Our challenge was to find a creative way to showcase our company purpose in a creative, visually interesting way, while communicating that we are a general contractor with local presence and community focus. We also knew we did not just want to only show construction work or completed buildings. One of our largest challenges was also to create a campaign that would work for any placement, and through research we discovered our placements varied from local and trade publications, to client congratulations ads, and “sponsored” ads where we support a cause or philanthropy.
We knew we had to develop one consistent look and feel, with a similar tone and message approach, but with both flexibility in headline message and imagery. We determined that showing people and faces using the places we build was the best way to “show” community impact and have a visually different look than many other construction companies. The “Inspired Places to…” language largely stays consistent to support our messaging.
We had a $12,000 budget which included all photography and props, and we designed and produced the ads in house. To save money, we used our own employees in the advertisements. We sometimes must show buildings for client ads, so we developed brand guidelines to help aid in selection of imagery and copy to maintain campaign integrity. Template-based ads with instructions for scalability and how to select copy, help each office stay true to the campaign and enable widely varied placements and usage.