Hello everyone,

I'm a advertising and marketing major. I'm working on a final project for my typography class where I'm suppose to make a 2 page ad for a magazine. I'm very new at photoshop and only know the basics <learning by myself> but I cranked this out and wanted to get some opinions. Please go easy on me, since I'm very bad at photoshop. Thanks. This is a rough composition, and the final isn't due for another week or so. Let me know what your thoughts are, what should be changed, and if there's any photoshop gurus with some tips. I would appreciate it. Thanks. <BTW, the "Suzuki" ad was a direct response to Suzuki's SX4 vs. The MINI ad; you can check out the video on YouTube>


If you want a higher quality image to read everything. Let me know.





::Update April 7::
Project is pretty much done. Here's a time line of all the changes I went through:

 

Looks good to me. I thought it was a real MINI ad until I read what you wrote. I was trying to work out what the Congratulations to Suzuki message was.

 

Try reordering the words to "Congratulations to suzuki for having America's #1 warranty, AWD, and standard GPS navigation."

Looks good otherwise.

 

Yeah, I kind of got the idea from the advertising war back in 2006 between all the car companies. A few ads were from BMW, Audi, Subaru and Bentley. Each one would say something like "Congratulations BMW for winning the 2006 beauty awards from the winners of the best motor of 2006" - Subaru. Bentley was the worst. They had a picture of a guy sitting on the sofa flipping a birdie.

Grammatical Error Fix - Check

 

I was only talking about the flow of the words...

 

Flow of Words Fix - Check.

 

I dont agree with recognizing the strengths of competitors in advertising. I would try something like....

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Thanks Suzuki!

 

hmm. doubt a red X will attract people

 

LOVE this! Very tongue in cheek and Mini-like

I have a Fine Arts Degree and also had to do an ad in school, and I chose Mini. This was a good 3 years before I even had mine.....anyway my catchline was something along the lines of, "It's not the size that counts, it's how you use it"

Looks really good though, good luck with it!

 

Thanks....How about:

Its not the size of the ship but the motion of the ocean!

 

"Warranty" is misspelled on the second page, and I would hyphenate "Recession-Proof". The Auto Express quote is also a little long for an ad, IMHO.

Lastly, I've never seen an ad where the company successfully pulled off explaining why they came in third place. In your ad, the reader might even get the impression that Suzuki was one of the cars that beat the JCW.

If you have to say that the JCW came in third, at least mention that the two cars that beat it were the Porsche Cayman S and the Nissan Skyline GT-R.

 

The space between the words "performance" and "and" is way too big. And the reds you used for your outline boxes are not the same reds. I noticed that first.

Dont want to be too mean but, quote is way too long, Change the top text to ACEkrout's suggestion, and as a marketing thing, I really dont like advertising a third place finish. I read that and kinda frowned.

In other words, I think the Cabrio ad is very good.

I am studying Design at Texas A&M. Hope this helps!

 

You're talking about the horizontal line across the bottom of each ad, just above the MINI logo and model name? Wow - good eyes. I didn't even notice they were different from the large outer borders until I sampled them in Photoshop.

 

Thank god this is my rough composite. Here's my check list of things to fix:
-Some word spacing. "Performance" and "And"
-Reducing "The new MINI Cabrio. Always Open." Text.
-Fixing all the border colors to the same consistency.
-Check Spelling "Warranty."
-Find different quote. (shorter)
OR
-Add the MINI finished 3rd from the Porsche and GTR
-Flow of Words.

I was trying to find some kind of award or achievement where the MINI won first in. According to MotoringFile, all they won is a bunch of Top 10 or Top 5. I wanted to quote something where the MINI is #1 in something recent.

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it. Can't wait to bring the next rough to class so my prof. and classmates can beat it up some more.

 

wait wait...I might have found something...

http://www.motoringfile.com/2008/05/...e-year-awards/

 

Very nice - a first-place finish is always better advertising than third place, (even if you're third behind two awesome and more-expensive cars).

 

http://www.miniusa.com/?#/learn/awar...s/all_awards-i

 

You show the new cabrio and a JCW, but at the bottom you have 2008. The new cabrio and JCW models start with 2009.

Bottom right: it's not a "MINI Cooper S JCW," it's a "MINI John Cooper Works hardtop." I have a JCW and it does not use the "Cooper S" nomenclature anywhere on the car nor in the documentation. Unless you mean to refer to a MCS with the JCW stage 1. Not to mention the red S on the black background gets lost with the otherwise white lettering.

 

Thank god this is my rough composite. Here's my check list of things to fix:
-Thinking about changing the top phrase to "Suzuki - Thank you for making the SX4. Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery."
OR
-Take out the comma after "having"
-Some word spacing. "Performance" and "And"
-Reducing "The new MINI Cabrio. Always Open." Text.
-Fixing all the border colors to the same consistency.
-Check Spelling "Warranty."
-Find different quote w/ MINI placing 1st place. (shorter) http://www.motoringfile.com/2008/05/...e-year-awards/
OR
-Add the MINI finished 3rd from the Porsche and GTR
-Flow of Words.
-Change the date from 2008 to 2009.

I personally don't think the red S gets lost in the background. As a poster or billboard, yes the S would be lost. But when your seeing this as a magazine 2 page spread (up close), you'll be able to see it.

 

OK, if your audience excludes older people with aging eyes. I'm 50, and the S gets lost. How much marketing copy do you see with small red type on black backgrounds.

 

Ok...what I'm trying to say is if you open up a magazine. That S is probably font size 11 to 13. Normal text font size in any magazine. Should be pretty readable.

 

You wanted opinions. I gave mine. If I want to see that it's an S I have to take my glasses off and hold it up close. For ads I typically don't bother. There are plenty of motoring enthusiasts in my age group with the same issue.

Look at miniusa.com. The only red type I see on black background is very large type, and not a single letter.

Anyway, it's your ad. You can ignore me. I won't say any more about it.

 

Your opinions are valued for sure. I just never thought of seeing it your way. I'll def. take that into consideration. Thanks.

 

Just remember, us old farts have the money to spend. So if you're advertising something -- especially if it's for a discretionary expense like a convertible -- we're the ones you want to hook.

 

Are you keeping the quote by autoblog at the bottom? If so, I suggest adjusting the text box horizontally (shorten on elongate) so that "of" on the 4th line isn't hanging out on the end by itself. Personally,I would try to make the first line of the quote the same length as the quote above "From the Third" then work out the the breaks from there. But don't let "of" finish a line.