Creating your best holiday catalogs ever

Holiday affairs

There are several specific creative considerations for a holiday catalog. For one thing, the cover is always critical: When consumer mailboxes are at their most full, you need an appealing, attention-getting cover to stand out from the pack. (For more, see “Dos and don'ts for holiday catalog covers”)

Here are four ways to make your holiday book a winner.

• Add seasonality throughout the catalog. Use seasonality to reflect the time of year. If it “feels” new and different, the customers are reminded of what's coming up and they get in the mood to shop.

  Color can support a holiday feeling in the form of type, rule lines, icons and background tints. Green and red are obvious choices, but gold and black is an elegant way to lend a holiday feeling. Kwanza colors, or even blue and white might be appropriate, depending on your audience.

  Illustrations and artwork can be festive as well. A red wreath around a spread might call out a special section. Small, illustrated gift boxes could call out gift favorites.

  Props and surfaces are great tools. Garnet-hued tablecloths, twinkling lights in the background, wine glasses, wrapping paper — there's no end to the warm and fuzzy signals that are all holiday reminders.

• Reposition product with photography. Changes in photography can up the holiday feeling in a book and reposition product to be more appropriate for a season. A new shot, different propping or a different environment can communicate a different message.

  A blouse becomes a gift, a dress is now for entertaining, a serving dish offers Christmas cake, and candles are housewarming gifts. Just don't let props get in the way of the product — they should support and enhance, not overpower.

• Create layouts to better support holiday merchandise. This may be the one time of year that grids really work well for almost everyone! Grids hold together categories (“Gifts for him”) or price points (“Gifts under $100”) or themes (“Stocking stuffers”) and help the customer shop. Following the cue of the merchants to solve other problems, this might be a good time of year to anticipate navigational bars, category openers, more (or fewer) silhouettes, editorial visuals, etc.

• Refine your voice. Just as a warm spirit is translated into friendly greetings during the holidays, it is appropriate to align the copy in a catalog to reflect the mood. Holiday spirit can be reflected in headlines, subheads, lead-ins, selling (body) copy and/or editorial copy.

With the right planning, concept development and execution, you can make this your best holiday book yet. To improve your odds for success, have a published schedule with presentation and approval dates that will be respected and adhered to by all participants.

Glenda Shasho Jones (glenda@sjdirect.com) is a New York-based catalog consultant.

DOS AND DON'TS for holiday catalog covers

ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU CAN MAKE IS LEAVING THE FRONT- COVER PLANNING UNTIL THE END. AS YOU DEVELOP THE CREATIVE FOR YOUR FRONT COVER, CONSIDER THESE DOS AND DON'T:

• Do push yourself on drama and differentiation. Impact is critical.
• Do place your logo front and center, high and easy to read. Make sure it stands out in a pile of mail.
• Do place offers (FREE anything, % off or $ off) high on a page (upper right preferred) in a dot-whack, and please use the color red.
• Do put your phone number and Internet address on the bottom of the page; they're a signal to buy.
• Do make sure the cover reflects your positioning and builds your desired brand.
• Do make sure it's relevant to your customer base.
• Don't muck up the cover with less important messages.
• Don't plan a cover that anyone could do; the harder it is to do, the less chance you'll see it somewhere else.

And don't forget about the importance of the back cover: Holiday is the time to work hard and show the catalog recipient a variety of products and price ranges right off the bat.

This is crucial for prospects not familiar with your offer. If you place two or three products representative of different price points on the back cover, you'll invite more people in. — GSJ