Ian Drake needed a new banner ad design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 13 designs submitted by 4 freelance designers.
NotifyWire.com
NotifyWire (found at NotifyWire.com) is search and monitoring software for Craigslist. People who use Craigslist frequently can save a ton of time by searching multiple locations and categories with one NotifyWire search. Results can be viewed in a sortable grid or in thumbnail view.
NotifyWire makes it easier to respond to ads by directly linking to your online email provider's compose screen. You can also save ads with tags, notes, and ratings to comparison shop or to keep track of ads you're interested in.
The best part of NotifyWire, and the reason users really like it, is the search monitoring engine. With NotifyWire you can save your ad and have NotifyWire monitor it. When we find a new match you get an alert in your email or on your cell phone.
The software is available for Win/Mac/Linux in two versions, Free and Pro.
The people who buy NotifyWire Pro are often collectors of some kind, looking for good deals, or looking for rare items. Many customers I have are monitoring Craigslist for cars, cameras, computer equipment and bicycles. A lot of these people plan to resell these items too.
Collectors, resellers, and other people looking for good deals on Craigslist. Most people are shopping for (in order):
Cars
Electronics (cell phones, laptops, etc...)
Furniture (tables, chairs, etc...)
Sporting Goods
Antiques
Apartments
1 - 300x250(inline rectangle)
1 - 728x90(leaderboard)
In the ad, I wan't to get across:
1) Who the ad is for i.e., people who shop on Craigslist
2) The benefit of NotifyWire (i.e., saving time and getting to the best deals first) and perhaps some way to illustrate a that benefit by showing (multi location search, image previews, saving searches, search monitoring, SMS and email alerts,etc)
4) The software is Free with an upgrade for Pro users.
Designers may want to try the fully functional free version to get a feel for the software. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Go to notifywire.com to download. I included some screenshot, but they're not necessarily required for the banner ad.
I'm not married to any particular ad style (cartoon, illustrations, etc...), so please be creative!