Ad honors local troops
It's similar to the old "man bites dog" concept.
A member of the military giving a snappy salute is not news; citizens saluting a member of the military is more likely to draw people's attention.
A variety of Americans are pictured saluting the troops in an ad devised by Brian Aust, an advertising graduate student. Aust created the ad to run in Nebraska newspapers to honor local troops as they return to their homes.
The idea came from Karla Huse, wife of Norfolk Daily News publisher Jerry Huse. She wanted to thank servicemen and women for their work in Iraq and asked Dean Will Norton whether he could find a journalism student to create an ad for that purpose.
Norton asked Nancy Mitchell, chair of the advertising department, to help identify such a student, and Mitchell asked Aust if he'd like to take on the project.
Once Aust got involved, he got in touch with Capt. Tim Malchow at the UNL ROTC program.
"We talked about themes and concepts that would show appreciation for the troops," Aust said. Malchow pointed out that military people salute each other as a show of respect, and Aust latched onto that idea as the focus for the ad.
He used the "half face" look he remembered seeing in some old advertising for the U.S. Marines, then went out and shot photos with his digital camera of a variety of people saluting "to make it appear that the salute was coming from everyone."
Aust said he was pleased with the result: "The ad was clean and simple, which is sort of my style. ... More than anything, I liked the copy. I think it got right to the point but did so with emotion."
Mitchell said the ad would definitely appear in the Norfolk paper and that the Nebraska Press Association would make it available to any other Nebraska papers that might want to use it and sell sponsorships in their own communities. She expected to see the ad appear in Nebraska papers beginning in June.
Aust said he was happy to have had the chance to create the ad. "Personally, I feel I owe a great deal of gratitude to our troops, and doing something like this gives me a voice for that gratitude," he said.
