Parents want their children’s clothes to be fun and functional. By featuring beguiling photos alongside detailed copy, Hanna Andersson’s Christmas 2009 catalog, like the apparel it sells, manages to be both. This helped the cataloger earn a Gold in the 2010 MCM Awards in the Children’s Products Print category.
Why it won a Gold Award
Hanna Andersson specializes in brightly colored clothes for kids, and thanks to wonderful photography and top-notch production, “the colors pop off the page,” to quote a judge. Silhouetted product shots are interspersed with lifestyle photos of laughing, smiling, running, crawling kids modeling the wares, in a pleasing variety of grid-based layouts that make the catalog a delight to leaf through.
The product copy makes a point of describing how many buttons and other fasteners each item has. This is important information for parents–some preschools, for instance, insist on clothes with minimal buttons, because of the time involved in continually helping tots undress and dress for potty breaks. By including these details, Hanna Andersson shows that it understands its audience’s needs, bolstering its credibility considerably.
The copy calls out benefits as well: “wonderfully washable”; “lightweight, non-bulky warmth”; “socks that really stay on baby feet!”; “Moms have written to tell us this dress lasted for years, not just seasons!” As a judge said, “The copy is a wonderful combination of evocative and ‘must know’ information.”
Several service-related niceties appear throughout the catalog. Size charts detail how to convert a child’s height and weight into the proper size of clothing—important, as Hanna Andersson sizes its Swedish-inspired clothing in centimeters.
The company also has a generous price-adjustment policy: “Should a full-price item from Hanna Andersson be marked down within 14 days from your original order date, we will gladly offer a one-time price adjustment.”
Hanna Andersson aims to sell comfortable, attractive, top-quality, and durable clothes for active kids. According to the judges, it succeeded not only in achieving that goal but also in communicating it successfully in its catalog, which one judge concluded, is an example of “how to infuse a marketing concept throughout via copy and photography.”
Idea to steal
One of the pages selling footwear includes a size chart with instructions on how to accurately measure a child’s foot. Not only is this useful information to include (would that more catalogers did so), but placing it in the same section as the shoes to which it relates makes shopping that much easier.