Nutcracker
Start free trial

Print ads.

Agencies call it the key visual: the one picture a whole campaign runs on. It becomes the print ad, the billboard, the poster and the banner. It makes the idea clear in two seconds, and it can run again and again.

Use it once the idea is chosen and has to work on a wall.

A red-brick bakery front where two arched windows, a brass lamp and a flat steel awning read as a calm face, with one Straight Face can on the doorstep
Found faces

One beer, nine pictures.

Comps for Straight Face, a sample 0.0% lager, drawn by Nutcracker from one brief. A comp is the picture you agree on before anything is shot.

A Straight Face can the height of a building stands at a grey city crossroads while the traffic and a cyclist pass it by
Too big to ignore · Swap
A woman with a flat, unsmiling face holds up the can, whose 0.0 and flat line make the same face. The line: “Good question.”
Straight faces
A bus shelter poster at dusk set as a warning label: “WARNING. May cause questions. Contains 0.0% alcohol.” above the can
May cause questions · Swap
An office tower at night whose lit windows form a giant 0.0 above one long lit row, a flat mouth
Still up · Site
A pub chalkboard on a wet pavement lists Lager, Pale ale, Stout and Straight Face 0.0% in the same hand
On the board · Subtraction
A fading list of excuses (Antibiotics. Early start. Mercury in retrograde. Ninja training.) above one can and the line “Good question.”
The alibi bank
A can on a wet bar counter, a 0–0 score on the TV blurred behind it
Nil–nil · Site
Hands clink pint glasses and one Straight Face can in a crowded bar. The line: “Good question.”
Same cheers

Four ways of looking.

Start from one true detail. When it won’t give up its picture, try these. They help, but a picture that fits none is no worse.

  1. Consequence

    Show where it leads: on the product, the person, the logo, the poster itself, or the world without the product. Exaggerate from something true.

  2. Swap

    Put your product where people expect something else, or fuse the two, through something they truly share, not just a shape.

    • Too big to ignore
    • May cause questions

  3. Subtraction

    Take away the expected hero: the logo, the copy, the price, the product, the people. What’s missing, or what stands in for it, makes the point.

    • On the board

  4. Site

    Let the place make the point: where the poster hangs, or what it’s printed on.

    • Still up
    • Nil–nil

Two seconds.

Show it for two seconds, then hide it. If the point went with it, start again.

Three more before you show anyone

Cover the logo

Hide the logo. If nobody can tell whose it is, put the brand’s codes in the picture.

Say it once

The line never says what the picture shows. A headline that describes the picture wastes the wall.

Run it twice

Name what stays and what changes, then make the second one. If it can’t run twice, it’s a poster, not a campaign.

Their logo fits? Then it isn’t yours.

Cross these out.

  1. The alibi bank

    A golden pour, condensation, a glass on a sunny table.

    A fading list of excuses above one can on plain grey. The page says what the audience is used to explaining, then shows a beer that doesn’t need to.

  2. Straight faces

    Friends laughing, mouths open, fun as the promise.

    One unsmiling person holding a can with a matching flat face. A flat face is the brand’s code, so the picture works at a glance and can run with any of your audience.

  3. Nil–nil

    A packed stadium or a crowd cheering, sport as spectacle.

    A can on a wet bar, a 0–0 score blurred behind it. The zero belongs to the game, so the can looks like it belongs in the room.

  4. Too big to ignore

    A hero can, lit and glossy, floating on a studio backdrop.

    A can the height of a building in a grey crossroads, ignored. It shows scale without a crowd or a gag, and the indifference makes it funny without a joke.

  5. Same cheers

    The pint as the hero, with the alcohol-free option shown apart, or hidden.

    The can in the middle of a pint toast, tight on hands, no faces. It shows the can held with pride, not hidden or poured into a glass, and it shames no one who drinks.

  6. May cause questions

    A “drink responsibly” line in small print at the foot of a happy scene.

    A full warning label with one deadpan line, “May cause questions.”, and the can under it. The category’s most boring convention becomes the headline, and the line sets up “Good question.” without shaming anyone.

Run it on your brand.

Give Nutcracker the idea and the brand. It finds the picture, writes the line and draws a comp of each for your art director. 7 days free.

Already in? Sign in

Bring the idea. I’ll find the wall.