How about…. Moloko Ice Cream in a PT Barnum influenced poster, overlaid on an ad with minimal copy.
Solving problems CREATIVELY is the fun we Creative Pros get to do. Having tools like Midjourney + Photoshop beta at the ready, makes this game – next level enjoyable.
Inspiration was a post by my friend Justin Oberman talking about student advertising portfolio hacks – and highlighting a client of his, Moloko Ice Cream. https://lnkd.in/gyGmdUfA
– – – – – Justin says… – – – – –
That’s where Hack #2 comes in.
Another great way to quickly build a portfolio is to study the history of advertising.
1. Pick a product.
2. Go back to the 1850s
3. As you learn about the evolution of advertising, create ads for that product using the techniques, medium, and style you learn about.
4. Compare a historical innovation in advertising with its equivalent today
5. Create an ad for your product using that technique as well.
For example:
Say your product is Moloko Ice cream.
…
The next phase in advertising history would be P.T Barnum. Ask yourself how P.T Barnum would sell Moloko Ice cream. Mock that up.
– – – – –
So I did.
What are YOU doing with your gen-AI tool skills? Jona Bronkhorst asked that question today. Time for the Creative Pros – to start leveraging these new skills – creatively.
Who is up for the challenge?
How about a Weekend Warriors Creative Challenge. I will give you a PRODUCT to riff on, a STYLE from Ad History to explore (and learn more about) and a WEEKEND to get it done in. Show up FRIDAY to see the challenge…
Even us OLD pros – could benefit from some creative exercising (not that you need to add to your portfolio – but when else are you going to DEEP DIVE into gen-AI and figure these tools out?
Low stakes – high speed learning, for Creative Pros.
How did I do it?
I started with a prompt that would conjure up the look and feel of PT Barnum posters.
• PT Barnum style poster for Moloko Ice cream. Bold carnival design and colors. Circa 1895 –ar 9:16 –s 250
These were the 4 images that I had to choose from. I chose the Ice cream cone surround by vanilla flowers, cocoa beans and mint leaves.
I took the image on the left into Photoshop beta to make some edits – to be the image you see on the right.
Removed the lettering – both the red carnival style ‘MMDXOON’ that means nothing, and the garbeledygook letter forms in brown above it. I modified the bandana looking thing to become a ribbon wrapped around paper. I expanded the canvas and added to the top edges left & right to finish off the crown of the banner. I added in the letters for the brand, curved to fit the space.
Then we needed a background to drop the poster on top of… so, back into Midjourney. I played with several prompts before I got an image I was happy with. While not perfect, it worked for what I was needing – which is a background.
• front facing, straight-on view of the ice cream freezer at a fine grocery store. Glass case with inner glow lighting. Ice cream in cartons (in black, red and cream color pints). Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods. Focus on the glass. depth of field. High quality photograph. –ar 7:5 –s 250
I liked this image, but compositionally, I wanted more space above and below of the freezer being shown. Easy – I had Midjourney [ Make Square ], which added information above and below the image.
The 1:1 format was better for the intended purpose. Everything was layered in Photoshop… I threw a gradient overlay on top of the background set to Darken and I was done! Using all the tools.
