SEPT/01-2004

STEP MAGAZINE | 20 AD CAMPAIGNS WITH PERFECT VISION

Cameron Village Newscenter
Nearly every celebrity was scrutinized and considered for the spotlight of this campaign, advertising the Cameron Village Newscenter in Raleigh, N.C. and a lot of laughs went into thinking about what might be printed on each cash register receipt.

Quite a bit of time was spent making up magazine titles just to accommodate the idea, designer Scott Pridgen says. For example, Bitch-slap magazine for Zsa-Zsa Gabor was a nice title for the payoff, but sadly no such magazine exists."

Pridgen came up with the clever gimmick while looking at a few magazine receipts of his own. He realized how many clues into someone's personal life those little itemizations contain, and the possibilities for satire were endless. In the innocuous little slips of paper we all take for granted and throw away or keep for our taxes," he found a fresh communication prop. "I was inspired by the actual colors of the receipts themselves" Pridgen says. "I matched the purple ink from the real receipts and used it on off-white stock that somewhat resembles the paper that receipts are printed on. The simpler the art direction, the more the idea comes alive."

Of course the Newscenter was delighted with the ads, and the campaign was a scandalous success in terms of getting the name out around the neighborhood. Most people looking at the receipts tend to give them some credence, at least at first.

Pridgen likes to make use of things already well-established in the public consciousness, giving his ads an air of familiarity. "I would hope people will walk away with the content burned into their consciousness and remember it 10 years down the road," he says.

Bald Head Island

Live Recordings from Bald Head Island made an elegant selling tool for real estate agents on this island off North Carolina. Sounds of nature, and even of footsteps echoing up the winding staircase of the lighthouse, were used to attract homebuyers to this island which can only be reached by boat.

"Since the island must be experienced to the understood," explains copywriter Francis George, we thought we'd recreate the experience the best way we could. We had to spend a weekend there in order to find out what made the island special. Picture two city types stuck on an island where the preferred means of transport is a bicycle, and the nearest movie theater is a 30-minute boat ride away."

The guys found plenty to do recording waves crashing, birds singing, crickets chirping, and porch swings creaking. Then came the package design. Art director Scott Pridgen chose the paper stock for its natural, sandy texture and color. The elegant Victorian flourishes inside, such as the pull-out invitation card edged in a floral lattice, complement the style of houses one will find on this island and hopefully buy.

The client was ecstatic with the response it had once those invitations full of aural atmosphere were sent. The campaign resulted in $115 million in sales for Bald Head Island, who rewarded the job well-done with a week's stay at a plush resort, where Pridgen and his wife could relax and listen to the soothing sounds of Bald Head Island live.

George was the one who climbed the lighthouse stairs with Ryan the soundman tiptoeing backwards behind him. "By the time both of us got to the top, we were about ready to pass out," he says. "Not from breathing hard, but trying NOT to breathe hard from the recording‚s sake." The sounds of heavy breathing were not part of the concept.


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MAR/04-2004
check out the sharper images site.

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FEB/13-2004
new curiosities have been added.

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FEB/11-2004
skoota.com has finally been updated.