Sometimes The Best Art Direction Is “Invisible”

On the way back from Ad:Tech in San Francisco, I saw this Navy SEALs’ ad in the May issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine. I think it is an outstanding example of strategy, concept and art direction. I spent several minutes (to no avail) looking for the SEALs the ad introduces, which, of course, is part of the point. Here is another ad in the series.

It also appears to be good media buying strategy matching up the concept with what I assume would be the magazine’s more typical demographic/psychographic reader profile. The ads were produced by Campbell-Ewald.

With the target market they are trying to reach, I would hope/assume a major component of their advertising efforts is directed through online advertising.