Day 25 of my 28-Day Creative Challenge.

I live in a multi-cat household so this direct mail piece caught my eye. It uses minimal copy to tell the benefits of PETsMART’s brand of cat litter and shows it in a strong visual, too. Wonderful concept!

If this is the first you’ve heard of my 28-Day Creative Challenge, you may want to learn what it’s all about by reading: My Challenge: 28 Days To Clean Up My Creative Morgue. It’s a short post, only one paragraph.

This creative insert promoting Peru must have came from a travel magazine. We see what appears at first to be a straw camel’s head peeking through the die cut window. Curious, we open the insert  to see more — and discover this wonderful photo! I’ll be keeping this for my files as a reminder that advertising can be fun and full of surprises.

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.

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 19 of my 28-Day Creative Challenge.

Check out all the “white space” this ad has. What a concept — and I mean that both literally and figuratively. It uses only 23 well-chosen words in both headline and body copy, a golfing photo that uses psychology to appeal to our hedonistic nature (that’s worth at least a thousand words, right?), and a powerful product shot. Toss in the two logos and a wee bit of descriptive copy that includes price, and we have a strong, clean ad. And that’s how it’s done folks!

This ad has certainly found a home in my creative morgue files as a reminder to continue to fight for “white space.” If you’d like to participate in my 28-Day Creative Challenge, please send 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. Or you could just post a comment.

Romanticizing the product as they do here is a psychological advertising technique often used by retail. As a matter of fact, that’s how the tradition of giving a large diamond solitaire engagement ring was created – from a De Berre’s advertising campaign.

Looks like this ad from 1995 has found a permanent home in my creative morgue. Today is Day 13 of my 28-Day Creative Challenge. TGIF!

Today is Day 11 of my 28-Day Creative Challenge.

This is one of my all-time favorite ads. I’ve had it for 10 to 15 years and from the looks of the holes in it, it’s even been push pinned to my wall at some time. The photo itself speaks volumes. Both ladies are school students wearing dresses and carrying metal lunch boxes. Gertrude is the Senior Adult Student of the Year and is 105 years old. What a touching human interest story and what a powerful photo. There’s minimal copy and lots of white space too, wonderful!!

This Lord & Taylor ad may be old but it’s not outdated. I love the whimsical, hand-drawn, black and white artwork that I see so little of today. I’m keeping this ad to remind me that in this digital world of computer graphics and photos, smart hand-drawn artwork will always stand out from the crowd.

See how the headline becomes part of the fun and helps to turn this ad into a real eye-catcher? I can almost hear those yappy dogs now!

If this is the first you’ve heard of my 28-Day Creative Challenge, you may want to learn what it’s all about by reading: My Challenge: 28 Days To Clean Up My Creative Morgue. It’s a short post, only one paragraph – I promise.

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.

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Day 2 of my 28-Day Challenge. I’ve placed all my files into a big box where they can now “breath” and I can sort through them with ease. I’ve not thrown anything away so far.

The second keeper that I’ve selected is this insert from a trade journal magazine. It features the “World’s Smallest Bar Code Scanner” as a die cut that when removed and folded illustrates the actual size of the scanner.

What a creative concept — fun too! A more affordable but rather boring alternative would be to photograph the scanner next to a coin such as a quarter to show the size comparison. Since the scanner is also sold in Europe and Asia-Pacific and the quarter is American money, this would pose a problem. What could we use instead of a quarter that would be recognized in all 3 countries? A car key? Are they standard in size from country to country? Any ideas?

As an artist I never know when or where creative inspiration will strike. Take this old sign for example. I spotted it while cutting through an old, industrial part of town on my way back to the office from a client meeting. The client had said he would love to see his new store logo printed on a sign made from old barn siding. Voilà — here was a great example!

I turned my car around and went back for a second look. Yes! It would be perfect for inspiring me later. I drove down a short drive lined with several closed machine shops and parked my car. I took my Blackberry camera phone and cautiously left the safety of my car. Walking around the side of the building, I had a momentary thought about trespassing and rats but it was fleeting. Standing beside the building with a large, rusty, trash dumpster at my back, I took this shot.

How about you? What do you do to get your creative juices flowing? Is there a special place that you go or a unique creative ritual that you do? Any stories of great ideas inspired by unusual places or circumstances?