Who said print is dead?

Online advertising became the cool new chick on the block in 1994 when HotWired.com (now wired.com) sold its revolutionary 468 x 60 pixel banner ad slots to 14 international companies. That’s not all the 90’s were famous for; disco pants, Forest Gump and the Nokia 232 had caused comparable global hysteria by 1994. Thankfully, disco pants disappeared pretty quickly but online advertising continued to skyrocket until the entire business world caught www.fever. As online advertising soaked up all the glory, print sat anxiously on the sidelines, patiently waiting for its time to shine on the quarterly communication plan.

Businesses have been lured by online’s modernity, adaptability and tiny costs. 20 years on, it’s become the hulk of the advertising world with more major advantages for your figure hungry marketing professional.

But… nobody sits baby in the corner, and, like baby, it’s about time print was put back in the spotlight. Below, we take a look at some of our own favourite print campaigns along with Art Director, Darren’s, top tips on how to resurrect your print campaigns.

 
Lose the aggressive call to action

It’s a sad reality but nobody will call you to buy the product because your advert shouted at them to call you and buy the product.Darren’s tips: Our campaign for modern vinyl flooring client Gerflor uses refined images of dancers, imbued with style and elegance to connect with our target market. I wanted the campaign to lead with dramatic photography and plenty of negative space to clearly communicate the modern, clean lines of the product. No overcrowding or screaming text required.

Tell a consistent story

Use print as an opportunity to pictorially represent your brand. People connect with meaning not with your product range. Use prints tangibility to your advantage, throw in texture, colour and even scent to portray your brand personality.

Darren’s tips: When you’re speaking to inspired young chefs, what better way to capture their attention than with a striking image of glorious produce, all wrapped up in an interesting metaphor for the competition. Play on passions – with an audience of creative Chefs that are so inspired by fresh ingredients, I wanted them to almost taste the visual feast.

Target

Print is perceived as less interruptive than online advertising so you have an engagement advantage. Maximise engagement by formulating the perfect recipe for design, positioning and consistent exposure in the right places.

Darren’s tips: How do you encourage consumers to get excited about colour during the cold winter months? We approached model / artist Jess Bush to be the face of our bright and lively campaign, which involved a brochure, sample pots, and a live street art display to really inspire passers by. Use celebrity endorsement as a tactic to target the right style of customer and drive it within relevant publications.

Interconnect the arch enemies

No parent should have to pick out their favourite child so why should Marketing Managers in the boardroom? Share the love, different channels achieve different objectives, combining social, print and online in a multi-channelled campaign covers every corner.

Darren’s tips: For this project we needed chefs at pubs and clubs to reconnect with the quality of Mainland Shredded Tasty. To hit our target, we employed everything from traditional press advertising, to sales team tools and B2B social media to convey our core message, ‘Made with Mainland’. Whatever you do, keep it consistent; colours, fonts, visual style and call to actions only have slight variations across campaign channels.

Click here to view more of our case studies.

Long live print.