“With every cup, with every conversation, with every community– we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection.” As of April, this is the new slogan for Starbucks. Yesterday, I began thinking about this, concepting places where the best conversations (ie – human connections) occur – and I thought of camping. In camping, there is time, serenity of the place and a slower pace that gives way to great conversations on walks, around camp fires and in the loud silence of tents (without electrical hums of fans and appliances.)

This led to the French Press full of #coffee in the middle of the woods.

Today, I used #Photoshop to add in the photo of the bagged coffee from #Starbucks. I shot this with my iPhone – in the kitchen. Nothing special. I did not even take the steps to really clean up the image (since this is more for educational purposes than an actual ad). But I wanted to show you how we can use generative AI to build assets and write copy for your ad concepts.

The background development I showed you yesterday – talking about ‘controlled Zoom’. Those who know Photoshop can see in the images how I fit the bag next to the carafe (adding shadows, highlight glows, etc). One thing I want you to note, is the center of the image is using the SMALL tightly zoomed square, while the outside is the scaled image sized up to fit the originating square (so you cannot see the seam of the overlap – but the images FOCUS is still in high resolution).

I want to create a mock ad for Starbucks bagged coffee. I am featuring the Veranda Blend which has ‘notes of toasted malt and milk chocolate.’ The image I created is set int a deep Pacific northwest woods that are shadowy with beams of early morning, golden light coming through. Sitting on a moss covered rock is the bag of coffee with a French Press filled with fresh brewed coffee. The idea is of coming up on a campsite where it is peaceful and calm, and the perfect morning – made better with some fresh brewed Veranda Blend coffee. Give me the 5 best, award winning headlines (7 words or less) to go on this print ad.

my request to Chat-GPT

In response, Chat-GPT gave me the following:

  1. “Dawn’s Delight: Your Forest Escape with Veranda Blend”
  2. “Greet the Day: Veranda Blend in the Wild”
  3. “Nature’s Symphony, Perfected with our Veranda Blend”
  4. “Veranda Blend: The Secret Ingredient of Sunrise”
  5. “Taste the Wilderness: Wake Up to Veranda Blend”

It gave me 5 decent options, but never take the first option from Chat-GPT. Have it improve itself. To have it do that, I replied:

Which of these is the best headline, and why?
Can you improve on it to make it better?

Chat-GPT responded:

Each headline has its unique appeal, but “Dawn’s Delight: Your Forest Escape with Veranda Blend” seems to evoke the most vivid imagery and emotion. It paints a picture of a peaceful morning in the woods with the delightful addition of the Veranda Blend coffee, tying the product seamlessly into the serene scene.

That being said, the phrase “Your Forest Escape” might be a tad vague, and we want to capture the coffee experience more vividly. I would suggest revising it slightly to:

“Wake to Wilderness: Savor Dawn with Veranda Blend”

This revision retains the core imagery of the original but adds a clearer indication of the experience of waking up in the forest, which is the scenario you’re envisioning for the advertisement. The word ‘savor’ not only implies enjoying the coffee, but also taking the time to enjoy the peaceful morning setting.

Putting the copy with an overlaid large bag of coffee and dropping in the Starbucks logo – finished things up.

A.I. Explore with Brian Sykes