Sports Illustrated Custom Content
As the long-standing outside design firm for Sports Illustrated’s Custom Content Department, Carling Design produced thousands of editorial pages for special advertising features sponsored by a pantheon of major global brands. Guided by SI’s rigorous editorial and design standards, these features regularly placed in the top 10 most-noticed features in the magazine. Appearing in nearly every weekly issue, Tom’s creative work over an 18-year partnership helped generate more than $250 million in revenue for Time Inc.
SI SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTIONS
Here is a sampling of the hundreds of multi-sponsored special advertising sections Carling Design produced for SI. These sections, ranging from 4–48 pages, provided a broadly compatible editorial environment for advertisers SI would not normally attract with run-of-the-book editorial coverage.
Indy 500 (1–3)—As SI did not regularly cover motor sports, it provided a friendly niche for automotive products such as tires, motor oil, etc.
Homeowner (4-7) SI’s HomeOwner sections (12- to 24-pages) were published five time a year and distributed only to select suburban subscribers.
SI SPECIAL ADVERTISING SPREADS
Single-Sponsor Spreads (8–15) So-called “Spreadvertorials” were customized editorial niches designed to attract and hold readers by pairing advertisers (right-hand page) with compatible content in subject and design on the editorial page (left). In general, Tom strove to compliment the design of the ad creative. In nearly all cases, the Custom Content Department, had complete control over the editorial pages.