Getting the Point Across
Can you tell what this brochure is selling?
WRONG! This company sells flashing. While the title of this brochure says "flashing," most specifiers respond to graphics before they read and process text.
We asked this question to several people and the common conclusion was that the company sold brick or mortar.
If you know that a "flashing" is a membrane that directs water away from a masonry cavity, then you might notice the lip of a through-wall flashing protruding from the second to the bottom mortar joint. The flashing is color-matched to the mortar. While making the flashing hard to see is a sellable feature in construction, it is a non-selling proposition as handled on the cover of this 8-page brochure. Rather than selling the concept that their flashing blends into the wall, prospects looking for flashing products might not even open the brochure.
Suggestion: This could have been rectified by adding an arrow calling out the flashing, and a headline along the lines of "Beautiful bricks deserve beautiful flashings." This simple device directs the viewer's attention and creates a positioning statement that could motivate viewers to take an further look at the catalog.
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3 comments:
Guess I'm weird, then, because I read the heading, saw "Flashing" and immediately saw the actual *flashing* (the shadow line helped) and knew what they were trying to sell.
I don't consider you weird, just better informed than most potential customers. The issue is whether the manufacturer is satisfied reaching customers who already know the product, or do they want to use it to expand their market by also communicating to prospects who do not know the manufacturer.
Depending on the name at the top of the brochure has other risks. "Flashing", for example, also refers to the variation in color that can occur when brick is fired; is the dark brick in the center of the photo a "flashed" brick? More, the manufacturer's name, "Hyload", could signal to some viewers that we are talking about some structural aspect of masonry.
A simple call out caption and arrow could have eliminated this confusion and drawn attention to a product benefit.
But don't take my word for it, do a market research experiment. Create a second layout artwork and do a survey among propects who are not regular customers. Create two groups: one sees the existing catalog, the other the artwork with the modifications I propose. Allow each group a very brief exposure - a flash - of just 2 or 3 seconds. Then quiz participants to see which has a better understanding of the product being offered.
I don't know how anyone would miss "flashing" in the title - unless the question were put to architects, who like to look at pictures rather than read words. ;-)
Seriously, I find the results hard to believe, though I can see why people would skip the ad. The suggested text would have made it more likely to attract attention.
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