Erin in our search marketing team needed to create a banner ad for our local
search marketing client, Phil Clark, who is a criminal
defense attorney in Boulder, Colorado.
The goal for the banner ad was to engage with University of Colorado (CU) students
(or their parents) who got in trouble with the law. Although CU is actively
trying to combat the "party school" image (see this Daily
Camera article), the reality is that students are living by themselves for
the first time, and often drink too much and/or get behind the wheel of a car.
Here’s a look at the final banner (740 x 238) to fit a specific space on the
site:
The creative goal of this banner ad was to use local photography from the CU
campus (where I am an alum, as well as many of the people here at the company),
and create a visual connection with the student (or their parent).
The goal for the photograph was to evoke a feeling of belonging to the campus,
but show empty space with shadows to mirror the sullen mood of a student facing
legal trouble. Yet… keeping the bright blue sunny sky Boulder is famous for,
as an aspirational wish toward better times.
Erin and I wandered around the campus until we found the best location to shoot.
All images were shot using a Canon 5D Mark III camera with the 17-40mm f/4.0
lens.
Here’s the shot, out of the camera (sized down to 1,000 pixels), shot at 40
mm, f/16, 1/80 second exposure, ISO 100, handheld:
(Click here
for full size image >>)
We chose this image over these:
This image was too bright and cheery:
This image of the CU campus didn’t have the introspective shadows we were looking
for:
And this image, while close, didn’t have the three dimensional look on the
lower left side of the frame.
Here’s the final banner, that I like for all of the reasons above:
Photos by Jeff Finkelstein of Customer Paradigm