A Little Gem of and Idea

I had just come back from the HOW conference and the first thing I was given to do was this AD for Bluff Magazine. While I was gone the Marketing Dept. had been brainstorming ideas. They were all fairly descent, but obvious. One stood out though and it was "You + 7 Buddies + HUC = One Hell Of a Poker Night".

Now maybe it was seeing all the cool stuff at the conference that led me to come up with the idea there and then, I don't know, but this one seemed right. I know this is a "1+1=2" approach that's typically not very smart. But what I liked was that the Heads-Up Challenge table is an unknown, which makes it complicated. So this approach actually fits. New products scare people because we all like what we are used too.

I took the line and designed it to be fun and simple. I also designed the layout to point towards the table. I think all layouts need a flow, whether by using type or white space to direct the reader to your objective. That way the reader understands what it is in seconds, versus a minute. We all know how fleeting a readers eye is.

What also helped was the use of color. The gold flat tone helped the table kick off the page as well as stand out from all the other poker ads that are usually dark in tone.

This is one of those occasions where had I chosen the headline they wanted me to use it probably would of turned out like usual. In talking with my colleagues and digging a little more I was able to find a little gem of an idea and do something a little different.