Being photogenic, making big look and feel changes

For some years, my firm has used illustrations in their advertising. The artwork was striking, reminiscent of botanical illustrations.The papayas in the ad on the left will show you what I mean. We were known for this, and it created a look and feel that we were known for. Brand recognition!

When I first joined the firm, I knew the ads needed an update but felt like the ad director for Alka Seltzer when the animated character Pop Pop Fizz Fizz was retired. When do you give up a good thing?

My first attempt at updating was adding the 'vintage postcard' that you see in the second ad. Still illustrative but adding to the overall look. I wanted us to get to a more sophisticated look without losing the recognition. The vintage postcards lasted for about a year in a half.

My ads took on a bit of schizophrenia as I added photos to some ads with the fruit illustrations and some ads highlighting just the product's vintage postage (the toucan vintage postcard was popular). I was straining to hold on to the old look and feel while trying to introduce some sophistication.

I was stuck on the fence.

Then along came Hurricane Dean in August of 2007. It took us out of the papaya market for six months. Papayas and general ads are about the only thing I advertise in late December through April. I cut back the number of ads and decided when we came back with papayas, we would come back with a new look and feel.

The "We're Back" marketing campaign heralded the return of our papayas. The ad had to be bold and I wanted it to be a more photographic look and feel. It was an all out campaign, print ads, press releases, new web site animations, new online ad animations, new email signatures and new images for our market update.

We became photogenic and we're not looking back.