James Gaubert (the faculty sponsor) describes the ad development process: Each team developed a strategy that was based on the identified target audience's search process and characteristics as described in the YPA Advertising Challenge case study. An important part of this strategy was the identification of elements essential to the viewer’s experience such as maps, specific benefits, and brand identification. Each group had to successfully defend its strategy prior to working on the ad itself. For this particular ad, the group decided to use white space to reduce clutter and differentiate the ad and the advertiser from competition. The group searched for a unique way to increase advertiser branding, and after several revisions, they finally decided to include the U-Store-It brand visual in the room window.

Molly (speaking for the team) notes: Our team had several goals in mind while designing this ad. We wanted to focus on the benefits of U-Store-It by communicating the physical and psychological concept of "space". To do this, we used a woman that looked relaxed and satisfied with her new spacious living area. We decided to avoid using any images (such as boxes or moving trucks) that might be associated with the process of packing, moving or boxing items. We thought this would minimize the negative connotations that are associated with these tasks. We decided viewers needed to connect the positive emotions with the U-Store-It brand, so we inserted the brand logo in the window. Lastly, we wanted the overall ad to be simple and neat since the the Yellow Pages directory ads tend to be very busy and cluttered.

Small Directory Ad