GRAPHIC ADVISOR ISSUE THIRTY
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Print & Marketing Budgets are Rebounding Tap Into the Power of Color Creative Suite 5.5: What's in it for Print Designers?
MARKETING ADVISOR ISSUE THIRTY
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Looking for unexpected ways to improve your business? Leave it to us!
Print & Marketing Budgets are Rebounding Tap Into the Power of Color Creative Suite 5.5: What's in it for Print Designers?
Marketer's Budgets are Growing
may seem self-serving for us to say that
Not only has the tide in marketing budget
you should be spending more money on
declines been stemmed but, increasingly,
print, but this is the stark reality: if your
marketers’ budgets are growing. In fact, 28%
competition is becoming more visible, you
of respondents say they are expanding
need to keep pace.
their media budgets this year; only 16% report decreases. This is down from 29%
marketing channel your customers are
reporting decreases in 2010 and 35%
using. You don’t want to cover your email
reporting decreases in 2009. Things are
“bases” and leave your print channel
turning around.
unprotected; or cover your social media
In the 2011 survey, there is not a
I
This reality exists in each individual
single media category that shows more f you’re noticing that your
companies decreasing spend than
competitors seem to be producing
increasing. And while that may seem
more print and marketing materials
like a trivial detail, it's the first time
than they used to be, you’re probably
we've been able to say that since 2007—
right. According to Target Marketing's 2011
yet another sign of stability in direct
Annual Media Usage Forecast survey,
marketing media usage.
channel and leave your out-of-home channel vulnerable to the competition.
marketers’ budgets have stabilized and they are starting to spend again.
Spreading Dollars Around
That means they’re updating marketing
Not only are companies focusing more
collateral, adding QR codes to posters
on their outbound print and marketing,
and displays, printing more sell sheets,
but they are also spreading those dollars
and ramping up their volume of direct
around. Target Marketing found that
mail. How will you respond?
marketers are choosing “an eclectic mix
According to the survey, 50.1% of respondents expect their 2011 direct
appears to be marketing's “new normal.”
response media budgets to remain the
This means everything from banners to
same as 2010. Compare that to last year,
subway posters to catalogs, as well as
when 43.5% of respondents reported flat
social media and mobile.
budgets, and to 2009, when just 40% did.
Print & Marketing Budgets are Rebounding
What does all this mean for you? It
According to Target Marketing, this is the
means that it’s time to really think through
highest percent of flat budgets ever seen
your print and marketing budget and
in this survey.
how you are allocating your dollars. It
only 16%
of all respondents, photos ©dreamstime.com
of multichannel direct marketing” that
You should be doing a marketing and competitive assessment on a regular basis. You need to be sure that you’re keeping pace with — if not exceeding — what your competitors are doing. Customer perception is fragile. Visibility is one area where you don’t want to be left behind. If you need some advice, talk to us. We can help.
are decreasing their budgets this year. 2
T
hinking through color issues and designing in great color schemes takes time; so how can you be sure that the additional investment is worth it? The answer is that, used correctly, color has a long track record of increasing the effectiveness of print. For example, CCI COLOR (Color Communications, Inc.) has found that consumers make a subconscious judgment about people, their environment, or products within 90 seconds of initially viewing them and that between 62% and 90% of their decision-making is based on color alone. In addition, a University of Loyola, Maryland study found that color increases brand recognition by up
Tap Into the Power of Color
to 80%. How can color be so powerful? According to the American Psychological Association, by hanging an extra "tag" of data on visual scenes, color helps
There are a few black-and-white aficionados out there, but most people agree that color creates a stronger impact, especially on marketing collateral and other pieces designed to encourage people to buy. It’s why marketers fiercely protect their brand colors and the retail shelves look like kaleidoscopic explosions.
people to process and store images more efficiently than black-and-white. As a result, people tend to remember color
Skippy, Doritos, and Tide are throwing back to the 70’s, 60’s, and even the 40’s with styles and colors deeply familiar to consumers. By tapping into happy childhood memories, they are creating positive associations that help to sell products.
So, what can you do to tap into the power of color?
The power of color to influence purchases also can be seen in the recent
1 Make color a priority. Really put
addition of green ketchup to the Heinz
thought into the power and meaning of
brand. According to Junk Food News,
color. Make great choices in using color to
more than 10 million bottles of Heinz EZ
draw out the desired emotion from your
Squirt Blastin' Green ketchup were sold
target audience.
in the first seven months following its introduction last year. Heinz factories
2 Use great graphics. It’s worth
worked 24 hours a day, seven days a
spending a little extra money on artwork,
week to keep up with demand. The
photographs, and design to really make
result? $23 million in sales attributable
your color pop.
to the new green ketchup, which is the highest sales increase in the brand's
3 Manage your color carefully. Work
history. Now the company is working
with us to manage your color all the way
Color Taps into Emotions
on a new color, Funky Purple, to be
through the process. This starts with
As an example, consider the current
introduced this fall.
submitting images in the right color
scenes better.
trend toward “retro” packaging. Savvy
space (CMYK rather than RGB), using
consumer products manufacturers
established printing standards to set color
are using retro packaging to tap into
profiles, and working with us to optimize
consumers’
your color for our color proofing system.
emotions. Major
These basic steps will go a long way
brands from
toward taking your color from ho, hum to
Cheerios to
Wow! Use color to maximize your brand
photos ©dreamstime.com
image and selling power.
4
W
henever a new revision of the Adobe Creative Suite comes out, the graphic design community understandably perks up its ears. Adobe has done a good job of adding many designers’ “wish list” items into InDesign and other CS applications, but some wishes remain unfulfilled. Does 5.5 address any of them?
But again, if your primary use of InDesign is strictly print-based, you will need to wait until CS 6 for any major changes.
New Pricing Model The new .5 upgrade of the Adobe
Creative Suite 5.5 also introduces a
Illustrator
Creative Suite suggests that it is a minor
Illustrator only gets a 5.1
new “subscription” pricing model.
bug-fix or feature-tweak update, but
upgrade as well, which
That is, you can “rent” the entire
the much-ballyhooed CS 5.5 does add
includes minor bug fixes and
suite or individual applications by
a substantial number of new features. If
other under-the-hood tweaks. If your
the month or by the year. The
you’re strictly a print designer, you likely
favorite app is Illustrator, you’ll need to
monthly fee for the Creative Suite
won’t find much here that’s compelling.
wait until CS 6 (according to Adobe, not
Design Premium, for example, is $139,
But if you’re doing more publishing across
due out until mid-2012 at the earliest) for
and the yearly fee is $1,140; while the
different media, like many designers today,
any substantial revision.
upgrade price for the Design Premium is $399. Does a subscription model make
CS 5.5 may make your life a lot easier.
InDesign
So, what has been upgraded, and what hasn’t? Photoshop
Creative Suite 5.5:
photos ©dreamstime.com
What’s In It for Print Designers?
sense? Not if you use the Creative Suite What about InDesign? For print
on a daily basis, like most designers do.
designers, InDesign is where all
Where the subscription model works
the action is. But, unless you’re
is for companies or individuals whose
working on multiplatform (print, Web,
primary business is not graphic design
If you’re looking for major
mobile) documents, especially e-books,
work and only use these tools once every
changes to Photoshop,
there is not much new in InDesign CS 5.5
few months or less for specific projects,
you’ll have to wait. When
for you. However, if you are developing
like an annual catalog. Or for companies
you install CS 5.5, Photoshop appears in
multiplatform documents, the new
that only staff up with freelancers or
the Applications folder as Photoshop
InDesign will change your life. If you’ve
temporary employees every so often for a
5.1 (which, by the way, is a free minor
ever been tasked with converting printed
limited time. For the professional graphic
upgrade to 5.0). What’s new in 5.1, though,
book files to EPUB-formatted e-books,
designer, though, it’s not a pricing plan
is compatibility with Photoshop apps
you know how limited previous versions
that makes a lot of sense.
that run on mobile and tablet platforms,
of InDesign (including CS 5.0) have been.
such as the iPad, the RIM Playbook,
Now, InDesign CS 5.5 gives you far more
Suite 5.5 if you find yourself increasingly
and the Motorola Xoom. Adobe has
control over exporting page elements and
working on multiplatform documents
already released three tablet-compatible
getting them to render in e-book readers
and want to stay within the comfortable
apps—Color Lava, Eazel, and Nav—which
consistently and aesthetically. One of the
confines of the familiar Creative Suite. But,
integrate mobile platforms with the
big issues with print to e-book conversion
if you are still predominantly print-centric,
desktop version of Photoshop. These
is controlling the order of anchored objects
the good news is you can save a bit of
mobile-compatible features are available
which, in previous versions of InDesign,
cash on this upgrade.
in Photoshop CS 5.1, and are enabled using
was minimal. In 5.5, you have far greater
a new Remote Connections command
flexibility in specifying how objects
under the Edit menu.
are exported.
All in all, there is a lot to like in Creative
6
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D
o you think of digital printing as an output technology or a marketing model? This is an important question, especially in today’s challenging business environment— because it’s both. If you don’t think of digital printing this way, maybe you need to rethink digital print. Instead of printing 10,000 product
perspective, digital presses allow you to
capabilities of digital presses to help
brochures at the outset, you can print
avoid paying a price penalty per piece
them save money and “right size” their
2,500 brochures at a time. This will allow
for the lower volume. From a marketing
print volumes. Because the cost of digital
you to minimize your upfront investment
perspective, you can think about how
press output is not dependent upon the
and update products between shows. Plus,
you want to split this list. Do you want
length of run, marketers have gradually
you don’t need to figure out where to
to mail to the top 10%? Perhaps to your
become comfortable with ditching their
store the extra 7,500 brochures once the
highest volume customers? Your bottom
large inventories and printing on an
first trade show is over.
10%? Try to reactivate dormant customer
For years, marketers have used the
The Digital Printing “Double Feature”
relationships? By targeting the mailing by
as-needed basis. It’s helped keep a little cash in the pocket, while minimizing
2 Strategic marketing opportunities.
customer profile or demographic, you can
the waste associated with over-printing
The second approach looks at digital
maximize this 10% and perhaps even get
and having materials become obsolete
printing from a marketing perspective.
a better response than you would have
before they get used. This also has great
Not only can you break down the 10,000
from mailing to your entire list.
environmental benefits. “Right sizing”
run into more manageable chunks, but
means savings in paper, ink and energy, as
you can also customize each batch to the
they illustrate the difference between
well as fossil fuels used in transportation.
individual show. Each show might have a
thinking about digital printing as an output
Marketers who are thinking of digital
slightly different focus, drawing a slightly
technology and thinking about it as a
production only in terms of production
different demographic of attendee. The
marketing model.
are missing tremendous opportunities
selection of products, the marketing pitch
to use this technology from a strategic
and the presentation might be slightly
marketing perspective, as well.
different for each. By breaking down the
These are just two examples, but
How are you thinking about digital printing?
runs into four separate batches, you can
Say you attend four industry trade shows per year. You can look at digital print production two ways.
tweak the brochure for each show based on who its attendees are and what they are looking for.
photos ©dreamstime.com
As another example, let’s assume that
1 Production cost and logistics. The
you are running on a tight budget. You
first approach looks at digital printing
decide not to mail to your entire list, but
from its production and logistical benefits.
only a percentage of it. From a production
Marketers who are thinking of digital production only in terms of production are missing tremendous opportunities. 10