As part of my senior capstone project at Portland State University, Tillamook Dairy held a three month long contest in which sixty students competed to develop and pitch a full-fledged advertising campaign based on a brief provided by the client. 

The winning team would not only receive high marks for the term, but would also have an opportunity for the campaign to be actually executed by Tillamook as it targets new markets in California — if the work was compelling enough.

 

Once my team agreed on an idea for the campaign, I was in charge of the creative work — including designing the website, Spotify ads, and marketing assets for use in a full-scale, integrated social media campaign.

My understanding of Tillamook as a proud business that is deeply rooted in tradition and old-fashioned values largely informed my design for this campaign. I paired this notion with marketing research showing that people typically associate ice cream with childhood or children. With these ideas in mind, I used pastel colors and flat, cartoonish imagery to create a sense of whimsy, while also making sure any text-based elements took on a playfully conversational tone to help customers connect with Tillamook as a brand that they can quickly and easily relate to.

 

Ultimately, my team won the contest, and my creative and design contributions to the campaign were cited and highly praised by John Russell, Tillamook’s Marketing Director. So much so, that a number of the design elements from my concepts were used in the redesign of the Tillamook website. I earned an ‘A’ for the class, and credit for my contributions to Tillamook’s site.

© TRAVIS SPENCER DESIGNS, 2021