The Great Lakes Forever print and radio advertising campaign were created by a Madison firm, Good for Business, that specializes in non-profit and cause-related marketing. The firm's creative director, Jim Armstrong, took the Great Lakes Forever program staff through an intense eleven-step campaign creation process that successfully distilled the communications efforts into one word - vulnerable .
The Creative Process
When the "vulnerable" concept was agreed upon, the Good for Business team created 25 "mock-up" designs for the program staff to consider. The program staff immediately responded to the final ad choice. The image (seen to the left) has drawn entirely positive responses across the board and has, in a simple format, embodied the awareness goals for the campaign - to balance a strong appreciation of these remarkable lakes, with the concern that these vulnerable lakes deserve.
All advertising was designed to drive target audiences to www.greatlakesforever.org , a Web site that we developed to support all our communications for the pilot project. The site features greater details on threats to the Great Lakes, tips for families interested in protecting the lakes through actions at home, educational "the Lakes in our lives" content, and information about Great Lakes resources in local communities.
This full-page print ad ran in four "lifestyle" magazines during the peak 2004 summer season for Great Lakes recreation. Three placements were targeted to reach outdoor recreational users ( Lake Superior Magazine , Wisconsin Trails , and Door County Magazine ) and one to reach community leaders ( Milwaukee Magazine ). The print ads reached an audience of more than 300,000 people.
This ad image is also available as a ~ 18"x24" poster graphic for your use.
The Magazine Ad in Brief
- Goals : Produce a high quality print ad that builds awareness and concern for the Great Lakes and motivates audiences to visit the program Web site. Secondary goal: to test the effectiveness of paid print advertising for non-profit public engagement - especially on advocacy issues.
- Audiences: As with many of the Great Lakes Forever products, the target audience was "Great Lakes Lifestylers". Click here to read more).
- Distribution : Combined readership of the five publications is 300,000 people throughout Wisconsin, the Twin Cities, and northern Illinois.
- Outcome : Publication of a full-color, full-page Great Lakes Forever advertisement in widely read Wisconsin lifestyle magazines. 8% of Web site survey respondents reported visiting the site after seeing a print advertisement.
Planning to Produce Your Own Print Advertisement?
We're happy to provide advice and materials to help you produce your own print advertisement! Contact Jeffrey Potter at jpotter@biodiverse.org or 608-250-9876. See "Terms of Use" for more details on using Great Lakes Forever materials.