As a concept-driven advertising campaign promoting the St. Paul-based Pearson Candy Company’s Nut Goodie candy bar, these five ads were directed to a sophisticated demographic of college-educated young professionals for placement in demographically-sorted weekly magazines appearing sequentially over the course of five weeks.

I chose to capitalize on the fact that the Nut Goodie has been around since 1912 and the idea that what is old is new again. Since the targeted demographic was just beginning to embrace all things vintage and considers itself authentic above all else, I created iconographic imagery of Rayban sunglasses, Chuck Taylor shoes, an LP turntable, a necktie with a tie-bar, and a vintage cruiser bicycle, and wrote the tagline, Keeping it Real. Extensive poster research from the 1930s to today inspired my aesthetic, especially those from the 1930s WPA Federal Art Project Posters, a 1960s New York Times and a 2014 award-winning Netflix print ad. Extensive relevant font research informed my font choices. The result was a rich and creamy chocolate, peanut, and maple-nougat-colored ad with bold images and simple but intelligent copy; Enjoy Unparalleled Excellence in a Candy Bar.

These four single-spread and one double-spread ads are playful yet elegant and sophisticated which are characteristic of my goals as a designer. It was a very satisfying project. Loved this one!