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The Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, houses one of the oldest corporate collections in the nation. It includes artifacts, photographs and documents that trace the development of the railroad and the American West. The collection dates to the mid-1800s, featuring original editions of reports from survey teams that searched for the best land route to join the nation, east to west. Surveying equipment, early rail equipment and artifacts from the construction of the nation's first transcontinental railroad tell the story of one of the world's construction marvels. "Union Pacific has a history that goes all the way back to when Abraham Lincoln was a senator from Illinois. The creative team had the challenge of creating an ad campaign to deliver that rich history to their audience. We wanted people to feel as captivated as we were about the company's history," said writer Sarah Coker. "Union Pacific's position statement is 'Building America' and with the museum ads we wanted to tell the stories about what they've done along the way to deserve that status. From the building of the transcontinental railroad to recent innovations in technology and design, the company has some impressive stories. We realized that the best way to get people to the museum would be to tell those as colorfully and as detailed as possible." Art director Ron Sack added, ''A lot of research went into each ad—from reading history books to hunting design elements. We spent days studying boxcars, freight cars, fruit cars and locomotives. These historic artifacts helped tell the story and were used in the backgrounds of the ads. Typography, fruit labels and vintage photographs added yet another dimension to each individual ad."

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