What Makes a Print Advertisement Work for Both the Advertiser and the Graphic Designer
Print has had it’s challenges the last year or two and the PRINT 09 trade show was no exception in showing us that just earlier this week in Chicago, with less than packed attendance. Yet, let’s face it; nothing beats a high-quality, properly preflighted, prepped and output print advertisement in a known print publication. So, we read here some great tips for both the advertiser as well as graphic designers:
Three Things You Should Know About Print Ads That Sell
Context matters. Many of the ads that drove purchase were of natural interest to the readers of the magazines in which they appeared. Ads for America’s Milk Processors (purchased by 55% of ad readers), Vaseline Clinical Therapy Body Lotion (purchased by 26% of ad readers) and Lipitor (purchased by 18% of ad readers), for instance, all stress wellness and healing, and all appeared in Health magazine. The Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” ad appeared in Maxim, whose audience is largely male. Let’s face it — dirty jobs may be more interesting to men than women; 21% of ad readers said they watched the show as a result of seeing this ad. So, too, with the James Bond-themed Swatch ad in Wired, another male-oriented title. It was the top ad in the watch category — and I think it’s safe to say that, in general, more men than women wish they were James Bond. Moreover, the TurboTax ad in Us Weekly appeared a mere five weeks before the dreaded April 15 Tax Day — and 27% of ad readers said the ad sparked their purchase.
Price may matter. None of these purchase-driving ads promote expensive products, such as automobiles, vacations or home appliances. Much time and consideration typically go in to those kinds of purchases, so it’s less likely that a single ad would be the driver to purchase. However, that is evidently not always the case for lower-cost purchases. After all, if the purchase turns out to be a mistake, the financial harm is slight.
Brand perception matters. Before MRI Starch asks readers about individual ads, we ask their opinion about the brands advertised. What we found is that if the reader is favorably disposed to the brand, there is a much greater chance that they will purchase the product or service being advertised. In fact, in four of the nine categories looked at, more than 90% of readers said they were favorably disposed to the brand, with some saying it was one of their favorites. Clearly brand advocates and brand enthusiasts are more likely to read the brands’ advertising messages.
With this in mind, click through the slide show above to see what print ads were best at driving purchase.
September 19th, 2009
[...] the rest here: What makes a print advertisment work; for both the advertiser and … By admin | category: software tools | tags: challenges-the-last, chicago, last-year, [...]
September 29th, 2009
[...] is the original: What Makes a Print Advertisement Work for Both the Advertiser and … By admin | category: software tools | tags: also-helps, drive-new, microsoft, [...]
September 29th, 2009
[...] Read more here: What Makes a Print Advertisement Work for Both the Advertiser and … [...]
October 22nd, 2009
[...] proofing and ad preflight have long gone good together; sort of like white wine with fish. Thus it was with interest that we [...]