Ad Assembly
The Higher Ed Marketing Report will formally announce their 2015 Educational Advertising Award winners on March 1st.Among the gold medalists is an ad campaign that Trampoline created for Paul Smith’s College.The ads feature actual students, surrounded by the tools used to complete their degree and some of the items of everyday college life. The process to create these ads involved six different staffers, each pitching in specific skills to make the concept come to life quickly and efficiently.The concept for a campaign to recruit college-aged kids came from a college-aged kid. We asked Rebecca Bolan, our intern during the summer of 2014, for her thoughts on teenage decision making and points of importance. She responded by saying that campus location, reputation and available majors factored into choices, but there were deeper, more personal concerns. “College is a chance to redefine yourself.” She explained. “What are you going to take with you? What will you need? How will your style be seen?”
Rebecca sketched out a rough illustration of her idea, and pitched it, internally. Art director Will Fowler took that sketch and tightened it up for presentation to the marketing team at Paul Smith’s, who responded well to the idea.
We went into layout, and designer Ashley Hooker brought Rebecca’s concept and Will’s direction to digital draft form, isolating and reconfiguring elements until the layout was ready to show.
The full committee at the college wanted to see actual students used, so a photo shoot was scheduled. Amanda, as our lead on the account, went up on campus to provide support and art direction for photographer Nancie Battaglia.
With real students captured, our process resumed with designer Kate Hurley taking the draft to the next level. Kate built the original concept out into a series of ads, and provided files to Matt Britt, whose production background made him the last stop before submission.
Matt made the necessary prepress file adjustments to ensure that the ad would properly reproduce in the publication, taking into account color balance, saturation and line screen.
Our internal process included creative critiques early on and proofing stages for revisions as the deadline approached. There was follow-up and confirmation after the design left the studio. This involved even more people on a single job, but the group mentioned above really led the process, and we’re happy to have the series recognized by the Higher Ed Marketing Report.Concept, Direction, Design, Photography, Revisions, Prepress…Repeat.