Catalog Doctor: Avoid the ‘Lazy Syndrome’ Epidemic
Prescription: Layering includes the following: grouping similar or affinity products (like four chicken-themed kitchen items or a head-to-foot fashion outfit); strategic use of spread heads/subs, group heads/subs and product heads/subs; internal subheads for long copy; putting supporting editorial lower on the readability scale (reverse italic) than product copy; and boilerplate that’s in a different font from the primary copy.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
