although the lighthouse mostly conveys "lost" or "find" so to a certain extent yes it works.

I agree that the text in the boxes needs to be enlarged.

Good logo too.

[G-Man79]

I like the layout. The body text could be slightly larger. That logo though...there's something very Microsoft about it. I'll do some digging but I think I've seen something very similar to that recently.

[tZ]

Have you thought about introducing more light houses?

However, have them in less of a contrast then the one that is meant to stand out.

That way the light house really would be standing out. You could even write competition on the sides of the others so you can barly see it. As if the other lighthouses are furtheraway with no light on.

just a thought.

[Eraser Nubbin]

I really like how it looks.
Looks like the kind of piece that would work equally well 20 feet wide on a billboard.
The white text on the black background is the weak point to me, the leading on the two-line bulletpoints looks too much as well.
Have you tried placing your companies logo within the trunk of the lighthouse at the bottom right in black?

[patkennedy78]

What makes us unique is that we are the only program in this thing that does does single mailings. The others send out coupon books or 4 page ads, (valpak type thing)

This is what I'd put emphasis on. If this is what seperates you from your competition, make that your unique selling point. Aside from pushing you in that direction I'd say your color scheme works very well.

[CamarotaDesign]

thanks for all the feedback everyone. tZ - I liked your suggestion about adding more lighthouses. I think ithelps to reinforce the "competition" although now its been changed to "crowd" for better headline aesthetics, but I dunno, competition is a better word, but doesnt look as good. Plus my supervisors originally wanted "crowd"

We're thinking of a new line for headline. Like "guide you to the profits" something that fits a light house better.

I feel kinda stuck with the space in the upper left corner. Not too sure about that.

http://www.marketingexpertsinc.net/tonydemo/promoad2.gif

[CamarotaDesign]

Here's another Idea. Trying to take patrick's idea of making a central focus of the ad being about how we are unique, but still trying to stay true to the original concept. I think its works concept wise. and Im liking it the most out of all the designs I think.


http://www.marketingexpertsinc.net/tonydemo/promoad3.gif

[tZ]

You need less contrast on the ones that are not standing out or else they will each create thier own little areas of interest that is uneeded.

Think depth- atmospheric persective and apply it to your design.

[cornfed]

I think you need to lose the blue bar in front of the lighthouse beam. Once you do that, then you can line it up so that in front of the beam the words "A Marketing Uniqueness" are in blue and the rest can be in the white against the black background. Then you could accent "your company" or even make it in blue so that if you were to just read the blue words it would say "a marketing uniqueness....your company."

[CamarotaDesign]

You need less contrast on the ones that are not standing out or else they will each create thier own little areas of interest that is uneeded.

Think depth- atmospheric persective and apply it to your design.

tZ - You are talking about the multiple lighthouse right? I did have each one more transparent fading away from the all white one, I'll put it up when I get to work tomorrow, it probably does look better. I think we are going to go with the "shine through" concept, a single light house. Im wondering if I oughtta just go full out with gradient effects, transparency masks, halftone screen effects, etc. I was trying to keep it simple at first, but its proving too hard to keep it interesting, might as well bring in all the guns.

Cornfed, I'll try that idea. Getting something to work inside the ray coming from the light house has been the biggest challenge in this piece. The whole design depends on it, and its really hard to work with it (for me at least) but I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, keep them coming, really appreciate it.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

You need less contrast on the ones that are not standing out or else they will each create thier own little areas of interest that is uneeded.

Think depth - atmospheric persective and apply it to your design.

Yes Camarota, TZ means the one with multiple lighthouses. Imagine a coastline in perspective (only without the actual shore) and have not more than three more lighthouses receeding into the distance in size and placement. You could even use your blue swirlies (I guess they represent water/sea) in the same way they are presented here but in perspective.;)

[tZ]

light houses don't line uo side by side…

Well, besides that fact you have a 3 color job here correct?

What I would suggest is making the blue darker.

This way it will have a lower amount of contrast then current.

So then maybe you canintroduce it into the light houses (minus the first one) to push them back. So that the white on black light house sticks out(highest contrast) and the rest are pushed back due to the decrease in contrast by making the blue darker. Cause with them all in consistent contrast(white_ there is a definate confliction occuring.

So that the easy way.

If this isn't a spot job then you could introcude more colors/values, but then you would most likly need to introduce those values throughout the entirity to unify the design.

So it depends.

[Broacher]

Meh. Sorry, the whole lighthouse idea does not stand out for me as a concept. Show me something totally startling about the way you've looked and thought about lighthouses, and THEN state, not shout your claim. And that's just it-- you shouldn't need 42 pt. callouts to the visual concept IF you are trying to convince us that you know how to avoid the hackneyed choice of metaphors.

Push... push harder!!!

Look at lighthouses differently. You know who you should check out for this one? Oh, what's his name... Guy Billout! A master in juxtaposing banality. And he has tons of lighthouse pieces. Here you go: http://www.guybillout.com/

[steve2112]

I am digging it but i am unsure of the staggered boxes? I do not think i like that. I messes up the flow for me

steve

[CamarotaDesign]

Thanks for the helpful responses.

Ok, let me tell the story. Originally my bosses wanted the concept:

"stand out of the crowd"

They wanted one person among a sea of people, perhaps in color, and the rest in gray, or something to that extent...... cliche, and done to death right? So I said, why dont we go for a picture of a pile of postcards and mailers, and then one of them can be of a lighthouse that shines onto the headline.

While I was working on it, this really simple sihloette lighthouse idea popped up, and they liked it, so we went in this direction. It looked great simple and without a lot of text. But it started loosing impact as more information got added, then the simple color scheme got lost as well. I've spent too much time to just can it, although I'd like to, because I could do better if I was given complete creative freedom of it.

Anyways, I agree with you guys totally.

Broacher, yeah, I think I could probably change the overall layout and maybe have the lighthouse shining down on to the area that lists all the text. Or perhaps have the light be all wavy like a blast of energy rather than a straight line. I had a few Ideas. Then I could probably lose that large heading.

tZ - Its cmyk, it looked very nice when it was a piece based on simplicity. Now its lost the impact. I'm gonna try to incorporate more of each color, or something. Also,t he multiple lighthouses concept wasnt well recieved by the bosses. no go.

Steve --yep, 3 staggered boxes werent working for me either, they are all one now. It flows much better, I'll post the new version from work tomorrow, didnt get a chance today.

Last words... It looks better printed on the color laser jet.

[urstwile]

What if you did it from the perspective of the "ship" seeing the lighthouse, instead of the other way around?

[PrintDriver]

Why confuse the matter with more than one lighthouse?
Have you ever seen more than one lighthouse at any given moment along a coastline? More than one would cause confusion to the incoming traffic.

I see lighthouses as more of a warning of rough water or rocks rather than lost or found. There may be a vague concept of 'guidance' but that's pushing it. Lighthouses sure do stand out in a fog though. LOL.

Not digging the difference in spacing between the staggered boxes and the differences in leading between lines in the last version.
Check your spelling. "I before E" is not always a given.

[Jackimalyn]

Lighthouses don't mean rough waters. They mean shore. "Guidance" is not a vague concept for lighthouses.... that's their purpose. They are there for navigation.

Just my 2 cents....

[CamarotaDesign]

Ok everyone, tried to take your points in as much as possible. I feel this piece is working well enough. And really, it just doesnt look as good on screen as it does when you print it out with the white border and deep black background.

Thanks for all the critique.


http://www.marketingexpertsinc.net/tonydemo/promoad4.gif

[SnowAngel]

^^ lookin' good! it was great to watch the process unfold. :)

[tZ]

looks fine

[Broacher]

Huge improvement! And the biggest reason? Graphic redesign? No. Type re-arrangement? No. The real reason that this is now a very effective ad has little to do with the layout, or graphic execution/concept. But, the real reason it now works is due to the biggest change: a copy rewrite. That lead offer line alone sells this ad. Now you're 'talking' business.

This is a great example of why copy has to be taken more seriously these days in the design process. And possibly nowhere else is this more critical than direct mail marketing. Nice job!

[steve2112]

now this is a kick ass mailer. Though thats huge solid black to print but thats just from a small printer perspective. I really like how it looks.

steve

[CamarotaDesign]

Thanks you guys! Im stoked you all like it! What would I do without GDF?

Broacher - You are 100% dead on on that statement. Thanks for puting it into perspective.

Steve - Yeah, lots of black! think it might warp? I believe its going on uncoated, 60 lb stock.

[EC]

nice job

[Samakimoto Graphics]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEaH!