Industry Eye

There is logic to some of what you say, but in your examples, you take spreads with individual personality and brand integrity and turn them into oatmeal.

I looked at the headline that you suggest for your swimwear spread and have to laugh. Do you truthfully call that a headline? The “fit, quality … and price”? And what would you put on the NEXT page? And the page after that? What you wrote and constructed were single page advertisements — with a headline that any retailer in the U.S. could have used (and they do). A catalog is a conversation — and a voluntary one that the reader has elected to join — one with a consistent and brand-appropriate tone of voice (so far from “fit, quality and low price,” oh please!).