Newspaper Ads

The newspaper ad assignment for my digital file preparation course required the creation of a single or series of newspaper ads for the Pittsburg State University Newspaper, The Collegio. The assignment required the identification of a target audience, a call to action, a proposed budget of up to $100, and a production schedule. The newspaper ad was theoretical and was not mean to actually be featured in the newspaper. I decided to make a series of ads for the Crimson Villas apartments in Pittsburg.

Target Audience:
My target audience consists of people looking for a place to rent in Pittsburg, KS. More specifically the target audience would most likely be single college age students, as Crimson Villas features roommate matching and individual no hassle leases. The target audience would likely be low income students who would be looking to live near campus.

Call to Action:
The purpose of these ads would be to get the target audience to call, stop by or visit the Crimson Villas website and ultimately end up renting an apartment.

Budget:
The column widths in the Collegio newspaper are as follows:

1 column = 1.83”
2 columns = 3.59”
3 columns = 5.75”
4 columns = 4.71”
5 columns = 9.67”
6 columns = 11.63”

From these measurements the ad sizes were to be determined so that as many or as large an ad as possible could be produced within the $100 budget.

The formula for determining the cost of the ads is this:

# columns the ad will use   x   the height of the ad   =   total inches   x   $4   =   total cost

Using this formula I decided to create a series of three ads of the following sizes:

2 columns  x  3”
2 columns  x  2”
2 columns  x  6”

The total cost of these ads based on the about formula calculates as:

2 columns  x  3”  =  6” total inches  x  $4  =  $24 total cost
2 columns  x  2”  =  4” total inches  x  $4  =  $16 total cost
2 columns  x  6”  =  12” total inches  x  $4  =  $48 total cost

The three ads total up to $98 which is in the budget stated earlier.

Schedule:
• Oct. 7:    Newspaper ads assigned
• Oct. 12:  Thumbs, roughs, and identification of target audience, call to action, and budget due
• Oct. 14:  Approval of ads
• Oct. 18:  Edits and revisions
• Oct. 21:  Final approval
• Oct. 26:  In-class critique of ads
• Oct. 28:  Final due date for newspaper ads

These are the thumbnails for the ads:

These are the roughs for the ads:

 Theses are the final ads:

3.79" x 2"

3.79" x 3"

3.79" x 6"