The second installment of a year-long advertising campaign I'm creating for our school newspaper using this design.
marketing
When I was a junior, the editor-in-chief of our school newspaper was dead-set on getting as many people talking about our publication as possible. We worked together to create a successful campaign to draw attention to our online publication, and I was given creative freedom in making ads for the yearbook. Now that I'm editor-in-chief, I'm carrying on the goal of inviting students to become engaged readers, in print and on social media, and building marketing and branding skills that I hope will continue to be useful as I transition into professional journalism.
Our Instagram account has been a "pet project" of mine this year, being operated entirely in my spare time. While it's been difficult to keep the posting schedule consistent, I've been able to grow the account to more than 300 followers while following less than 70 (mostly other school organizations and graduated editors, a fun way to keep them connected to their old publications).
for the newspaper
While my main goal with these ads has been to increase awareness of our student publications, part of my plans for this year have involved increasing our program's revenue. As we were planning our first issue, I worked with my adviser to bring back local business ads in The Claw, a practice that had been stopped during the pandemic.
INSTAGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT
Since my classmates were busy working on their research projects (a requirement for first-time AJC students), there was several-week break from posting on our online newspaper, save for one week where I was tasked with keeping the site "alive" by posting two stories. After winter break, on our first week of posting again, I made an Instagram post to announce our return.
I had recently updated the design of the website, so I chose a modern look for our announcement, and I incorporated the logo that I made during the site's refresh (second slide). Each staff member had to write two stories for this update, so I tried to make the template minimalistic so I could fit all 20 stories.
"TEASER" STORY ADS
This was an idea I proposed to the editor-in-chief of The Claw when I was opinion and design editor. He was frustrated with how little traffic we had been getting on our site, so we began incorporating stories from Tiger Times Online into The Claw, but only showing the first few paragraphs, and having students scan a QR code to see the rest of the article.
We chose stories we knew would get the most interest from students, including this article about mental health days.
BACK COVERS OF THE CLAW
Being editor-in-chief of the publication I care so much about is incredibly exciting for many reasons, obviously, but a thing I love about it is being able to let my personal aesthetic creep in to its creation. When I created my design for The Claw, I wanted to embrace the rough, vintage newsprint style that I love so much.
With this ongoing series of ads, I've incorporated the same warped design into each iteration to create an image that our readers will be able to recognize immediately and associate with our publication. And by making the question "Do you read the school newspaper?" central to our design, I've tried to draw the attention of students who don't read our publication and point them in our direction.
for the yearbook
EHS Yearbook has the distinction of being an entirely self-funded club, so our editorial staff spends a decent amount of time trying to draw attention to our book sales (many a poster-hanging walk around the school has been taken after yearbook meetings). I often use our publications Instagram account to alert our followers about changes in the book's price and order reminders, and there is always a yearbook ad in The Claw.
ADS IN THE CLAW
This year, since our back cover is dedicated to promoting the newspaper, the yearbook ad has moved inside the issue. The advertisement is always on the page between the Student Life and Sports sections of The Claw, somewhere students are likely to see as they flip through the issue.
Because The Claw has taken on a rough aesthetic for the covers, I try to make these ads look modern and clean so they stand out, while still making them feel like a cohesive part of the issue.
INSTAGRAM POSTS
While it can be difficult to maintain our publications account because I run it entirely in my free time, I try my best to post frequently about updates and changes to our yearbook campaign, especially when our prices raise throughout the year or we're nearing the end of a campaign.
Our Instagram account has a modern design aesthetic, and I like to incorporate themes of technology to appeal to our student population.