Agency: Mobium

Name of campaign: “Creating a Climate of Achievement”

Launch date: January 2010

Creative credits: Managing partner: Gordon Hochhalter; creative director: Amy Amato; account director: Carrie Sabourin; art directors: Amy Amato, Christopher DeYoung; copywriter: Michael Speck; print producer: Sharon English; photographer: Marc Hauser; account executive: Frank Krolicki

Why we liked it: It never hurts to make heroes out of your customers and your target market, which is just what Herff Jones, a company that serves the education sector, does in this “Climate of Achievement” campaign. Herff Jones uses spreads—we love spreads because of their capability to dominate a magazine in this era of fewer and fewer print pages—to illustrate how the company’s services make real-life educators’ lives easier. For instance, in an ad with the headline, ”She doesn’t look like a lady with 129 kids,” Herff Jones describes how the company can help a yearbook adviser. Other headlines in the series praise principals: “Not all heroes wear costumes,” reads the headline in one ad, “Some have more power; none have more influence.” What also sets this ad campaign apart is that there’s nary a stock photo in any of the ads. Herff Jones actually had photographers shoot the subjects in these ads, and it’s a nice, refreshing touch.