Catalog Covers - Lessons of the Holiday Season (828 words)

By Jack Schmid

Cataloging Holiday Covers

This article focuses on a number of innovative catalog covers from the past holiday season. Several new techniques were used by companies to make their catalogs stand out.

I would be remiss if I didn't put on my teaching hat and make a number of professorial comments about catalog covers in general before analyzing them specifically. Are covers important? You bet your sweet bippie they are!

My guess is that this past fall/holiday will be remembered as having the all-time highest number of catalogs mailed.

My personal record for catalogs received in one day was 39. It occurred on Nov. 18, 1999. Now, I must admit that my wife and I work hard at getting and staying on catalog lists. But 39 made me ask, how many are too many? Ten years ago we talked about "catalog glut," but we hadn't seen anything like this. Perhaps, the industry is going to drown in its own success.

What happens when a household receives not 39, but 10 or 15 catalogs in a day? Your catalog cover had better stand out or it's going to go bye-bye. We need to think about the role of covers and how different the roles are for two groups of people: customers versus prospects. The latter group, sometimes called cold prospects, is where catalogs need to work the hardest. I have heard it said that a prospect catalog has about a three- or four-second "window of opportunity" to get noticed and potentially be opened. If not, it is tossed or put into the inevitable "catalog pile."

Rising to the Top

This leads me to the six most important roles for a catalog cover. Think about how important these rules are for a new prospective buyer.

Role #1: Attract attention.

Role #2: Visually (or verbally) describe what the catalog is about and what it is selling.

Role #3: Identify the catalog's niche, positioning and brand.

Role #4: Get the reader inside.

Role #5: Present an offer.

Role #6: Sell (especially in B-to-B catalogs.)

With these roles in mind, let us examine a couple of catalogs from this past holiday season that have used some breakthrough techniques with their covers.

As usual, the Neiman Marcus Christmas book inspires awe. Perfect bound, 134 pages plus cover, this catalog with its beauty, heft and brand stands out.

The cover features a holograph-type rendering by Texas artist Jim Jacobs, which is described on the back cover as a "multiphase lenticular print that has been tipped onto the cover."

The butterflies on a Christmas tree are delightful, and as one moves the cover they appear to be flying. Very clever and eye-catching.

This treatment of tipping an image or holograph onto a cover is not easy or inexpensive. My guess is that this is not a routine catalog bindery function such as affixing a dot whack, but one that requires a good deal of hand work.

Is it worth it? Does it help set the Neiman Marcus book apart from the pack? I think it's marvelous and in keeping with Neiman Marcus' brand and tradition.

The simplicity of the dark burgundy cover and the affixed visual image enhances the exclusivity of the catalog of a leading upscale retailer. I believe that this is not a prospect catalog, but one that mails only to the Neiman Marcus customer list. Well done!

Another venerable retailer and direct marketer, FAO Schwarz, produced an attractive, bright "stand-out" cover. Its 1999 holiday catalog cover would be exceptionally strong by itself, but the company added another breakthrough element: a fold-out, dye-cut box under the FAO Schwarz gift. So enticing is this interactive device that the reader (customer or prospect) would have a difficult time resisting opening the box to see what kind of surprise is inside. This is a terrific concept and teases the reader to open the 96-page-plus cover catalog.

What's inside the gift box? A missed opportunity!

It could have been something wonderful such as a special offer, or an inside reference message, or anything that would lead the reader further into the catalog.

Instead, FAO Schwarz's box opens to show eight quite primitive illustrations of gifts. While the illustrations are in keeping with the cover art, the shadow-box cover concept could have done so much more. My guess is that this is the control cover that goes to both prospects and past buyers.

It could have been a gangbuster winner if it had used a special message inside the box geared to:

• Best customers who regularly buy from the catalog.

• Inactive customers who it wants to reactivate.

• Catalog requesters.

• Internet customers or prospects.

• Names off rental lists from whom it is seeking first orders.

This is a good concept that, taken a step further, could have been great.

Jack Schmid is president of J. Schmid & Associates, a catalog consulting firm in Shawnee Mission, KS. He can be reached at (913) 385-0220.