'Saving the Day' Ad Design

One of my favorite projects I was able to develop was the initiative to create a new set of house ads for SPJ known as "Saving the Day." The premise of the ad is to showcase a journalist revealing his inner "superhero" persona that is SPJ. The style of the work is designed to clash both a sense of today and the past.

The journalist in the ad is dressed in the old, traditional serial TV and comic book style attire and the image is set in grey scale. This measure was an intentional tie-in to the latter part of the ad's slogan, "Saving the Day, Since 1909!" To reach the modern day twist and add excitement to the image, the focal costume underneath reveals both color and vibrancy.

With a budget of $0, I made due and worked within my means to secure a model and photographer to do the primary photos that SPJ was able to use in the banner, tower, half page and full page ads. After the photo shoot, I worked with our graphic designer in the final ad development, discussing different font styles for the text along with shading and other elements.

Due to the fact that this ad was a lampoon of the Superman/Clark Kent character, I made a point to seek legal counsel from the communications law firm that SPJ works with. It was quickly concluded that the parody and non-financial nature of the ad exempted it from copyright infringement.

Since its creation, the "Saving the Day" ad has been used on the SPJ website, in our membership newsletter and in Quill magazine. I also initiated and worked with our graphic designer to create easy, useable chapter meeting flyers that SPJ chapter leaders can click, print and use (based on this design and a previous ad) as part of our downloadable resources page.