Harvesting fresh creative

The page numbers are very small in the body of the catalog and large in the advertising section. The numbers should be the same size throughout the book; that size should be larger than the smaller size, which older eyes will have trouble reading. Also, the name of the catalog should be featured large enough to be read at the bottom of each spread, reinforcing the company name.

Having the category heading on each page in the same place is user-friendly. I'm not sure if the flow of merchandise is based on customer interest or store layout, but it works.

The catalog's pacing, however, could be livened up by the use of icons. Within each product category, for instance, the company could highlight merchants' specials, recommendations, or customer favorites.

Orscheln could also add a voice of authority by incorporating answers to real customer questions from the previously mentioned “answer man,” particularly in the “Helpful Hi-lights…” or “Did you know…” editorial sections included on product pages.

The “Helpful Hi-lights…” are a mix of sales promotion and useful hints that are not all that different from the “Did you know…” blurbs. All the editorial that falls in either category could be featured as “Helpful Hi-lights…,” which could be shown in a shaded box with a different font or in bold to separate them from the merchandise on the page. Providing answers to real questions in this section would make the book more useful to customers and prospects as well as reinforce that Orscheln is indeed the source for knowledge as well as products.

	Monika J. Shourie

Orscheln Farm & Home's tagline, “Answers & Low Prices Down Every Aisle,” has great promise. The company's catalog format is informative and direct, with a no-nonsense approach to selling products and driving customers to its stores. Overall, the copy is terse and to the point, while products are featured in a no-frills format. Though the printing is low-budget — two-color on newsprint, with the exception of the covers and a few advertising pages in the first signature — the book offers an ease in shopping its well-organized pages.

Several things work for the Orscheln catalog: the table of contents located in the first few pages of the book, which helps ease navigation through the rather hefty book; the store listing right next to the table of contents; the category headings that immediately inform the reader as to the merchandise (farm supplies, hardware, automotive) contained within; the straightforward product captions. The front cover has compelling sales messaging featured prominently — buyers' awards programs, interest-free financing — serving as incentives in a direct manner that is no doubt appropriate for Orscheln's customers.

But while the sales incentives are effective hooks, the cover image is not intriguing, and it does not follow through on the tagline's promise of informing and selling. The use of a low-resolution generic stock image of a seedling is not as compelling as images that speak to the company or the products they offer — a photo of a store aisle or a product in use in the fields — would be.

Also, the bar on the top portion of the front cover is unnecessary, as it merely repeats the tagline that is already featured prominently with the logo on the lower right corner. Pick one or the other; I recommend using the logo/tagline combination on top, without the bar.

Orscheln could improve the usability of certain sections by introducing additional typographic treatments to break up the monotony. The “Did you know…” and “Helpful Hi-lights…” sections in particular would benefit by being set apart creatively from the selling copy. These mini editorials contain relevant information that the reader could find useful, but unfortunately they are all but buried within the pages.

In addition to typographical variety, the pages could benefit from harder-working drivers to lead people to the stores. I don't think the store listing is easy enough to access — occasional reminders by the folios would not be a bad idea — maybe something along the lines of “See store listing, page 9.”

Additional editorializing of the products by showcasing the ultimate must-have items or organizing similar products in a “good, better, best” manner would ease customers along in their buying decisions. This would also better communicate the company's wide product selection as well as Orscheln's dedication to delivering the promise of providing the answers.

The Orscheln Farm & Home catalog is dry and simple, but it works. It doesn't need fancy photography or flashy production to make it better; it just needs a more compelling cover, a few tweaks to ease usability, and clearer, more consistent use of store driver messaging.