I did a real ad (!)

Sorry for a lack of updates over the past couple weeks.

Big news: I conceived/designed a real ad that will run in a Northeast Florida directory this fall.

Story:
The company I'm an intern for, Showcase Publishing, creates directories for chambers of commerce in various areas around the country. We don't charge the chambers for this service, our revenue comes strictly from ads in the directories and on online, which we sell to members of the chamber so as to "enhance" their listings in the directory.

We've been working on the book for St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, and my job was pretty much to sort, record, and file all the "insertion orders," or requests for ads. On a whim, I asked our designer on the project if I could "do" an ad. He took one of the orders I had just handed him and handed it back to me, and said "here, go at it." I borrowed another designers computer for access to Adobe CS4, and less than an hour later I had a pretty good looking quarter page magazine ad for CartSmarts of St. Augustine, a new golf cart sales and service center.

I assumed the owner, who requested the ad, would ask for changes because in his request, he indicated that he had seen little to no return on investment in his other forays into advertising. Since his business was very young, I'm not sure how quickly he expected a large turnaround, but then again I also don't know how often Florida's octogenarians buy golf carts, and how much competition there is in the market. It might be as big as used car sales in the Northeast.

To my surprise, the owner approved the ad within days, asking no questions and requesting no changes. Either it was as good as I'd hoped, or the man is easily impressed. Either way, it feels really good to have someone willing to pay for your work. I'll post the ad here when I feel it's safe to do so.