Stand Out in a Sea of Sameness

Disrupt. Delight. Drive. Three words that, together, form a mandate for our catalogs. From crowded mailboxes our books need to stand out and garner attention; pay off that attention with content that creates desire, and – ultimately – compel our customers to click, call or visit. It’s a tall order. And that first piece, Disrupt, is the 1st priority. If it doesn’t happen, the other two won’t. We could mail an 11” x 17” oversized book. That will get noticed. So would a ‘scratch and sniff’ cover? But most of us don’t have budget to add a bunch of bells and whistles just to make us louder than the other guys.

I’m particularly mindful of this as I wade through the current flood of women’s clothing catalogs in my own mailbox, most of them conveying the long-suffering Spring + Early Summer + Mother’s Day mashup: covers graced with women pouring each other glasses of Rosé, or bikes with flower-filled baskets. Make no mistake: this is not a judgement, but a shared burden. What can we do—any of us—to stand out in a sea of perpetual sameness, when all we have to work with is the traditional, two-dimensional real estate of a catalog cover?

Learn more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/stand-out-in-a-sea-of-sameness/

Related Posts

Bob Hoffman’s new book targets Facebook, Google and Twitter as bad guys in an online world running amok (independent.ie)

As a former CEO of two advertising agencies, Bob Hoffman knows a thing or two about the advertising world. The US-based former adman has ruffled many feathers in his demolishing of many of the myths about online advertising, and he remains a thorn in the side of the industry. Hoffman’s blog, ‘The Ad Contrarian’, is in my view, required reading for anyone who cares about the future of the advertising industry, while his many books on the topic make for uncomfortable but necessary reading.

Clicks to Bricks: You Probably Aren’t Measuring Digital Marketing Correctly, and it’s Costing You (mytotalretail.com)

Despite the fact that the retail landscape continues to undergo massive waves of post-COVID evolution, there are many things that still haven’t changed — like the fact that consumers continue to go to physical stores to shop and that the physical portion of retailers' businesses still command the largest share of their revenues by a very large margin. Despite this, many retailers still only focus on the e-commerce sales impacts of their digital marketing, and ignore the in-store sales impacts because it's “difficult to measure.” This myopic focus is costing them — a lot. Web analytics tools or the measurements provided by the large platforms like Google and Meta have always relied on clicks to tell the story of campaign value. However, with major privacy changes in the market made by Apple and coming soon from Google, any measurement approach that relies on tracking individual consumers has been dying a death of a thousand cuts. Even measuring digital ads’ impact on e-commerce is getting a lot harder.

Why Print Media Is Your Digital Secret Weapon This Holiday Season

As we prepare for the Holiday season and consider last-minute changes to our media spend, it’s essential to ask: Can print media be a digital champion? Overwhelmingly, the data tells us YES. Print campaigns are often perceived as more credible and trustworthy than digital ads. This trust translates into a stronger brand presence and higher engagement when audiences encounter the brand online. Print media also has a lasting presence; customers and prospects may keep the printed piece for weeks, providing ongoing brand exposure and serving as a reminder that drives people to engage with the brand digitally. Moreover, shoppers tend to spend more time with print media compared to digital ads, which are often skimmed or skipped. This higher engagement can lead to better recall and a stronger inclination to explore the brand online. Just think of our own shopping experiences around digital ad fatigue. Digital and Meta channels are saturated with ads, leading to ad fatigue. Print campaigns faces less competition, allowing your message to stand out and capture attention more effectively.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search