Anyone will welcome creativity in any walk of life or the arts and, by the looks of it, even in the humble classifieds running in a print newspaper.
You may already have seen circulating online the classified ad page that creates the optical illusion of a 3D kitchen. Colombia-based creative director Felipe Salazar of Sancho BBDO designed the ad for the Corona Kitchen store.
Using rows of text, he created the outline of a three-dimensional kitchen and its basic elements, including a gas hob and an oven. “The kitchen you are imagining is in HiperCentro Corona,” says the headline.
I am not sure how effective the ad is when it comes to conveying the message or the product, but it’s certainly eye-catching and has gone viral on the internet.
Newspapers are the canvas for art directors and creative professionals from the ad and design industry, but the possibilities are not frequently explored by creatives.
However, there are exceptions. For example, The New York Times published an ad from HBO with the shadow of a dragon looming over two pages of fake stories to announce Season 3 of Games of Thrones.
Another instance is when the NYT had two blank pages except for a tiny URL in 12-point type. The ad links to the film The Book Thief. The innovative ad brought the message of the movie’s larger campaign: ‘Imagine a world without words’ and the film itself, which is about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany who steals books from war-torn areas and shares them with others.
Both samples are in black and white and simple. These demonstrate that it is not necessary to have huge budgets to get creative.