I’ve got to take a short break and with only 5 days left to go in my 28-Day Creative Challenge. I’ve got a client deadline so HOT it would make the devil sweat.

Watch for Day 24 sometime next week. Have a great July 4th Weekend!

It’s Day 21 of my 28-Day Creative Challenge and I’m well over halfway through sorting and organizing my creative morgue files. The ad that I selected for today is from March 1994. It shares a variation of a concept also used on the Day 11 ad. Both ads feature a powerful photo of two people who at first glance are very different from each other. The copy tells us that they ARE very different people but with something in common — the PowerBook.

The writer kept the copy to a minimum, giving us two easy-to-read lists to quickly skim. Subliminally speaking, because nowhere is it written, we understand that the PowerBook is liked and used by both the young and the old. The designer’s use of color for the Apple logo and white space to frame the photo works to make this a strong ad and a real keeper for my collection.

Day 15 of my 28-Day Creative Challenge.

Paper drink coasters aren’t just for bars anymore. They’re a great way to keep your logo, website and also telephone number in front of clients and prospects. Be sure to give them plenty. Leather one’s are nice as well, and will last much longer.

I hope everyone has had a fabulous Father’s Day today!

I tore this ad from a magazine ages ago and am keeping it because a lot of thought went into this concept. It’s a concept that can be used in ads for just about anything visual – from eye surgery to optics to anti-drunk driving campaigns.

Make this creative ad concept your own by selecting a different subject for comparison. The Northern Cardinal and rosebud work well for binoculars. What would you suggest for an anti-drunk driving campaign?

You can be part of my 28-Day Creative Challenge by sending me links to download or printed samples of creative work that you find inspiring. If it inspires me too I’ll feature it here along with a link to your blog or website.

Technorati.com seems to be having trouble finding me and my claim token number: CZDYB8SCUJBT. Can you find me now?

Today I selected the 2009 Annual Report of Fortune Brands. What better way to showcase the company’s 67 logos? They’re crisp and clean on a bright white background and form an interesting pattern all their own.

Would you like to be part of my 28-Day Creative Challenge? Send  me links to download or printed samples of creative work that inspires you, and if it inspires me as well, I’ll feature it here along with a link to your blog or website.

Have a great day!

I’ve finally thrown away a handful of old and outdated pieces and it feels GOOD!  I think it will get easier as my 28-Day Creative Challenge moves along.

Today is Day 3 and I’m keeping this attractive brochure that exudes serenity. It does an excellent job of promoting and explaining a very delicate business – a Nature Preserve Cemetery. By skillful color and photo selection and good copy and design, this brochure gets it’s message across in a dignified and respectful manner. The matching website carries it off as well. This brochure can be downloaded from the website for closer inspection and while you’re there check out the video as well.

Remember, you can help me with my 28-Day Creative Challenge by letting me know if you agree or disagree with my selection. If you’d like to share something that you find inspirational, and if I decide to add it to my creative morgue, I’ll feature it here along with a link to your blog or website.

CZDYB8SCUJBT

Being a designer, I never know what might spark my next great idea and as a result, I love to save things. My file cabinet, home to my creative morgue is so packed with unique and inspiring design pieces that I can’t pull the files out. To make cleaning up these files fun, I’m creating my own version of the 30-Day Facebook Challenge. Over the next 28 days I’ll be going into my creative morgue and deciding which pieces are still inspirational and which are just old and outdated. I’ll share the keepers with you here and on Facebook daily. You can help me by letting me know if you agree, disagree or can suggest something better. Please join me tomorrow for Day 1!

If you own a business I’m sure you’ve been told that you need a Facebook business page. Do you? If you’re a retailer my answer is yes! If you’re not but can answer yes to the following five questions, then you probably DO need a Facebook business page. Otherwise, your time and money can be spent on better ways to advertise your business.

1. Are your clients Facebook users? Check out the age, gender and location demographics listed at Social Media Today.

2. Is there a reason your fans would want to interact with your business on a regular basis? Remember the average Facebook user has 130 friends who are competing for their time too.

3. Are you willing to devote the time and money? Your page will need to be monitored daily and in some cases hourly, to be effective.

4. Do you have a website? All serious businesses have websites to link to their Facebook page.

5. Will it help your business grow or are your fans just numbers instead of actual clients?

Cheap marketing is what everyone is looking for today and Chippewa Lake’s Lions Club is no exception. I am holding in my hand their flyer that I found by my mailbox last week. This enterprising group has combined creativity, resourcefulness and good old American ingenuity, to create Chippewa Lake’s 1st Annual Polar Bear Run and Jump (Jan. 29, 2011). This is a fundraising event to benefit two local groups that help feed the needy in our area, and to also raise funds for the Lions Club. Go to the  Chippewa Lakes Lions Club web site, you’ll learn that they help purchase eyeglasses, too. As a nearsighted graphic designer myself, I like that — who knew?

Recently some enterprising young boys have been coming to my door and asking to shovel the snow from the driveway. This is a first in my 12 years of living here. After I paid my most recent cold, red-cheeked laborer, my husband remarked to me that the driveway really didn’t have much snow to shovel this time. My response was that I had paid him for showing drive, initiative and having an entrepreneurial spirit, not for shoveling the snow.

Don’t let the daily news fool you, we’re not a nation of spoiled whiners and blamers who sit back in a paralyzed, apathetic stupor. We’re a nation of think outside the box doers. Chippewa Lake’s Lions Club can’t spend big money on marketing but that hasn’t stopped them. A good idea and a flyer, now a mention in a blog, who knows where it could lead? That’s exciting — that’s cheap marketing!!

As a Chippewa Lake resident and advertising professional, I salute and support my communities efforts in making a difference. I’ll pledge $25 to the first jumper to ask me to sponsor them (e-mail me) and I’ll also be in the crowd cheering them on as they take the plunge. I hope to see you there, too.

It’s been going on for years, people confusing advertising and marketing with arts and crafts. These all involve design and the right side of the brain but are completely different things. If you are a business owner and mistake one for the other, you will be wasting your advertising dollars.

How can you tell the difference? Ask to see samples of work created for businesses similar to yours. An advertising agency, design studio or professional freelancer will have a portfolio (either digital or traditional) full of successful promotions created for their clients. Your friend who teaches art, works real cheap, and knows how to use a Mac, will not.

My traditional portfolio is available by appointment and a digital version is available on my website.