PlasmaTherm Ad Campaign

PlasmaTherm, a manufacturer of plasma processing equipment for specialized semiconductor markets, developed a breakthrough etching process capable of working at under-32 nanometers. They needed to promote this capability to engineering decision-makers through trade magazine advertising.

In an industry where technical specifications typically dominate advertising, PlasmaTherm wanted a campaign that would stand out while communicating the precision and innovation of their new process.

The Concept

Rather than leading with dense technical specifications, I developed a campaign built on a simple insight, "the power of working at nanoscale." The ads used extreme visual minimalism: clean white backgrounds with a single photographic element and punchy headlines celebrating the potential of small things.

Three executions ran in semiconductor trade magazines throughout 2010:

• Pin: A macro photograph of a pin with the headline, "How many devices can fit on the tip of a pin? Ask us again tomorrow." The forward-looking tagline suggested PlasmaTherm's continuous innovation in miniaturization.
• Micrometer: A close-up of a micrometer framing the word "atoms" with the headline, "How finely do you calculate tolerances? We measure them in atoms." This positioned PlasmaTherm's precision at the atomic level—the ultimate measure of semiconductor manufacturing capability.
• Magnifying Glass: A magnifying glass positioned over key words in the headline, "Answering your biggest challenge starts with one little question." The glass dramatically enlarged "challenge" and "question," reinforcing that small innovations solve large problems.