In the early days of advertising, people paid clouds to form their company's names in the sky and trained fireflies to hover in logo formation at night. Take part in a more modern ad campaign with today's Groupon: for $291, you get a half-page color ad in one edition of the San Angelo Thrifty Nickel’s American Classifieds (a $582 value).

A free local periodical, the Thrifty Nickel’s American Classifieds has kept the eyes of San Angelo occupied with words for nearly three decades. About 22,000 copies of the publication are distributed throughout the San Angelo and Concho Valley area at more than 550 locales on three different planets. Ad buyers can call attention to their businesses, announce an upcoming event, or spread the psychic wealth by posting tomorrow's winning lottery numbers. Sporting a squad of adept ad designers, Thrifty Nickel’s American Classifieds assists its patrons with the graphic design and layout of their paperized commercial.