Creative Brief

With a small budget, Shaffer Creative had one opportunity to engage and educate 200 people at the 2019 Built2Win Cosential Conference about the ability to automate and use InDesign templates with Cosential’s Publisher module. We initially purchased a half-page ad, which was later upgraded to a full page due to program availability. More space—great! But now what?

Because InDesign and Cosential are both software programs, an ad about how best to use one program’s template to complement another could easily get lost in a sea of other conference participant ads. We needed people to know that we can save clients time and reduce marketing team stress, so we had to choose our messaging and images carefully!

Pairing an eye-catching stock image with a humorous message to communicate our expertise in helping companies build their custom InDesign templates was the way to go. And by placing Shaffer Creative’s signature pink swatch front and center, we not only stayed on brand—we stood out! (Because, really, how often do you see a full-bleed, hot-pink ad in our industry?)  

The ad was a success. When conferencegoers learned that Julie Shaffer was the owner of Shaffer Creative and “The Pink Ad,” they gushed with positive feedback about this bright spot in the program. Bonus: Multiple marketing coordinators and business development managers approached her about our InDesign template building services. Marketers and firms continued to contact Julie after the conference, resulting in several leads, two contracts, and a very nice spike in online traffic.