I have finally finished my Advertising Copy writing class at DePaul. Our final project was to make a portfolio of a comprehensive campaign featuring all of the different ad forms we’d learned. I’ve included pictures of my final ads and the background/write-ups for each one. Enjoy!
Contents
- Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) Background
- CAF’s Positioning in the market
- Where we want CAF to be
- Strategy – Convince, That, Because (CTB)
- Selling Idea
- Lunch Talks Print Ad
- Giraffe Print Ad
- Flip-Flops Television Ad
- “Weekend in Your Wednesday” Radio Ad
- Out of Home (OOH) Bench Ad
- “Summer by Bus” Promotion Print Ad
- “Weekend in Your Wednesday” Banner Ad
Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) Background
- Architecture Tours: Over 90 different tours by boat, bus, bicycle, Segway, train, or walking.
- Tour Pricing:
- Bus tours average $45 per person.
- Boat tours average $35 per person.
- Walking tours are $10-$20 per person depending on length of tour.
- Members receive free walking tours and discounts and deals on other tours.
- Adult Initiatives: Nearly 100 programs including free weekly lunchtime lectures, workshops, evening programs, and adult education classes.
- Retail Shop: Features unique home décor and Chicago-themed gifts, architecture and design books and videos, jewelry by local artists, educational toys, and other gifts.
Positioning in the market
- CAF’s biggest direct competitors are for the riverboat cruises and bus cruises.
- CAF has a very strong hold in the walking tour market because of the wide variety of areas/neighborhoods they cover and the large number of tours available year-round.
- CAF store is branded as a hip place to buy whimsical gifts along with art/architecture items and books.
- CAF memberships compete with Art Institute and other museum memberships.
Where we want CAF to be
- We want to change the perception that architecture tours are all the same thing.
- We want people to consider CAF as an alternative to just going home after work or staying in for lunch.
- We want Chicagoans to experience Chicago culture through architecture, not just museums, art and music.
- We want people to realize that CAF is multi-dimensional and to experience the whole variety of CAF offerings.
- We want someone who’s gone to one or two CAF events to understand that there’s a whole menu of other choices.
- We want someone who only does walking tours to come to a lunch talk
- We want someone who participated in a special program to take a boat tour.
Convince, That, Because (CTB)
Convince business professionals that Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) is their workweek escape because of the variety of unique programs and tours that fit into their busy schedules.
Selling Idea (Tagline)
Put a little weekend in your Wednesday
Whether you take an hour to go to a lunch talk, come down to the city on your day off to do a walking tour, or stop for a boat tour in the evening before going home from work, CAF provides you a getaway without ever leaving the city. Architecture is important; it doesn’t have to be serious.
Lunch Talks Ad
Every Wednesday from 12:15 p.m-1 p.m. CAF hosts a free “Lunch Talk” in the Lecture Hall attached to the storefront in the Santa Fe Building. Guests are encouraged to bring a bag lunch and arrive early since there is general seating.
Lunch Talks topics are often about past or present architecture or revitalization projects in Chicago. This summer’s topics include:
- 1990s Restoration and Landscape Renovation at Graceland Cemetery
- Transforming Land Use for a 24-Hour Downtown
- Landscape History and Design
- Vacant Lots: Farm or Famine – Open Space in Woodlawn and Englewood
The Lunch Talks ad is targeting business people working near CAF who are interested in bettering themselves and learning new things, but have very busy working lives.
Quantity and Variety of Tours
Giraffe Ad
CAF offers approximately 90 different tours (depending on the time of year) that visitors can choose from. Walking tours cover both downtown and neighborhood sites. Bus tours cover areas further out from downtown and boat tours show visitors Chicago’s architecture from the river.
The Giraffe ad targets professionals with limited free time who might be considering other cultural or active entertainment options such as museums, the zoo, or a concert.
Boat Tours
Flip Flops Ad
CAF boat tours are the most popular mid-price tours (since walking tours are so numerous, low priced, and run all year long, they come out ahead) offered. They are also the tours with the most direct competition. CAF has four boats in its fleet and on the website claims, “The Chicago Architecture Foundation has literally written the book about the Chicago River, so accept no substitutes!” Most tours run early in the day, but in the summer months special evening tours run at 5:30 p.m.
The Flip Flops ad encourages young business people who would never have the time to take an afternoon tour, to take the 5:30 p.m. tour instead of going directly home or to a bar after work.
Client: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Product: Chicago’s First Lady Riverboat Tour
Title: Flip flops
Length: 30 Seconds
Writer: Kathryn Denton
| VIDEO | AUDIO |
|
SFX: Background chatting sounds. Soft water noises of the river.MAN 1: Whew! I thought today was never gonna end. I didn’t even have time for coffee.MAN 2: I know! I spent the whole day out at client trainings and never had a chance to eat lunch.MAN 1: (punches Man 2’s shoulder playfully) Well good thing you didn’t skip out on me and run home to the family on the first train outta town tonight. |
MAN 2: Well my wife thinks you’re making me sit through some boring architecture talk. She probably feels sorry for me.
SFX: Boat horn
GUIDE: “Attention passengers. We are now boarding for the 5:30 evening river cruise.
MAN 1: Time to go
MAN 2: We’ll let her keep thinking that you’re suffering.
MAN 1: It’ll be our secret.
MUSIC: Calypso island music starts quietly in the background FADE out at the end
ANCR (VO): Chicago Architecture Foundation
River Cruises.
Put a little weekend in your Wednesday.
Flip flops not provided.
Pub Crawl Tours
Weekend in Your Wednesday Ad
Pub Crawl Tours take place about once a month from April-October in various Chicago neighborhoods (Upcoming tours include River North and Andersonville). They are 2 ½ hours long and are priced similar to regular walking tours. The tours go through the architecture of the neighborhood, stopping in at three area pubs or bars with unique architectural histories. Drinks are not provided as part of the tour, but at $15, these tours are significantly cheaper than other Chicago beer walking tours that also do not include drinks.
The “Weekend in your Wednesday” ad is targeted to young women who have just entered the workforce, still have time and energy to go out on a weeknight, and are starting to get tired of doing the same thing every week.
Client: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Project: 60 Sec. Radio Script – Weekend in your Wednesday
Air Date: Spring 2012
SFX: FRONT DOOR SHUTTING, FEMALE FOOTSTEPS, BIRDSONG, MORE FOOTSTEPS WALK UP
SARAH: Hey Marti, happy hump day! What do you wanna do after work?
MARTI: I dunno Sarah, what do YOU want to do?
ANNCR: Does this sound like your Wednesday morning?
SFX: SOUND OF BUS PULLING UP, GIRLS DROP CHANGE IN AND WALK TO BACK OF BUS
SARAH: I asked you first Marti!
MARTI: (SIGHS). We’re back to that, huh? I say to you, ‘What do you feel like doing tonight?’ And you say, ‘I dunno. What do you wanna do?’
ANNCR (CLEARING THROAT): Ahem, um ladies, why don’t you go on a Chicago Architecture Foundation…
SARAH (CUTTING HIM OFF AS IF SHE CAN’T HEAR HIM): We could go to that bar down the street.
SFX: CUT TO BAR NOISES: CLINKING BAR GLASSES, SOFT BACKGROUND MUSIC, BEER BEING PULLED
OLD CREEPER 1 AT BAR: Hey Baby, lemme buy you a drank.
OLD CREEPER 2 AT BAR: Yeah girl, we can have a good time.
ANNCR (CLEARING THROAT): You know girls, Chicago Architecture Foundation Pub Crawl Tours….
MARTI (INTERRUPTING): You forgot about the creepers there.
SARAH: Oh, right.
MARTI: So what do you want to do?
SARAH: I dunno, what do YOU want to do?
MARTI: Ugh not again.
ANNCR (LOSING PATIENCE): LADIES!
SARAH & MARTI: MAKE STARTLED NOISES
ANNCR (LOSING PATIENCE): Ladies why don’t you try the Chicago Architecture Foundation River North Pub Crawl this evening. You can have some drinks, enjoy the weather, meet some new people…
SARAH (INTERRUPTING): And it’ll be creeper-free!
MARTI: Alright Sarah, meet me out front at 5!
ANNCR (SIGHS): CAF Pub Crawl Tours, Put a little weekend in your Wednesday.
Boat Tours
Bench Ad
In the Bench Ad, the top box is the vertical portion of the bench, the second box is the seat, and the logo would be displayed across the lip of the seat.
This ad would be put on the benches along the south side of the Riverwalk (which is the side that CAF boat tours depart from), and the north side of the Riverwalk to the east of Michigan Ave. (these benches are directly across from the CAF boat docks so someone sitting on them would see people boarding the boats).
The Bench Ad is targeting business people who work along the Riverwalk and come outside to sit on these benches during their lunch breaks. Similar to the TV spot, the benches will encourage business people who would never have the time to take an afternoon tour, to take the 5:30 p.m. tour instead of going directly home or to a bar after work.
CAF Summer by Bus Promotion Ad
Bus tours provide the best opportunity to see a large portion of the city without the hassle of driving around or walking long distances in the heat. The objective of this promotion is to increase ridership on bus tours during the summer to 75% capacity on average.
- Customers who go on bus tours between June 1 and August 31st will be receive an acrylic “CAF Summer By Bus” tumbler and be entered in a drawing to win a one-year Chicago Architecture Foundation membership.
- Even if a customer is not a member, CAF creates an account for them when they purchase at ticket. At the end of August, CAF can track the people who went on tours during the contest and enter them into the drawing. There will be no additional action needed by the customer. One winner will be announced in September.
- This promotion is targeting older business people who are looking to do sightseeing in the city but are not interested in extensive walking tours in hot weather.
- Bus tours are the most expensive ($45/person) as compared to walking tours ($10/person) and boat tours ($35/person). The acrylic tumbler provides an added value to the purchase even if they don’t win.
CAF Banner Ad
This is a rotating banner ad that would progress from the top box down to the third box with each one linking back to www.architecture.org. The Banner Ad targets business people struggling to get through the workweek and reminds them that CAF can be their mid-week escape.
