EMAIL DESIGN -- An Eye-Catching Email Advertisement for STAR12 Unlimited Training
a ad banner project by jmnovak

Creative brief

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT US:

STAR12 is a Professional Training and Development Network that offers access to unlimited training and profesional development resources (including seminars, teleseminars, and an online colletion of online learning programs) for a low annual membership fee.

HERE IS WHAT WE NEED:

I need an email advertisement created that will help me advertise the benefits of joining STAR12. Because STAR12 isn't exactly easy to explain -- the email ad will be longer and have more text than a typical B2C email campaign (this is a B2B campaign).

Sorry I had to put this under "Ad Banner" category -- that's a bit misleading for this project, but that was the advice Crowdspring gave me, because this is a design project that really doesn't fit into any of their categories but I was advised there are CrowdSpring creatives who do this kind of work.


OUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS:

This is a B2B audience -- most people who buy a STAR12 memberships do so because their organizations pay for it. The training available through STAR12 runs the gamut from leadership to communication to OSHA to EXCEL and Adobe Creative Suite -- so the audience could be any working person.

Our "sweet" spot, though, is typically a manager or supervisor in just about any business or working environment under the sun -- 70% will be female -- Age range 35-55.


WE LIKE THESE DESIGNS:

Pretty much anything done by Apple. Hard to find samples to attach.

Things typically like:
*Design that enhances readability!
*Smart use of white space -- hate a design that feels crowded, and this email has a lot of copy -- so you have to organize it in a way that looks clean
*Bright, virbrant pallettes -- this is not a place to go warm and cozy, it's a place to WOW.
*Smart use of texture in any backgrounds.
*Creative yet still incredibly READABLE text set-up -- FONT selection and text placement can be the strongest graphic on the page -- you don't always have to find a graphic that literally represents the theme (because sometimes, that's just impossible!).







WE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE (or we don't want to see) THIS IN OUR DESIGN:

Must Haves: strong, strong set-up of the "featured copy" i.e., the main headline and subhead and "discount offer"

Things we don't want to see -- or "Picky Stuff Unique to Me that You Should Know About Before Embarking on this Design:"

1. I don’t like it when the image in the email overwhelms the main text in the email. I typically want the headline to pop more than the graphics used … though it’s best when the image and the words work together to convey the message.

2. I don’t care for excessive use of reverse type – it’s ok to use some reverse in your design (especially for big text), but the smaller the text, the harder it is to read reverse type so I seldom purchase designs that rely heavily or exclusively on reverse in the design. I know this bums some artists out. If that’s you, sorry … but I figured you’d rather know this about me on the front end of the project.

3. I seldom buy designs that rely heavily on photos of people – or realistic silhouette illustrations of people. In our experience (which I know is not the experience of most advertising) – pics of people don’t get as big of response as those without. I don’t question why – I just read the stats, and that’s what they tell me for our product, so I humbly ask you to acquiesce to this request.